95 pages • 3 hours read
Rules of the Road
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Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Rules of the Road opens with 16-year-old Jenna Boller skillfully using the sliding ladder at Gladstone’s shoe store in Chicago to retrieve boxes of shoes for her customers. She describes herself as a “shoe professional.” Jenna knows how to connect with customers, making each one feel special, regardless of how busy the store is. She has ways for dealing with tricky situations, such as a “breath-holding contest” for fussy children (2); She gives difficult kids a stopwatch and the promise of cool laces for the one who holds their breath the longest. Jenna loves her job, and she knows she is good at it. She exudes confidence on the shop floor and never doubts she will end up with a happy, satisfied customer. This confidence does not extend outside the shoe store. When Jenna was a sophomore at high school, she gained 17.5 pounds, was demoted in the basketball team, dropped off the honor roll, and was bullied. “I just limped through sophomore year” (6). At Gladstone’s, she feels successful, helpful, and needed. She says people look to her instead of away.
Jenna’s boss, Murray Castlebaum, is an accomplished shoe seller who appreciates quality and good service, traits he instills in Jenna during her training. Murray is a kind and patient boss who has been selling shoes for 23 years. Jenna is a quick learner and truly cares about finding the right shoe for each customer. She knows the best running shoes for different distances and which sandals are best for the beach or for a walk. Jenna is proud of her achievements at Gladstone’s, and she is also very proud of her newly acquired Illinois driver license. However, when she takes out her driver’s license to admire it yet again, her confidence faulters and self-doubt creeps in, “my flat nose looked flatter, my round face looked like a globe” (8). She compares herself to her younger sister Faith: “My sister got the beauty in the family. I got the personality” (8).
Jenna starts daydreaming about the red car she is planning on buying with her savings when her thoughts are interrupted by her father, drunkenly calling to her from across the store. She has not seen him for two years and seven months. Mrs. Madeline Jean Gladstone, the elderly president of the entire chain of Gladstone’s stores is standing by the cash register. Embarrassed and ashamed, Jenna apologizes to Mrs. Gladstone, who is standing very still and glaring at her, and then Jenna escorts her father out of the store. Jenna’s father, Jim, is not a “mean drunk,” and he tries to make conversation with her as she sits him down on the steps. He asks how she has been, but Jenna has no patience for small talk with him, remembering all the unanswered letters she sent him and the broken promises. “Part of me wanted to walk away, the other part couldn’t. I’d worked hard at seeing his alcoholism as a disease he was stuck in. Love the person, hate the bad things they do” (12).
Jenna’s father tells her that he’s staying with a Suanne Turnbolt, who Jenna assumes is another girlfriend. Jenna hails a cab, puts her father in it, and gives the driver money and Suanne’s address. All the joy she was feeling that day evaporates as she leans against the railing, gathering herself before returning to the store to face Mrs. Gladstone.
Chapter 2 Summary
Mrs. Gladstone does not fire Jenna for the scene her father made in the store. In fact, when Jenna says she would understand if Mrs. Gladstone no longer wants her to work there Mrs. Gladstone says, “‘Why would I penalize you for something that is clearly your father’s problem?’” (15).
When Jenna gets home that evening, she finds a jovial note from her mother on the dining room table asking Jenna and Faith to clear their things off it. The girls divide up the table, and while they clear it Jenna tells Faith she saw their dad. Faith, who is 14 and very beautiful with blond hair and green eyes, asks whether their father mentioned her. Jenna lies and says, “He misses you and wishes he could have come around more and wonders how you’re doing” (17), even though he hadn’t mentioned Faith at all. As the older sister, Jenna is used to covering for her father to make things easier for Faith. This time however, Faith keeps pushing Jenna on whether he misses them, which results in one of their many arguments about their father and ends with Faith storming off to her room.
Jenna’s mother, who works long hours as an emergency-room nurse, often leaves notes around the house for Jenna and Faith, mostly asking the girls to clean up. Jenna appreciates how hard her mom works and still manages to make time for family. Jenna is in the kitchen, having just read a note from her mom about cleaning the dishes when the phone rings. Jenna answers and is surprised to hear Mrs. Gladstone. Mrs. Gladstone asks Jenna whether she has a driver’s license and drives “properly.” A confused Jenna answers, “‘I guess…I mean…yes’” (21). Mrs. Gladstone instructs Jenna to come to her house the following morning because she needs a driver for her Cadillac. Jenna panics and tries to explain she has only driven an old Honda, but Mrs. Gladstone has already hung up.
Jenna wakes up at 5:45 a.m. and watches a fly being caught by a spider web on her ceiling and happily notes that if she cleaned her room, she would miss these wonderful displays of nature. As Jenna passes the family photos hanging on the wall, she thinks of her grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and moved into a nursing home two years ago. Grandma understood everything about Jenna and was Jenna’s best friend. Jenna misses her terribly and visits her every week, bringing her flowers and sitting quietly with her. Jenna pins photos and messages on a “memory board” she made when her grandmother was first diagnosed. Grandma said to Jenna, “‘Jenna Loise Boller, I’m counting on you. As this thing gets worse, you’re going to have to help me remember,’” and Jenna tries her best to help her.
