61 pages • 2 hours read
Swallowing Stones
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Prologue-Chapter 5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Prologue Summary
Teenager Jenna Ward stands outside on July 4, watching her father repair a leak in the roof. Her father suddenly buckles and falls limply forward, rolling off the roof and coming to rest on the ground at Jenna’s feet. He’s been struck in the back of the head by a bullet.
Across town, Michael MacKenzie has just shot his new Winchester rifle, a birthday gift from his grandfather, into the air. Later, he sneaks off with Amy Ruggerio to hook up in his garage despite his girlfriend Darcy being at the party. Michael thinks this is the greatest day of his life and has no idea that the bullet he fired has killed a man.
Chapter 1 Summary
Michael
Michael is excited to take his driver’s test the day after his birthday. He’s been practicing for the exam and anticipating the freedom that will come with having a driver’s license. He thinks about Amy while he gets dressed. Although he enjoyed their tryst, he doesn’t think highly of her. Amy has a reputation for being easy to hook up with. Michael feels she proved that, but he can’t help but feel a strange affection toward her. He regrets that he cheated on Darcy.
Michael goes to his best friend Joe Sadowski’s house. Joe promised to escort Michael to his driver’s test. Michael drives Joe’s car to the DMV for extra practice. On the way, the radio details a story about a man in their town who was struck by a stray bullet and killed instantly while repairing his roof, right around noon on July 4. The radio appeals to the public for any information that could provide details to the police.
Michael and Joe both think the same thing. Joe was with Michael when he fired the shot around noon the previous day. Joe suggests Michael wasn’t the only one firing guns on the Fourth of July, but Michael is already panicking because he believes he is responsible. Michael pulls over. Joe reassures Michael that it was an accident and urges Michael to keep his mouth shut about everything so as not to ruin his bright future. Joe has been Michael’s best friend since they were in second grade, despite Joe’s reputation for being a troublemaker. Joe explains he’s “done things [he] ain’t proud of” (13) and suggests Michael just live with the knowledge that he shot the gun. Joe also suggests the bullet could’ve come from anywhere.
Joe and Michael make a pact not to speak about it again, but Michael feels terrible. He fails his driver’s exam because he’s so wracked with guilt. When Michael gets home, he seals the rifle in a PVC pipe and buries it under the stack of firewood in the backyard.
Chapter 2 Summary
Jenna
The unusual death of Jenna Ward’s father made national headlines, and police began their investigation immediately. Jenna and her mother were given sedatives to help them get through the night of explosions and fireworks. The police are still scoping out the lawn when Jenna wakes up the next morning.
Jenna feels nothing. She isn’t sure how to feel. The shock of watching her father die has not worn off. Jenna gets dressed and makes tea. She views the “Honey Do” list on the refrigerator and crosses off the top item, patching the leak in the roof. She goes to the basement, her father’s workshop, to drink her tea in silence. She tries to convince herself that what happened the previous day was real. Jenna is interrupted by her mother demanding she come upstairs to help.
Jenna’s mother, Meredith, has begun cleaning because people will be coming by the house. Jenna tries to convince her that there’s no need, but she soon realizes cleaning keeps their minds off the grief.
Police Chief Zelenski arrives to take Jenna and Meredith’s statements. Chief Zelenski assures them that the police department is working hard to find the person responsible for Charlie Ward’s death, but he cannot give them a good time frame. Jenna becomes upset. She feels suffocated and leaves the room. She goes to step outside, but she’s confronted by reporters surrounding the house and cameras flashing in her face. She recoils inside to cry, but her tears are dry.
Chapter 3 Summary
The next morning, Michael waits until his parents have left for work before going to the kitchen for breakfast. The previous evening, he lied to his father about passing his driver’s test because he couldn’t explain why he failed. Michael eats breakfast in silence and looks at the newspaper, where a photo of Jenna Ward’s big, sad face plasters the front. He doesn’t want to read the article, but he’s compelled to. He wishes he could apologize and let her know how bad he feels, but he knows that wouldn’t help.
Michael’s younger brother, Josh, comes downstairs. Josh notices the newspaper and talks about the shooting. The entire town is talking about it. Josh asks if Michael has any ideas about the shooter, but Michael doesn’t want to talk. As Michael leaves for work, Josh asks if Michael has done any shooting with his new rifle. Michael pretends not to hear.
Michael works as a lifeguard at the neighborhood pool. All his friends are there, talking about how great his party was. Michael doesn’t want to think about it. Michael’s girlfriend Darcy approaches his lifeguard post and asks why he blew her off. He was supposed to see her after getting his license. Michael doesn’t want to talk, saying he’ll get in trouble with his boss. Darcy is unsatisfied.
