46 pages • 1 hour read
Unplugged
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 1-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Jett Baranov”
Jett Baranov is the 12-year-old son of tech billionaire Vladimir Baranov. Jett’s father owns the popular software company Fuego, and Jett is addicted to technology. Aside from that, he has also been named Silicon Valley’s Number One Spoiled Brat. In an effort to curb Jett’s wild ways, his father sends him to a retreat center in rural Arkansas with a 27-year-old handler named Matt Louganis. Matt is a brilliant technology expert, but he is more valuable to his employer for his ability to occasionally keep Jett under control.
After a plane trip and a three-hour car ride, Jett and Matt arrive at the Oasis of Mind and Body Wellness center. They are met by the extremely tall and muscular meditation director, Ivory Novis. Jett is appalled when Ivory confiscates all the tech that he brought with him. Matt also turns over his cell phone. Nobody at the wellness center is allowed to use technology, and Jett is supposed to remain there for six weeks. He doesn’t take the news well. To add insult to injury, the camp cafeteria serves only vegetarian food.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Grace Atwater”
The narration now shifts to 12-year-old Grace Atwater. The morning after Jett’s arrival, she is performing the camp’s daily breathing ritual, called Awakening. Unlike Jett, she loves coming to the center and arrives each summer with her mother. On this particular day, Awakening is being led by the center’s founder, Magnus Fellini, whom Grace idolizes.
She is less thrilled with Jett, who is sending out hostile vibes because he resents being forced to perform the morning ritual. Grace complains about Jett’s attitude to her friend Tyrell Karrigan. Tyrell is attending the retreat with his parents and sister. Unfortunately, he is allergic to practically everything in nature and even some of his food, so Tyrell is constantly itchy. Despite his physical misery, he tries to defend Jett, saying that it’s tough to be the new kid. Tyrell is also a fan of tech products from Fuego, the company that Jett’s father owns. After the Awakening, everyone is instructed to go to the Bath. This is a spring that is considered purifying and cleansing, but the temperature of the water is very hot. When Jett cannonballs into the pool, he howls as if he has been scalded. Matt takes Jett back to their cabin to dry off, and Grace makes a mental note not to allow Jett to ruin her time at the Oasis.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Tyrell Karrigan”
Later that morning, the kids are told to pair off and take pedal boats out on the lake. As a gesture of goodwill, Tyrell offers to partner with Jett. Once on the water, Jett refuses to pedal and manages to antagonize the beefy son of a football player in another boat by chucking a bullrush at him. The boy is named Brandon Bucholz, and he’s already six-foot-two at the age of 13.
Brandon and his teammate head straight for Jett and Tyrell’s boat, intending to ram it. Jett moves the tiller, and Brandon falls into the water when he lunges for Jett. The swift current pulls Jett’s boat toward the opposite shore, where it crashes on some rocks and gets tangled in a tree. Jett seems gleeful at the havoc he caused, and Tyrell finds his mischievous streak appealing.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Jett Baranov”
As the camp counselors struggle to retrieve the damaged boat, Jett hopes that his escapade will get him expelled from the camp. Unfortunately, Magnus takes the moral high road and says that Jett will benefit from remaining at the Oasis. Deciding to try another tactic, Jett sneaks into the welcome center late at night and picks the lock on the cabinet where everyone’s tech devices are stored.
He grabs his cell phone and calls his father, Vlad, who is unsympathetic to Jett’s plight. Vlad says that Jett is going to stay put at the Oasis for six weeks. After he gets off the phone, Jett comes up with an alternative scheme. He thinks, “I can bring the world here, thanks to the best thing any kid could possibly have—a credit card with the name Baranov on it. Fertilizer, meet fan” (58).
Chapter 5 Summary: “Grace Atwater”
The next morning during her meditation session, Grace’s mood is ruined by thoughts about the destructive Jett. As Tyrell and Grace exit after the session, they notice FedEx drivers delivering giant packages to Jett’s cottage. There is an arcade video game console, a Jet Ski, and an ATV.