Chapter 3 Summary
At 6:56 a.m. Jenna is standing outside Mrs. Gladstone’s “ritzy three-story brown-stone building” (25). Mrs. Gladstone’s maid lets Jenna in the house, where Mrs. Gladstone is ready and waiting. She quizzes Jenna briefly about qualifications needed to be a good driver and seems satisfied with Jenna’s answer of “focus.” Mrs. Gladstone talks frequently and fondly about her late husband Floyd, with whom she started Gladstone’s Shoes many years ago. After nearly backing into the closed garage doors, Jenna nervously but successfully drives Mrs. Gladstone to Gladstone’s Shoes, hands the car over to the parking attendant and spends the rest of the morning selling shoes. At lunchtime Jenna crosses the store, leaving to have lunch with her best friend, Opal Kincade, who works nearby at a Fotomat booth. Jenna can see Opal waiting for her on the street, but Mrs. Gladstone catches Jenna before she gets to the door and tells her she needs Jenna to drive her to Evanston that afternoon. Despite Opal’s persuasive pleading, “Tell her you can’t go Jenna. We have things to discuss” (31), things being boys, Jenna tells her they’ll have lunch tomorrow and helps Mrs. Gladstone into the Cadillac. Jenna asks Mrs. Gladstone what is happening, but she still does not get an explanation.
Chapters 1-3 Analysis
Rules of the Road is narrated by the protagonist 16-year-old Jenna Boller in the first-person point of view. Jenna seems supremely confident in the opening pages as she congratulates herself on her special ability to sell shoes and manage difficult kids in the store, all while staying upbeat. However, the insecurities Jenna is dealing with slip out when she describes herself and her experience at high school. Weight gain, failing grades, and lost sports opportunities coupled with being bullied leads Jenna to feel invisible and inadequate. These feelings are echoed in the relationship Jenna has with her alcohol-addicted father, which is hinted at in Chapter 1 when Jenna feels a pang of pain on overhearing a “weekend father” telling his daughter he must take her back early because he has an appointment—something her dad used to say. Jenna is in the midst of typical adolescent turmoil coupled with her beloved grandmother’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease and the added strain of an alcohol-addicted, mostly absent father. The only place she doesn’t feel “big, awkward, and lost” (6),is at Gladstone’s Shoes.
At Gladstone’s Jenna says she feels, “successful. I helped people. They looked to me instead of away” (6). Jenna feels seen at Gladstone’s. Because of the positive reinforcement Jenna gets from customers and her manager at Gladstone’s, she throws herself fully into the job and learns everything there is to know about shoes and how to sell them. Jenna has a similar approach to her father and his disease and tries from a young age to help him. Jenna becomes the person he leans on. However, unlike from what she gets Gladstone’s, the emotional payout from her “work” with her father is mostly negative. Meeting her father drains her: “I felt exhausted, like I hadn't slept for days” (12). When Jenna was young, the eager anticipation of seeing her father get home evolved into a growing fear of seeing him return drunk and distant, which in turn grew into deep disappointment and resentment when seeing him. This range of emotions is captured in Bauer’s recurring expression, “Daddy’s home” (12), which is used throughout the book.
The complicated love in families, a theme that runs throughout the book is highlighted by Jenna’s relationship with her father—which is summed up as “[l]ove the person, hate the bad things they do” (12)—and also by Jenna’s relationship with her grandmother. Jenna loves her grandmother without reservation, and this love shines through in Jenna’s memories of Grandma before she got sick and how Jenna draws on the advice Grandma has given her over the years. Her grandmother was always there for Jenna, so now Jenna is there for her grandmother—not out of guilt or fear which (in addition to love) drives the way Jenna is there for her father, but out of pure love.
Jenna’s insecurities about her appearance are compounded by the fact that her sister is beautiful (according to Jenna), “an example of what God could do if he was paying attention” (16), and while Jenna jokes about this she feels Faith “always got off easy” (17). This belief makes Jenna dig deeper into her perceived role as the problem solving, responsible older sister, daughter, and granddaughter. The comparison Jenna draws highlights how she undermines her own physical attributes while enhancing those of Faith: “Faith always seemed put together—her head matched her neck; Her long legs matched the rest of her body. I felt like I'd been glued together with surplus parts” (16).
Despite her insecurities Jenna has a keen sense of humor, and makes jokes about her messy room and her unusual height. However, the reader gets the sense that the jokes are a distraction from the deep-seated anxiety she is experiencing around her father’s situation.
Mrs. Gladstone initially comes across as harsh and cold, but the reader quickly realizes that she has Jenna’s best interests at heart. Mrs. Gladstone sees Jenna is suffering the consequences of her father’s selfish behavior and can sympathize because she too is being tormented by a beloved family member, her son Elden. Mrs. Gladstone does not coddle Jenna. She provides firm guidance while also letting Jenna know she believes in her abilities, both as a driver and shoe sales expert. Even though Mrs. Gladstone doesn’t exude warmth, her insight and trust are integral to Jenna’s rapid maturation from a self-conscious high schooler to a confident young woman that happens throughout the book.
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