85 pages • 2 hours read
Wilson RawlsSummer of the Monkeys
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1976A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 13-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary
A terrible thunderstorm occurs the night Jay Berry arrives home from town. The thunder is loud and scary. Daisy, afraid of storms, asks to sit in Jay Berry’s room for companionship. She mentions Thor, the god of thunder, and when Jay Berry does not recognize the name, she chastises him for not reading more widely. Daisy says her leg is very painful because of the storm. Jay Berry feels sympathy for her and offers the liniment bottle, but Daisy says no remedy helps anymore. She mentions having seen the Old Man of the Mountains from her window just before coming down the hall. Jay Berry is relieved to hear that he was smiling, which Daisy indicates means good luck on their home instead of bad. After the storm calms and Daisy leaves for bed, Jay Berry has a strange dream in which the Old Man of the Mountains must point him in the direction of home because he and Rowdy are lost.
At breakfast, Daisy brings up a time that was as exciting to her: when Jay Berry fell down the well and he “was swimming like a muskrat down there” until rescued (190). The family has a good laugh at Jay Berry’s expense. Mama insists he not go to the bottoms to check on the monkeys until later in the day with warmer temperatures. Jay Berry mentions living alone on the land someday, and Mama and Daisy immediately set in with questions about his clothes and food. Papa rescues Jay Berry by bringing him for chores at the blacksmith shop on their farm, encouraging him to never give up on something he wants.
Chapter 14 Summary
Suddenly, Jay Berry and Papa hear Daisy yelling in a panic for Mama. They take off for Daisy’s playhouse where she and Rowdy are. Papa fears that Daisy found a snake, but Jay Berry realizes Rowdy would be noisily barking and baying. When they arrive near the playhouse, Mama, Daisy, and Rowdy stare at the ground. Daisy shows that what she found: a “fairy ring” of evenly-spaced toadstools in a perfect circle, “snow-white” and ten feet in diameter. Jay Berry reflects on the rarity of a fairy circle and the good luck associated with one. Daisy and Mama share stories about the blessings and answered wishes made in a fairy circle. Daisy steps into the ring to make the first wish, followed by Mama and Papa, then Jay Berry.
Jay Berry initially thinks his wish will be catching the monkeys, but he changes his mind and wishes for Daisy’s leg to heal. He thinks Mama and Papa wish for the same thing, though no one reveals their wish. As they start to leave, Rowdy goes inside the circle and sits. Daisy says he is making a wish too.
Back at the blacksmith shop, Jay Berry asks Papa about Daisy’s visions of the Old Man of the Mountains. Papa says he is sure that Daisy believes she sees something, perhaps even God: “Your mother could be right […] What Daisy is seeing could be the spirit of Christ. Lots of people have seen his spirit, especially those who are in pain or deep trouble. It happens every day somewhere in the world” (207).
Chapter 15 Summary
Jay Berry leaves the dinner table with no plan to catch the monkeys; he only wants to check on them, then consult Grandpa again. He and Rowdy hike to the bottoms, where everything is wet and muddy. He searches for a long time, covering an extensive amount of ground, but the monkeys are gone. Jay Berry begins to despair but sets out repeatedly through the underbrush. Finally, he sits on a fallen tree in tears. Just as he considers starting for home, he hears a whimpering noise. He follows the noise to the washout area of the bank along the river and finds Jimbo and the little monkeys in a carved-out “pocket,” like a small cave. Jay Berry realizes they are wet, shivery, and scared: “Right away, I saw that the monkeys were in terrible shape. They were sopping wet and their small bodies were quivering from the cold (213). Jay Berry sees one little monkey so sodden and exhausted that it looks almost dead, though it is trying to breathe. Jay Berry tries to dry this monkey with his handkerchief, moving his legs and rubbing his body. Soon the monkey is moving and squealing. Jay Berry then just waits to see what the others will do.