When they enter Jett’s cottage, Grace and Tyrell smell meat. Jett has also ordered all sorts of barbecue delicacies and steaks from a nearby restaurant that delivers. Jett shows his campmates two concealed boxes of fireworks under his bed too. He then invites Tyrell and Grace to join him for a meal, but Grace is appalled. Matt arrives, and he is just as outraged as Grace. He says to Jett, “You’re like a toddler, incapable of thinking five seconds into the future” (68). Jett says that he also has a hovercraft on order that hasn’t arrived yet. Matt insists that everything will be sent back, but he and Tyrell both seem tempted to sample the meat. Concluding that all men are carnivores, Grace can’t watch them eat and leaves.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Matt Louganis”
The story now shifts to Matt’s perspective. He thinks back ruefully to his brilliant career aspirations. He is the top coder at Fuego but once made the mistake of befriending Jett at a company party. Now, Vlad has stuck him with the chore of babysitting the boy. Later that morning, as all of Jett’s ill-gotten goods are being sent away, Matt has a meeting with Ivory and Magnus. Ivory worries that Jett is such a disturbing element that he will ruin the Oasis for everyone. Magnus argues that the boy must stay, saying, “I understand the unique challenge he presents. But we’ll win him over. He will be whole. You’ll see” (75).
Matt thinks that Jett will turn the entire Oasis into a hole in the ground before he’s through. He has some compassion for the boy since both his parents are neglectful. However, when Matt returns to Jett’s cabin, he gives the boy a lecture. Jett taunts him by suggesting that not everything has been returned. (Matt fails to notice the concealed fireworks under Jett’s bed.)
Chapters 1-6 Analysis
The first segment of the novel establishes several different narrative threads. Each chapter of the book is told from the viewpoint of a different character. This allows the reader to have access to each person’s thoughts and feelings. At the same time, it limits the perception of what is actually happening to an individual character’s viewpoint. It is up to the reader to connect the dots and form a coherent narrative from the limited perspective of each character. The four core viewpoints belong to Jett, Grace, Tyrell, and Brooklynne. However, a few isolated chapters are told from the perspective of Matt and Brandon.
In these initial chapters, a baseline is established for the normal behavior of the four members of Team Lizard. Jett is proud to tell the reader about his various escapades. He is also proud to be named the top brat in Silicon Valley. His chapters foreground his isolation and his indiscriminate rule breaking. To a lesser extent, the concept of collectivity is introduced when Jett is forced to join group activities at the Oasis under protest. At this early point in the novel, he shows no inclination to make himself a part of the guest community.
This segment also sets up the antagonism between Jett and Grace that will persist for much of the book. Just as Jett is proud of his rule-breaking behavior, Grace congratulates herself on her obedience to the rules at the Oasis. She sees her own behavior as perfect and views Jett’s as deeply flawed. His various attempts to undermine the established order at the Oasis are a threat to Grace’s peace of mind.
Caught somewhere between these two polarized characters is Tyrell. His prior years at the Oasis have allowed him to cultivate a friendship with the prickly Grace. Despite his physical ailments, Tyrell displays a tolerance toward others that neither Grace nor Jett exhibit. Grace and Jett, although set in opposition to each other, are ironically alike in thinking of themselves as being smarter than and superior to everybody else. Tyrell merely wants to get along with them both. This is a difficult balancing act, but he manages to achieve it. He certainly shows more empathy than either of the combatants, compassionately explaining to Grace that it must be hard for Jett to be the new kid in the group.
Aside from establishing the background and temperaments of three of the central characters, the first segment of the novel also features a brief chapter from Matt’s perspective. This is the only point in the novel during which we see events through this character’s eyes. His chapter is useful for illuminating aspects of Jett’s life that the boy himself doesn’t perceive. From Matt's chapter, it is clear that Jett is neglected by both of his overachieving parents, and many of his stunts can be interpreted as attention-seeking ploys. Matt displays some sympathy for Jett’s plight, which hints at his aptitude for dealing with youngsters. This trait will be highlighted again at the end of the novel when Matt quits Fuego to teach children in developing countries.
The two motifs of technology and food are firmly established, particularly in Jett’s chapters, as he reacts negatively to the rules of the Oasis. Faced with being deprived of his tech and being forced to eat strictly vegetarian food, he responds with outrage and rebellion. Jett violates the rules in a spectacular fashion in these chapters by breaking into the welcome center to retrieve his phone and running up outrageous credit card bills, including ordering forbidden meat-based dishes from a local restaurant.
Both Grace and Matt react negatively to Jett’s behavior. Significantly, Grace is angry because the rules have been broken, while Matt is angry because of Jett’s self-involvement. The boy thinks that he is the only person being inconvenienced. At this point in the story, Matt fails to see the personal benefit of the Oasis that he will eventually discover. Jett, too, will come to see the value of the place for entirely different reasons. However, in these early chapters, both characters are feeling deprived for no reason. The only character who isn’t exhibiting any angst is Tyrell. He is delighted by Jett’s rebellious streak and is happy to go along for the ride.
Unlock all 46 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
Related Titles
By Gordon Korman