Two girls pretend to drown in front of Michael. It reminds him of a local girl who died several years back while swimming at the lake. She and her friends were playing a game where one brings a stone from the bottom of the lake to the surface using only one’s mouth. The girl began to choke on the stone, and it lodged in her windpipe. Michael wishes she could’ve just swallowed the stone because she might have lived. He feels that the best thing someone can do when they find a stone in their throat is not panic, just swallow it and get it over with to keep your future. Michael worries about his future.
Michael spots Amy. He feels Amy intentionally makes herself look easy despite being naturally pretty. Amy notices Michael and waves. Michael wants to pretend he doesn’t see her, but he finds himself waving back.
Chapter 4 Summary
After work, Michael goes to the public library to scan all the newspapers for stories about the shooting. He wants to know what the police know and stay ahead of things. He’s also curious about the Ward family.
Michael gets home in time for dinner, though he’d hoped he’d missed it. His mother informs him that Darcy called about a party. Michael calls Darcy back. He expects conflict, but she just wants to know when he’s picking her up for the party. Darcy can tell there’s something weird about Michael.
Over dinner, Michael’s mother expresses being exhausted from work because the tragedy has made the flower shop busy. Michael’s father expresses what a senseless tragedy it is and boasts that he’s taught his sons to respect guns. Michael grows nervous and excuses himself to go pick up Darcy. He accepts his father’s offer to take the car, afraid to cause suspicion by rejecting it.
Michael picks up Darcy. He wants to figure out how to break up with her, but everything sounds wrong in his head. The party is crowded, and everyone is having fun. Darcy goes to get Michael a drink. Michael sits on the stairs and listens as two girls talk about Jenna Ward. He learns that Jenna watched her father die, which makes him feel even worse. Amy comes up to sit next to Michael. She compliments his party and offers him iced tea, but he declines. Amy leaves as Darcy returns.
Michael goes through the motions of the party with Darcy, but by midnight, he feels terrible. He runs into Joe, who is drunk. Michael takes Joe outside to get some air. The police show up to shut down the party, so Darcy helps Michael steer Joe out the back.
Chapter 5 Summary
It’s rainy the next day, so Michael repaints bathrooms at work. He no longer wants to be home for meals with his family talking about the Ward shooting, so after work, he walks around town. He first finds himself at Jenna Ward’s house. He perches on the steps of the church across the street. Michael guesses the Wards have their own pool since they don’t come to the community pool. Michael stays there until it’s dark, then he begins walking again.
Michael comes upon Amy’s house. Amy emerges and greets Michael. She invites him in. Amy brings Michael snacks, and Michael relaxes on her couch. Amy lives with her grandfather, but he’s upstairs sleeping. She and Michael play Scrabble until they fall asleep on the floor.
In the morning, Amy says she’s glad Michael came by. Amy reassures him that no one will know. It strikes Michael that Amy is aware of her reputation. He’s wondering how much truth there is to what the kids say about her. Michael trusts Amy to keep his visit a secret regardless.
Michael isn’t sure where to go when he leaves. He’s been avoiding his family, Joe, and Darcy, and now he feels he should be avoiding Amy too. He knows he cannot dodge people once school starts in September.
Prologue-Chapter 5 Analysis
The prologue and first five chapters of the novel introduce the dual main characters of Michael MacKenzie and Jenna Ward, as well as the threads of conflict that tie them together. These chapters also begin to explore the main themes of The Consequences of Impulsive Actions, The Influence of Reputation, and Grief and Denial. The structure of this novel shifts close third-person perspective every few chapters, allowing the story to unfold through both Jenna Ward’s and Michael MacKenzie’s day-to-day experiences with the fallout of Charlie Ward’s death.
Chapter 1 establishes the main conflict for Michael as he learns about the death of Charlie Ward from a stray bullet falling to earth. Michael’s first impulse is to consider how “[l]ots of people had been shooting off firecrackers the day before. Probably shooting guns, too. […] Guns probably had been going off all over the place” (11). Michael searches for reasons why the bullet couldn’t have come from his gun, establishing one of the main themes of Grief and Denial. As the chapters progress, Michael struggles to grapple with the information about Charlie Ward’s death. He reads any news he can about the case while at the same time growing distant from the people he’s closest to, like his family, because they’re discussing the case. Michael’s simultaneous avoidance of people and search for information about Charlie Ward’s death further develop the theme of Grief and Denial by showing how Michael attempts to avoid those who might make him feel guilty and to find information to alleviate his guilt.
