69 pages • 2 hours read
Gordon KormanThe Juvie Three
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2008A 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 22-26Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 22 Summary
Terence is waiting for DeAndre and his friends in the cold. He reflects that if Healy were around, he would have made sure they had warm coats for the winter. When the crew shows up, Terence tells them that he deserves a place in the gang after all he’s done. DeAndre leads Terence and the other boys to a nearby square across from the river with a playground and a fountain. The only person in the park is an old homeless woman, sleeping on a bench beside her shopping cart.
DeAndre tells Terence that his initiation into the group is to beat the woman up and toss her in the park fountain. At first, Terence thinks he’s joking, until DeAndre tells him to bring them the woman’s ring as proof. Terence insists that there’s no sense in hurting someone with no payoff. DeAndre tells him that they’ll be able to trust him more if they have something to blackmail him with.
Terence is beginning to panic. He thinks about how his experiences with an abusive father taught him that the way to survive was to surround himself with powerful friends: “When you’re down with the right people, you’ve got it all—respect, protection, money” (170). He thought that DeAndre could be that person, but now he knows that was a mistake.
Terence declines DeAndre’s offer. DeAndre gets angry and tells him that if he doesn’t put the woman in the fountain, he’ll put Terence in instead. The boys advance on him, but they’re interrupted by the approach of a police car. DeAndre tells Terence that he has until Monday to bring him the woman’s ring.
Chapter 23 Summary
The counseling group is celebrating Victoria’s last day, as she’s been officially discharged. During an argument, Casey lets it slip that Arjay has joined a band. Dr. Avery is confused and asks them to tell Healy to get in touch with her as soon as he is able.
As the boys walk home, they argue about Gecko and Arjay’s romantic choices, and Terence tells them about his trouble with DeAndre. He explains that for him, having a strong group of friends is his only option. He confesses that in Chicago he tried to prove to a gang that he was good enough to join them just like he’s doing with DeAndre, but the gang set him up instead.
Arjay gets angry and tells Terence that he already has a gang with him and Gecko; they need to look out for each other because their fates are bound together. As they reach home, they meet Mrs. Liebowitz, who apologizes for being so difficult when they first arrived. The boys enter the apartment and find a new message on the answering machine from Ms. Vaughn: She will be arriving in six days to meet with Healy and the boys for an evaluation.
Chapter 24 Summary
Out of options, the boys go to the hospital to talk to Healy and try to bring his memory back. When they arrive, they’re informed that he’s been transferred to a psychiatric hospital across town. They reconvene and argue about whether to come forward about who Healy really is. Gecko thinks that it’s the right thing to do, even if it ends with them all being sent back to lockup, but the other boys aren’t so sure. Terence comes up with an alternative: They go to the hospital where Healy’s being held and break him out.
Chapter 25 Summary
The boys ride across town to the Bronx County Psychiatric Hospital, which is tightly guarded behind multiple layers of security. Once inside, they’re informed that they need to fill out a visitor application form which will take about a week to process— too long for them to wait. They step outside and consider their options, then they see Roxanne exiting the hospital.
Roxanne is upset upon seeing him, but she offers to use her father’s contacts so that Gecko can go in and see Healy. Gecko is forced to admit that her father and the police chief coerced him into breaking up with her. The three boys agree that it’s time to tell her the entire truth, and the story comes out. Roxanne agrees to help by moving her volunteer position to the psychiatric hospital.
Chapter 26 Summary
Healy takes stock of his situation in the psychiatric hospital. He tries to convince the staff that he doesn’t belong among the mentally ill. The staff are sympathetic, but they have no answers for what will happen if his memory never returns. He misses the staff at the Yorkville hospital, since they were the only faces he had come to know. He’s delighted to see Roxanne, who informs him that her volunteer assignment changed to where she was able to do the most good. He avoids asking about Gecko and assumes he’ll never see him again.
Chapters 22-26 Analysis
This section of the novel kicks up the tension considerably, introducing time constraints and pressure from all directions. Dr. Avery requests a call from Healy; Mrs. Liebowitz begins questioning Healy’s extended absence; and Mrs. Vaughn announces her impending visit. Time also plays a part when DeAndre tells Terence he has two days to complete his task, and on all levels the boys begin counting down the time they have left.
Terence also begins to hurdle faster through his personal transformation toward self-awareness and growth. His desperate encounter with DeAndre seems like it’s going to be the answer to all his problems, until he realizes it’s no longer the answer he wants. DeAndre forces Terence onto the precipice of who he is; here, he needs to take a step in one direction or the other, and when he does he will never be able to come back. He takes a hard look at who he wants to be and gives up what he’s been working for all along. This thread continues as he begins to open up to Gecko and Arjay about his past mistakes, and Arjay tells him that, like it or not, they’ve become the crew he always wanted.
We also see Healy transferred from the Yorkville hospital to the psychiatric hospital. The reinforced security and desperation of the patients in this new setting reflects the detention centers where the boys began, in particular Arjay, who was in an adult prison. The irony here is that their story began because Healy got them all out, and now they’re coming together to get him out of his imprisonment in return. This new development also brings Roxanne back into the story, showing her compassion and strength of mind.
Related Titles
By Gordon Korman
