61 pages • 2 hours read
Joyce McdonaldSwallowing Stones
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1997A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 11-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary
Michael
In early August, the police visit the MacKenzie house as part of their investigation in the neighborhood. Michael is tense and terrified. He wants to hide in his room but thinks it would be suspicious. The officers disclose details about the investigation. They just want to know who owns guns.
Michael’s father tells the officers about his two rifles and adds that Michael just got a Winchester for his birthday. Michael’s heart races. The officers ask to see the rifles. Michael’s father fetches his rifles and suggests Michael do the same. Michael realizes his father has considered the idea that the bullet came from their house. Michael lies and says he loaned the rifle to Joe, so Michael’s father tells him to call Joe.
Michael doesn’t expect Joe to pick up the phone, as he should be at work, but Joe got fired. Michael ignores what Joe is saying and pretends Joe told him the rifle was stolen. Joe realizes that the cops are there asking for the rifle and goes along with it. He tells Michael to meet him at the park when the police leave. Michael’s father scolds him for trusting Joe with the rifle. The police assure Michael they’ll track it down.
At the park, Michael and Joe get their story straight about the stolen rifle. Michael tries to tell Joe he doesn’t have to keep this up for him, but Joe is determined to protect their secret. Michael can tell Joe feels desperate about their situation. Michael worries he wouldn’t do the same for Joe if it were the other way around. Joe reassures Michael that the police have nothing without the weapon. They settle on their story before leaving.
Chapter 12 Summary
Joe files a police report the next day regarding the stolen rifle and lies when the cops question him. Michael worries, but Joe reassures Michael that everything is fine.
Michael goes to Amy’s house for the first time since his breakup with Darcy. He finds Amy crying on the front porch. Amy runs inside to get away from him, and her grandfather tells Michael to leave. He says Michael hurt her badly. Michael refuses to leave without talking to Amy. Amy comes to the screen door and tells Michael to leave. Michael asks what he did, but Amy can’t talk about it without crying. She sends Michael away.
At the pool, Michael learns from a school friend that Darcy and her friends told Amy that Michael was manipulating her. Darcy told Amy that Michael was trying to get Amy to sleep with the entire track team as a bet. Michael is so angry that when he walks away, he bumps into Jenna Ward. He apologizes and leaves quickly.
Chapter 13 Summary
Jenna
After a dry spell, it rains for four days straight. Jenna is haunted by the water lines that have appeared in the corner of her room, caused by the roof leak her father was fixing when he died. Though she’s painted over them several times, they continue to reappear, and sometimes, it feels as though they’re creeping toward her.
Jenna and Andrea visit the shore. It’s a two-hour trip, but Jenna enjoys her walk along the misty beach while Andrea complains about the wetness. Jenna believes she felt compelled to visit this place because she and her mother canceled their yearly trip to Nantucket after her father’s death. She reminisces about walking along the beach with her father. Jenna has still not convinced herself that he’s gone for good. After six weeks, it still feels like he’s on a business trip and will return. She knows it’s illogical.
Jenna tells Andrea about her fantasy. Jenna imagines approaching her father’s murderer in court and telling him how much his actions destroyed three lives. Then she imagines taking out a gun and shooting him. Andrea tells Jenna that this is unlike her, but Jenna clarifies that she isn’t deranged, just sad. Andrea hugs Jenna.
That night, Jenna receives a letter from Amy. In the letter, Amy tells Jenna about her own experiences when her parents died. Amy was seven when her parents died in a car accident. She was angry and lashing out, and she couldn’t cry because it meant admitting they were gone. One day, Amy found a note from her mother, and it made her break down crying. She finally admitted her parents weren’t coming home. She ends the letter with an offer to be there if Jenna wants to talk about it. Jenna reads the note several times until she begins crying over her father for the first time.
Chapter 14 Summary
In Jenna’s dream that night, Amy is helping Jenna toward the Ghost Tree. Jenna feels safer letting Amy help her, but she wakes to a thud on the roof before she makes it to the Ghost Tree in her dream.
The morning is misty. Jenna drinks tea on the back porch and thinks about Amy’s letter and presence in her dream. Jenna worries her friends will laugh if she tells them about Amy helping her. Jenna is also guilty of judging Amy without knowing her.
Jenna thinks she sees a silhouette on the path leading to the woods, but it vanishes quickly. Meredith saw the shadow, too, and remarks that it looked like a teenage boy. Meredith tells Jenna strange stuff is happening. She shows Jenna that the gutters on the roof have been cleaned and tells Jenna that someone is weeding their flower beds. Although Meredith is thankful, the fact that someone is coming in the night makes the Wards feel vulnerable. Meredith informs the police so they can keep a watch on the house.
At the pool, teens buzz about the last big party of the summer. Andrea wants to go, but Jenna worries they won’t know anyone because it’ll be mostly upperclassmen. Andrea has heard that Michael and Darcy broke up, and she believes she’ll have a chance to talk to Michael at the party. Jenna doesn’t want to tell Andrea that Michael makes her uneasy, as she’s pretty sure he’s the one sitting on the church steps most nights. Jenna knows Andrea is counting on her to come to the party for support while she tries to talk to Michael, so Jenna agrees to go. The girls spot Amy trying on perfume. Jenna waves at Amy, and Andrea reacts with shock that Jenna knows Amy.
Chapter 15 Summary
The house party is packed with teens of all ages. Andrea and Jenna squeeze their way to the kitchen, where Jenna runs into Jason. Jason is cautious around Jenna, but he wants to talk. Jenna feels her anxiety coming on, but she manages to keep it in check.
