61 pages • 2 hours read
Swallowing Stones
A 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 16-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary
Michael
School is starting soon. Michael begins to relax, believing the police have hit a dead end. Michael goes on a nightly run, during which he often stops on the church steps across from the Ward house. However, he’s more anxious about stopping there since Jenna approached him at the party two days prior. He worries Jenna will recognize him. Michael was only waiting outside that party for a chance to see Amy, who won’t take his calls.
Michael has also been pulling weeds at the Ward house after dark. He feels Charlie Ward would’ve wanted someone to look after the house and yard. Michael even cleaned the gutters the other night, but it was much more work than he anticipated, and it was morning before he was done. Michael notices the police presence around the Ward house and wonders if they suspect him of being a trespasser. Not wanting police attention, Michael leaves the church steps and continues his run.
Michael spots Amy leaving a 7-Eleven. Amy is surprised to see him but less hostile. Michael apologizes and tells Amy that everything Darcy said was a lie. Amy explains that she worries about Michael’s intentions with her because of what happened at Michael’s party. Amy was supposed to be Joe’s date, so either Michael betrayed his friend to get with her, or they both were in on it. Michael tries to convince her it’s not what she thinks, but Amy doesn’t like that he’s dodging her questions. Amy agrees to see Michael again to talk more later.
Michael feels optimistic on his way home from the run. However, he arrives home to find police scanning his backyard with metal detectors.
Chapter 17 Summary
Four officers search the MacKenzies’ yard with metal detectors, having found nothing while searching the house. Michael grows anxious. His father and Josh watch the police from the back porch. No one is near the woodpile where Michael buried the rifle, to his relief. Michael watches as several officers disappear into the woods behind the house, where he was when he shot the gun. One of the officers returns with a bullet casing. Michael begins to panic.
The officers explain that the bullet that killed Charlie Ward is rare these days. It matches the kind the government used to give to the cavalry. It could’ve only come from a gun like Michael’s, and Michael’s gun is the only one like it in town. Michael’s mom asks if the police are implying Michael shot the gun, but they clarify that the bullet came from Michael’s gun—not that it means Michael shot it. Michael’s parents question Michael about the gun’s whereabouts during the party. Michael’s father is sure they locked it up, but Michael admits to bringing it out again to show his friends. Michael says he put it back but can’t remember if he locked the case. He insists he didn’t shoot the rifle and suggests any of the 40 people at the party could’ve done it. Michael can tell his parents are fearful and desperate for an answer that doesn’t implicate their son.
Josh suggests Joe could’ve borrowed the rifle to destroy the evidence after shooting it at the party. Michael tries to shut Josh down, but the police seem to be considering that angle. After the police leave, Michael’s dad speculates that Joe did it. Michael feels his father is trying to convince himself Michael didn’t do it. Michael’s dad asks if Michael kept anything from the police, but Michael denies it.
Michael realizes that the police thought he was lying about the gun being stolen. The police have suspected him since their first visit. Michael feels guilty about not defending Joe. He knows he must tell Joe what happened.
Chapter 18 Summary
Things have been distant between Michael and Joe, but they meet up in the pool parking lot. Michael tells Joe to take them somewhere private, the Great Swamp. Before leaving the parking lot, Joe chugs a beer and throws the can under the next car over. He’s been drinking a lot more beer since Charlie Ward’s death.
At the swamp, Michael and Joe walk past the Ghost Tree. There are many legends and tales about the tree, but Michael sees it as a comfortable place where he and Joe have spent many hours. Once they’re away from everything and everyone, Michael tells Joe how the police found a casing and how they know the bullet is from Michael’s gun. Joe finishes two more beers. He insists they won’t be able to prove anything without a rifle. Michael adds that the police are already suspicious of Joe, which angers Joe. Michael assures Joe he’ll tell the truth before he lets Joe get put away for this, but Joe retorts that he’s already an accessory by knowing about Michael’s guilt and helping Michael lie about the gun. Michael apologizes, but Joe rants about Michael messing everything up, including his own future and his relationship with Darcy.
Michael drives back since Joe has been drinking. While merging, Michael accidentally bumps the car in front of him. Michael pulls over, but Joe gets out of the car and begins attacking the car Michael bumped. Joe climbs on the car and stomps on the windshield, cursing at the driver. Michael opens the car to help the driver get away from Joe’s drunken, angry rage and realizes it’s Amy just as the windshield shatters inward. Other cars pull up, and drivers get out, trying to calm Joe. Michael notices Joe is crying.
Michael observes the scene of Joe attacking Amy’s car while onlookers try to clean up the situation. He feels guilty and responsible for everything that set these events in motion.
Chapter 19 Summary
Jenna
Jenna dreams of the Ghost Tree, where Michael and her father are talking. She’s anxious about approaching, but Amy pulls her forward. Jenna’s mother wakes her because she was crying in her sleep.
Jenna makes herself hot chocolate and recalls a time when she and her father went to the swamp together during the winter to leave food for the deer. Jenna fondly remembers leaving apples under the Ghost Tree. Jenna’s father told her about the Native American myths surrounding the tree, which say that one can communicate with spirits there. One legend says sleeping in the tree’s cradle will summon all one’s ancestors and their wisdom. Jenna wishes she could figure out why this tree keeps appearing in her dreams.
The next morning, Jenna’s mother stays home from work to sort through Charlie’s things. Meredith is crying and has piles of her husband’s clothes all over the room. Getting rid of Charlie’s things is hard. Jenna asks if they can keep the tools for a while. Meredith agrees. Rather than go to the pool with Andrea, Jenna stays and helps her mother with her father’s things. It feels like saying goodbye each time she packs a new shirt.