Jimbo leaves the pocket, goes to Jay Berry, and climbs up into his arms. Jay Berry realizes he must help them warm up and dry off, so he carries the monkeys five at a time to a sunny spot down the washout. Jimbo watches; none bite, yell, or make any trouble. Once the 29 little monkeys are dry and warm, Jay Berry takes Jimbo’s paw and tells him to come along to the corn crib where there is food and warmth. Jay Berry leads Jimbo the whole way back to the farm, and all the little monkeys follow. Daisy sees them returning first; Jay Berry hollers for someone to open the corn crib. Mama does not want the monkeys to touch her and says Jimbo is the size of “a young gorilla” (219), but Daisy asks to pet Jimbo. Jay Berry gives him to her to hold and Jimbo wraps his arms around her. Once the monkeys and Jimbo are all settled and happily eating in the corn crib, Jay Berry heads to Grandpa’s store.
Chapter 16 Summary
Jay Berry elatedly shares the news that 29 monkeys are safely trapped in the corn crib. Grandpa, thrilled, tries to write a quick letter to the circus while the mailman is there to take it, but the mailman has a better idea: He offers to send a telegram from town to Tulsa where the circus is. Grandpa allows Jay Berry to fill up a candy sack to celebrate and Rowdy gets a large ham bone. Jay Berry explains how Daisy found a fairy ring and they all made a wish, but he, Jay Berry, did not wish to catch the monkeys. He does not tell what he really wished for and Grandpa understands.
Grandpa tells Jay Berry he plans to go later in the day to a horse trader’s place where he will buy ponies for reselling; he plans to give Jay Berry first pick. Back home, Jay Berry gives Daisy the candy, and the family takes part in one of their thrice-weekly Bible reading sessions. Jay Berry dreams that night that the corn crib burns; Jimbo lets all the monkeys out. He also dreams about endless rides on a new pony. After breakfast, a circus truck arrives. One of the men, Ben Johnson, greets Jimbo in tears, and Jimbo runs to him and hugs him. The monkeys move effortlessly to the truck and the Johnson brothers pay Jay Berry $156. Jay Berry leaves for Grandpa’s store as soon as the monkeys are on their way back to the circus.
Chapters 13-16 Analysis
The storm changes the tone and mood of the overall narrative. It illustrates Jay Berry’s inability to think rationally about the monkeys; his hopes are strong, but he realizes he must rely on Grandpa’s new idea for success. Once the storm begins, though, he realizes the danger the monkeys are in; they are exposed and the thought scares him: “Just mentioning the word ‘monkeys’ made my hair fly straight-up […] I forgot all about the storm and everything else” (183). Jay Berry is further troubled during the storm by both Daisy’s pain and her report of the Old Man of the Mountains; he wants badly for both to cause no one grief. In a role reversal, Jay Berry tries to offer liniment oil to Daisy, who usually plays the nurse; worriedly, he needs to hear that the Old Man smiled instead of frowned at the house when he pointed. Already “unglued” and nervous, Jay Berry rejects Daisy’s offer of a ghost story; his nerves cannot handle it. This general discontent Jay Berry feels during the storm foreshadows his upcoming battle with his conscience over the earned money.
Jay Berry’s dreams after the storm also symbolize his wariness and discomfort with his choices; he feels the beginnings of an uneasy conscience but does not yet understand. In his first dream, he is lost, a contrast with his typical ease and knowledge of navigating even the roughest patches of river bottoms. He must rely on the Old Man to point the way home. Later, Papa connects the Old Man to a vision of Christ, setting up the idea that the Old Man stands for a higher power, a force of aid that that those in trouble can turn to.
Situational irony exists in the way Jay Berry finally succeeds with Jimbo and the monkeys. After multiple attempts and elaborate plans to catch them, Jay sacrifices any plans or thoughts of trapping them; he just wants to make sure they survive. In the end, the storm (and by extension, nature) cause the monkeys to simply give up, and it is the easiest thing in the world to lead them home. Jay Berry is quickly and generously rewarded for his patience, his perseverance, and in the end, his concern and admiration for the creatures who frustrated him so. While it is not clear that this lesson in love and respect is clear to Jay Berry, it foreshadows the moment of the story’s greatest lesson, which is fast approaching: his sacrifice of the reward money for his sister’s operation.