They find a place to talk among the cars parked on the lawn. Jason wants to know why Jenna is avoiding him, but Jenna can’t explain it without worrying she’ll hurt him more. Andrea interrupts them and excitedly tells Jenna that she’s found Michael and points him out in a car across the lawn. Jason gets upset and thinks that Jenna is interested in Michael, so he leaves. Jenna lets him go.
When Jenna looks at Michael, she catches him staring at her. Jenna suggests Andrea talk to him, but Andrea’s too nervous. When Jenna looks back at the car, Michael’s head is on the steering wheel. She can tell he’s in pain, just like when he sits on the church steps. Andrea suggests Jenna talk to Michael instead. Jenna agrees and approaches Michael’s car. When Michael spots her coming, he seems ready to speed off, but she catches him before he can. Jenna explains that her friend wants to meet Michael. Michael responds that he’d like to meet her friend, but he must leave right now. When Michael pulls away, Jenna notices Amy watching them from the porch. Inside, Jenna spots Amy trying to get rid of some guy in a blue bandana.
Jenna finds Andrea in the backyard. Andrea is mad at Jenna for talking to Michael, and Jenna defuses the situation with humor. Andrea forgives Jenna. She’s also happy to hear Michael wants to meet her.
At home, Jenna does math problems to ease her stress about Jason. She also thinks about Michael and how he was staring at her. She worries he’s interested in her rather than Andrea, but she knows that’s unlikely. Jenna wonders if she’ll ever figure out people like Amy, Michael, and Jason. When Jenna sleeps that night, she has the same dream about Amy helping her to the Ghost Tree, only this time, Michael is under the tree.
Chapters 11-15 Analysis
Chapters 11 and 12 begin this section of the book by shifting back to Michael and escalating the conflict between Michael, Joe, and the police investigation. Chapter 11 focuses on the tense visit, during which the police request to see Michael’s rifle. Rather than take the opportunity to come clean, Michael chooses to sink himself deeper into conflict and rope Joe into an elaborate lie. This forces Joe to file a false police report in Chapter 12 to help Michael cover his tracks. The escalation of the conflict for both Michael and Joe develops the theme of The Consequences of Impulsive Actions by showing how Michael struggles to take accountability for his impulsive and deadly decision.
Michael’s conflict also escalates when he seeks out comfort in Amy after creating the stolen rifle story with Joe. Michael finds Amy sobbing and upset because Darcy told Amy that Michael was using her for a bet. The moment not only removes Michael’s access to his only safe space but also develops the theme of The Influence of Reputation. Amy’s belief that what Darcy said is true is tied to Amy’s awareness of her reputation. Amy has likely dealt with other boys trying to sleep with her on a bet, so she is more inclined to believe that Michael was using her, too.
Chapters 13 and 14 shift back to following Jenna as she continues to navigate her Grief and Denial. Chapter 13 begins with Jenna observing the water lines in her room appearing and reappearing despite her attempts to hide them. The water is a direct result of the leak in the roof that her father was patching when he died. These lines, and Jenna’s attempts to hide them, are a metaphor for Jenna’s attempts to ignore the reality that her father is gone.
Jenna’s grief begins to take shape and break through her denial in Chapter 13 when she chooses to go to the beach to engage with memories of her father and the reality of never having a trip to Nantucket with him again. Jenna tells Andrea about her violent fantasy in which she looks her father’s murderer in the eye, tells him how much he destroyed three lives, and then shoots him “right there in front of the whole courtroom” (136). This dark vision is out of character for Jenna, and Andrea points out this uncharacteristic response, saying, “This isn’t like you at all” (136). Jenna’s alarming fantasy suggests that her grief is beginning to impact her thoughts and emotions, and her lack of proper engagement with this grief is causing her to create violent fantasies.
At the end of Chapter 13, Jenna’s grief finally breaks through all the way, thanks to the letter from Amy. The letter describes how Amy relates to Jenna’s grief because Amy’s parents died in a car accident. Amy mentions, “For weeks, I didn’t even let myself cry, because that would be admitting my mom and dad weren’t going to come back” (137-38). Amy’s lack of crying parallels Jenna’s and demonstrates how Amy understands the relationship between Grief and Denial, developing that theme. Amy’s letter helps Jenna face her grief, and Jenna finally cries real tears at the end of Chapter 13.
Chapter 14 opens with another dream sequence full of symbolism for Jenna, following the same structure as her previous dreams of the Ghost Tree. However, this time, “Amy was guiding her right toward the Ghost Tree, and Jenna wasn’t doing anything to stop her” (140). Jenna’s dream symbolizes the way Amy’s letter has guided Jenna to confront her grief and allow herself to mourn. Despite the symbolism, “Amy’s sudden appearance in Jenna’s dream disturbed her” (141). Jenna worries about “what her friends would say if they knew about Amy’s letter” (141). Jenna recalls hoping no one she knew would see her with Amy when Amy was helping her in the movie theater bathroom. Because of Amy’s reputation, Jenna’s perspective on Amy develops the theme of The Influence of Reputation by showing how Jenna cannot get past her perception of Amy despite Amy’s kindness toward her.
Chapter 15 sees the two protagonists speak to one another for the first time. The novel has slowly woven a web between Jenna and Michael through the people in their lives and the places they visit. Despite their short interaction, Jenna feels certain Michael is the boy on the church steps, and she senses a deep sadness from his body language. Jenna’s interaction with Michael causes her to begin to think more about what he’s doing on the church steps and why he was staring at her at the party. At the end of Chapter 15, Jenna has the same dream again, with Amy guiding her to the Ghost Tree, but this time, Michael is there. This dream symbolizes how Jenna is beginning to feel Michael is connected to her father’s death and foreshadows Amy’s role in linking Jenna and Michael to one another.