The theme of Grief and Denial is also developed through Jenna and Meredith Ward, whose first 24 hours after the accident are spent in shock and denial. Jenna “wondered what she should be feeling” (20) because she struggles to grasp the reality of what’s just happened. When Meredith calls Jenna upstairs to help clean, Jenna at first feels there’s no need, as “nobody’s going to care if the house is a mess” (24), but she soon realizes “the work kept her busy, and she didn’t have to think, which, much as she hated to admit it, might have been just what her mother had in mind” (25). Jenna and Meredith’s grief-inspired cleaning frenzy develops the theme of Grief and Denial by showing how Jenna and Meredith choose to ignore their grief and push it aside so as not to deal with the pain.
In addition to the two main characters, these chapters also establish two significant side characters: Amy Ruggerio and Joe Sadowski. Joe is Michael’s best friend, and “they were as different as night as day” (13). While Michael is a popular jock with a girlfriend, “most of the other kids at school had more or less written Joe off back in eighth grade when he’d been caught smashing roadside mailboxes with a baseball bad at one o’clock in the morning, drunk” (13). Joe’s reputation as a troublemaker means that Michael is “Joe’s only real friend” (13). Joe’s reputation develops the theme of The Influence of Reputation by showing how Joe’s reputation causes him to have fewer friends.
Amy, and Michael’s growing attraction to her, also develops the theme of The Influence of Reputation because her reputation influences the way people treat her. In Chapter 1, Michael recalls his previous day’s tryst with Amy in the garage while his girlfriend, Darcy, was in the kitchen. Michael “told himself Amy Ruggerio was easy, because that was what everyone said. And she had proved it, hadn’t she?” (8). Yet, he still feels guilty about their make-out session and about feeling as though he’s used Amy. As the chapters progress, Michael attempts to suppress a newfound affection for Amy, not just because of Darcy but because of her reputation. At the end of Chapter 3, Michael analyzes how Amy “made herself look like a slut” (39). However, when Amy waves at Michael, “he felt his hand, as if it had a mind all its own, jerk upward in an awkward gesture of acknowledgement” (39). Although Michael is judging Amy based on her appearance and reputation, he still feels himself being drawn to her.
Michael’s attraction to Amy becomes more evident in Chapter 5, as Michael finds Amy’s residence while out walking. He spends the night playing Scrabble with Amy, having no one else he wants to turn to in his turmoil, and before he leaves, he’s tempted to kiss her again but stops himself. At the end of Chapter 5, Amy assures Michael that “nobody’ll find out” (58) about his visit, indicating that Amy is “perfectly aware of what the other kids thought of her” though Michael “was beginning to wonder just how true those stories were” (58). Amy’s acknowledgement of her reputation and Michael’s beginning to question that reputation develops the theme of The Influence of Reputation by showing how what others believe about a person can be misleading and can impact how the person with the reputation navigates social situations.
Finally, these chapters introduce the main theme of The Consequences of Impulsive Actions through the introduction of the main conflict: Michael’s accidental murder of Charlie Ward. Michael’s growing distance from his family and Darcy is a symptom of his guilt, as are the lies he must tell to cover up his guilt. In Chapter 3, Michael recalls lying to his father about the driver’s test, and in Chapter 4, he takes his father’s car without a license because he can’t risk revealing his lies. The consequences of Michael’s impulsive actions go beyond the immediate result of Charlie Ward’s death, as the ripples from his impulsivity affect every part of his life. These ripples also impact the Ward family, who are left with no closure and no answers about the sudden loss of their patriarch.
This theme is also developed through the titular motif of swallowing stones. In Chapter 3, Michael recalls the story of a girl who drowned because the stone she was carrying in her mouth as part of a game got lodged in her throat while she was swimming to the surface of the lake. Michael feels that “if she had only swallowed the stone, maybe she would have lived, but she probably panicked and inhaled it” (38). Michael admits, “You have to make yourself swallow [the stone]. The stone would probably tear your gut apart, but you’d survive. You’d have a future” (38). Michael’s story about the stone not only explains the book’s title but also creates a metaphor for doing a difficult task to prevent a more unfavorable outcome. The story of swallowing stones develops the theme of The Consequences of Impulsive Actions by showing how the girl’s choice to play a dangerous game in the lake led to a stone in her throat that resulted in her death. Michael feels she needed to face the consequence of a stone in her throat by swallowing it to survive. This motif becomes an important parallel as the novel progresses and Michael’s guilt mounts.
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