51 pages • 1 hour read
Natasha PrestonThe Cellar
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2014A 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 15-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 15 Summary: “Summer”
The time note reads “Tuesday, December 14th (Present)” (144), five months after Clover abducted Summer. She still has hope of escape, maybe even before Clover rapes her, which Poppy suggests may happen around six months. When she tries to talk to Poppy about getting out, Poppy says she is estranged from her family, so no one is looking for her. To Poppy, survival is primary.
The next day, the three young women struggle to prepare for breakfast on time. Once Clover arrives, polite conversation stops when he sees that the poppies have died. In a rage, he slaps Rose, smacks Poppy into the table, and hits Summer in the jaw.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Clover”
In a flashback, it is Wednesday, May 9, 2007; Clover feels the family is “unbalanced” as it currently has no Rose. Simultaneously, Clover has fallen for a young woman named Shannen. He wants to have a “traditional relationship” with her. Estranged from her family, Shannen stays at a hostel; Clover wants to provide safety. He offers to take her out for Indian food. They have a nice dinner, and Clover drives her to his house afterward with the excuse of needing to use the bathroom before taking her back to the hostel. Once she is inside, he tells her this is her home now. When Shannen gets upset and resists Clover’s insistence that she stay, he becomes angry and brings her forcibly to the cellar. He is heartbroken that Shannen will not be the traditional relationship he wanted, but he has no choice other than turning her into Rose. Chapter 17 Summary: “Clover”
Now, in the present, it is January 17. Clover picks up a young woman near the train station on the excuse that he needs help navigating the city. Then he drives her to his house and forcibly brings her to the cellar; she is now Violet. He leaves as Violet cries, expecting the other Flowers to help her adjust. Later, after dinner, he takes Lily to the room under the stairs, telling her he loves her.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Summer”
After Clover left the cellar after raping her, Summer is bereft, crying, and shellshocked. Poppy helps Summer to the bathroom, where she showers for a long time, thinking how nothing seems real now. She did not fight him; when she realizes it was due to fear, she sobs, then vomits. Poppy returns to lead her bed. Violet is asleep. Summer cries as she lays in bed, thinking she “had nothing left for him to take from [her] now” (178).
In a flashback to Saturday, March 2, 2009, Summer and Lewis prepare to have sex for the first time. She feels both nervous and eager, but the experience is “perfect, even without candles and roses” (181).
Chapter 19 Summary: “Summer”
In the morning, Summer showers again, traumatized. Rose tells her to try to focus on something else “while it’s happening” so that it is more “bearable” (185), referring to Clover raping them. Rose says she daydreams about the family she might have someday. Summer tells her she will have it someday; however, Rose sighs and says it is just a dream. The new Violet, Layal, exits the bedroom and sits beside Summer. Layal asks if Clover raped Summer in the room under the stairs; Summer freezes up, unable to talk about it.
Layal wants to talk about ways the four of them can overpower Clover and escape, but even Summer is hesitant now due to fear. Though Summer tries to get Layal to take more care in planning and mentions having witnessed Clover’s murderous acts, Layal attempts to hit Clover over the head with one of the plastic vases when he arrives for dinner.
Chapter 20 Summary: “Summer”
Clover slaps Layal hard, and she falls; Summer reaches for another vase, but Poppy pulls her back. Summer slouches to the floor and watches helplessly as Clover assaults Layal, kicking and punching her. When Clover leaves, Rose, Poppy, and Summer bandage Layal’s bleeding cuts and carry her to bed. Summer gives Layal a painkiller Clover brought when Poppy told him Summer was ill.
Rose later convinces Clover to allow this new Violet to live, but Clover refuses to bring any painkillers as punishment. Hours go by; then, Clover brings another sex worker to the basement and stabs her to death.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Clover”
It is now Friday, January 21. Clover rushes to clean himself of this latest murder in the shower. He thinks how his mother would disapprove of the girls’ help in his endeavors, and he tries to convince himself that he is not failing, though he knows if Mother was alive, she would say he is. He disposes of the body in its body bag in the canal near town, weighing it down first with rubble from nearby abandoned buildings.