Chapter 20 Summary
Annie Rico drops by to discuss the police investigation. She indicates a 17-year-old has been taken in, but she doesn’t give details, assuming the Wards already know. The police haven’t pressed charges yet. Jenna and Meredith both want more information.
Meredith calls the police and yells at them for letting Annie Rico be the one to break the news to her, but the police avoid giving her information. Jenna calls Annie instead and asks for information about the boy. Annie gives Jenna the name Joe Sadowski. Jenna looks up the Sadowskis in the phone book and heads to the house. She wants to catch a glimpse of the boy who killed her father.
Jenna hides behind a tree and watches the house. She spots Michael MacKenzie approach the Sadowski front door. Jenna wonders if Michael and Joe are friends. When Joe opens the door, Jenna realizes she recognizes him as the guy harassing Amy at the party. She begins to wonder how Michael, Amy, and Joe are all connected. Jenna revisits the fantasy she relayed to Andrea, admitting to herself that she could never kill anyone.
Over dinner, Jenna and Meredith discuss how the trial might go. Jenna considers how much she wants the boy to suffer for what he’s done. Jenna cannot stop thinking about Joe and wondering about his connections to Mike and Amy. Jenna decides to seek out Amy for clarity.
Chapters 16-20 Analysis
Chapters 16 through 20 raise the stakes for Michael and Joe as Michael’s lies grow larger and police pressure mounts. These chapters also draw the circle of the main characters tighter, creating stronger links between Jenna, Amy, Michael, and Joe through the tragedy that ties them together.
In Chapter 16, Michael begins to feel optimistic about the police investigation as well as about Amy. Michael believes that “the police just didn’t have enough evidence to put together a case” (161). Michael also encounters Amy and manages to get back on speaking terms with her toward the end of the chapter. However, Amy’s concerns about Michael’s decision to hook up with her at his party despite Amy being Joe’s date contribute to the theme of The Consequences of Impulsive Actions by showing how Michael’s decision to hook up with Amy at the party hurt Amy’s opinion of Michael in the long run. Michael’s decision also links to The Influence of Reputation because Amy knows that her reputation—founded or unfounded—precedes her, and she feels Michael may have been acting on his idea of the kind of girl he believed her to be.
The Consequences of Impulsive Actions theme grows stronger in Chapter 17, as Michael’s conflict with his guilt and the police investigation escalate again. After the police find a bullet casing in Michael’s backyard and indicate that they know the bullet that killed Charlie Ward came from Michael’s rifle, Michael’s brother Josh begins to imply that Joe could be the one responsible, reminding the police about the “stolen” rifle. In Chapter 18, Michael must face Joe with the news that the police suspect him of the crime, despite Joe’s best efforts to help Michael. Michael has become “painfully aware that Joe was rarely without a can of beer in his hands these days” (176), and after he tells Joe about the police’s eyes on him, Joe breaks down into a drunken rage, resulting in a tantrum where he smashes the windshield of Amy’s car. The impact the stress of the police investigation has had on Joe develops The Consequences of Impulsive Actions theme by illustrating the negative effects the stress has had on Joe and his friendship with Michael.
Chapter 18 ends with a simile, as Michael observes, “Everything was falling apart, shattering as surely as the windshield of the Tercel” (184). Michael feels helpless to stop the crumble of his life in the wake of the accident, but he’s unable to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.
When the perspective shifts to Jenna for Chapters 19 and 20, there is more emphasis placed on the symbolism of her dreams and her healing journey while awake. At the beginning of Chapter 19, Jenna finds herself dreaming about the Ghost Tree again, only this time she’s very close. Sitting under the tree are her father and Michael Mackenzie, while Amy tries to pull Jenna toward them gently. This dream symbolizes the subconscious connections Jenna is beginning to make between Michael, Amy, and her father’s death.
Awake, Jenna works through her Grief and Denial by engaging with things that remind her of her father. Jenna makes hot cocoa and reminisces about visiting the Ghost Tree with him. This scene also delivers some important lore on the Ghost Tree and its significance outside Jenna’s dream as a spiritual place where people can communicate with their ancestors. The Ghost Tree as a symbol represents acceptance, and in Jenna’s dreams, as she slowly gets closer to the tree, she is also slowly getting closer to accepting a future without her father.
Later in Chapter 19, Jenna and her mother work through their grief together as they pack up Charlie Ward’s wardrobe. Although it is difficult for them to work through Charlie’s things, the action of packing up his clothing brings a sense of closure to both, and Jenna “found herself saying goodbye. Over and over” (193) with each new piece of clothing she folds and packs. This scene develops the theme of Grief and Denial by showing how much easier it is for Jenna to work through her grief now that she’s not steeped in denial.
Chapter 20 brings important developments in the novel’s plot with the reveal that Joe Sadowski has been taken in for questioning. Once Jenna is able to put a face and a name to her father’s potential killer, she begins to humanize him. Jenna revisits her violent fantasy from the beach and admits “that no matter how much pain he had caused her, no matter how much she hated him, she would never be able to pull the trigger” (199). Jenna’s acknowledgment that her previous fantasy was unhealthy and not a true reflection of her nature shows that she’s growing through her grief and finding better ways to channel it.
Chapter 20 ends with Jenna’s realization that Michael, Joe, and Amy are linked somehow, and she vows to investigate this link as a last resort for answers about her father’s murder.
Unlock all 61 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