On Monday, January 24, at work, Clover overhears plans between the receptionist, Christy, and one of the lawyers, Greg, to get together at Greg’s house while his pregnant wife is out of town. Clover reflects on the affair his father had that ruined his parents’ marriage and caused his father to leave his mother. He sneaks into the file room in the Human Resources department to look up Christy’s home address. That night, after dinner, Clover goes to Christy’s house and finds a key on the stoop. He enters the house to find Christy dancing in a “skimpy” bra and thong. Clover demands to know if Christy thought about Greg’s wife in planning to see Greg, then reveals his knife. Christy screams and protests, calling Clover by name: “Please, Colin, what are you doing? […] Think about this” (213). He stabs her in the stomach, then in the chest. He tries to clean up with bleach, telling himself he will not fail and then loads the body bag in his car.
Chapters 15-21 Analysis
The atmosphere of fear thickens as Summer’s time in the cellar continues. Several factors increase this mood: First, Clover strikes Summer in anger for the first time. Consequently, Summer is too fearful to resist when Clover rapes her; his crimes deepen her fear in the vicious circle of control, developing the theme of The Dynamics of Power and Control in Abusive Situations. Clover also displays his power by bringing a new Violet (Layal) to their “family.” Clover’s merciless assault on Layal underscores his limitless rage, and his murder of another sex worker portrays displaced, unpredictable anger. As a result of these events, Summer’s fear transcends hope.
This thickening mood of fear also impacts the tone of Summer’s thoughts and reactions as she loses sight of the strong, confident teen she once was. Pervasive and overwhelming, fear wears away at her intention to escape: Summer wanted to overpower Clover early in her captivity, but now she becomes passive. When Poppy pulls her away from Layal’s attempt to strike out at Clover, for example, Summer immediately gives up, leaving Layal to fend for herself. Previously interested in escape, Summer now feels resigned by her violent situation. This demonstrates her struggle with maintaining Resilience in the Face of Dire Circumstances.
Summer also finds herself paralyzed by fear and dread, even as she tries to summon thoughts of home; these darkening emotions change the tone of Summer’s interior monologue: “I wanted to live to get out and see my family again, but with every passing day I cared a little less if I died” (190). Summer pointedly connects Clover’s control over the Flowers to fear when she explains to Layal the sex worker’s screams in Chapter 20: “That’s the reason we do what we’re told” (201). These examples show how Clover’s control not only drives Summer’s fear but also begins to undermine the spirit and strength at the root of her identity, connecting to the theme of Manipulation of Identity and Resistance Against Erasure of Self.
The non-linear plot structure contributes to the novel’s complexity and interest throughout this section’s rising action. Flashbacks, especially those from Clover’s point of view, offer moments of discovery; for example, Chapter 16 explains Rose’s curious emotions for Clover as it details the origin of their relationship. Clover wanted his romance with Shannen to be “traditional,” which is highly ironic considering that she now serves as the unofficial leader of the Flowers; Clover even expects her to help new “family members” through the “adjustment period.” Rose never reveals to Summer how she came to the cellar; the author employs dramatic irony by revealing information about Rose’s background that Summer does not know. These ironies and flashbacks create complexity in the rising action and act as clues to reveal Clover’s motivations.
In an additional use of dramatic irony, the author details Clover’s actions outside of the house and the significant change in his murderous habits: killing a coworker in her own home. Up to Chapter 21, Clover murdered sex workers—no one he knew personally—whom he brought to the “safety” of the cellar to kill. His murder of Christy represents a significant break from his modus operandi; his boldness suggests an attempt to regain control he thinks he is losing—ironically, he continuously boosts himself with self-affirming mantras throughout the crime: “I have control. […] I am a stronger person, and I will not fail. I Will. Not. Fail” (215). Clover’s choice to kill Christy foreshadows the upcoming poor decisions he will make due to anxiety, desperation, and panic.
