logo

32 pages 1 hour read

Jerzy Kosiński

Being There

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1970

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 3-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 3 Summary

Chance fills a suitcase with the Old Man’s clothes, which are expensive and well-tailored, and steps outside the gate for the first time. Chance is surprised that he recognizes everything he finds in the outside world from TV. Things are bigger and brighter than they appear on the small screen, but they feel familiar.

It is sunny, and he feels hot and uncomfortable as he carries his heavy suitcase down the block. While he is standing by the curb, a black limousine backs into him, pinning his leg against a parked car. The driver and passenger rush to see if he is alright. The passenger is a beautiful woman who introduces herself as EE. She is worried that Chance’s leg is badly injured and convinces him to come home with her and be seen by a doctor. Her husband is ill, and their doctor is on hand. Chance agrees.

Despite the pain in his leg, Chance is calmed when he finds there is a TV in the limousine. The woman tells him that EE is short for Elizabeth Eve and that her husband is the financier, Benjamin Rand. She asks Chance about his family and contacts and is surprised when he says he has none. When she asks his name, she mistakes his reply of “Chance, the gardener,” for “Chauncey Gardiner.”

Chance passes out in the limousine and wakes in the Rands’ home. EE brings the doctor to see him in bed. The doctor comments on Chance’s good looks before examining his leg. He administers an injection, and Chance thinks of all the times he has seen injections given by doctors on television. The doctor confirms that Chance’s leg is not broken and that he needs to rest until evening.

EE returns and tells Chance that she would like him to stay. He acquiesces. He tries to follow her story about Mr. Rand’s former wife and estranged son, using cues he learned from TV to keep the conversation going. EE finds his responses reassuring, believing he is a good listener. Chance watches her as if she were on television, present, but removed. That evening, Chance meets Benjamin Rand, who is almost as old as the Old Man. Rand is in poor health, but shrewd. He likes Chance’s straightforwardness and lack of pretense. When he asks Chance about his work, he assumes that Chance is speaking metaphorically when he describes working in a garden. He tells Chance that he is the chairman of the American Financial Corporation and that they are beginning a program to help small business owners, or “gardeners.” He invites Chance to meet the board members when he is feeling better.

Chapter 4 Summary

The next day, Chance learns that the President of the United States will be visiting the house. Rand is an influential businessman and a financial advisor to the President. Rand tells Chance to prepare for the Secret Service’s arrival. They will have to search the house ahead of the President’s visit. When the Secret Service men arrive, Chance passes the time by watching TV. He sees the President’s helicopter arrive in Central Park on television and thinks of a recent program where he watched the President take part in a military parade.

The President is affable. He and Rand speak at length on the economy, and to Chance it seems like they are speaking another language. He is startled when the President asks him his opinion about the downturned economy. Chance reverts to what he knows and describes the seasons in a garden; there are seasons for growth, dormancy, and renewal. Both Rand and the President are impressed by his insight. They praise his simplicity and good sense. Chance returns to his room for the evening and watches the President’s motorcade drive down Fifth Avenue on TV. He marvels that he was sitting with the man just hours before.

In the President’s televised address to the Financial Institute, he mentions Chance’s comments on growth and pruning seasons. After Chance’s name appears in the President’s speech, the New York Times contacts him. He refuses to speak to them, so they print a story about him being a Wall Street insider and advisor to the President. The news program This Evening contacts Chance, asking if he would like to be interviewed on TV. Chance agrees. He is curious about what happens to someone after they appear on screen, if they change in any significant way. He imagines that after appearing on the show he would become two people; the Chance who had been onscreen and the Chance who had watched himself onscreen.

The interview goes very well. Chance uses his analogy of the garden to answer any questions about the economy. It evokes strong reactions—both positive and negative, but mostly positive—from the audience.

The narrative cuts briefly to Mr. Franklin, the lawyer, who is watching Chance’s interview on television. He thinks Chance looks familiar, but he cannot remember where he has seen him. His wife praises Chance as “a cross between Ted Kennedy and Cary Grant” (70). Franklin looks at Chance and envies his youth and success. He feels he made the wrong decision becoming a lawyer, but at forty he is too old to choose another career path.

At home, Rand congratulates Chance on his successful interview. He asks Chance to accompany EE to a reception for the United Nations Hospitality Committee, of which she is the chairwoman. Chance agrees and goes to his room.

The narrative cuts to EE on the plane from Denver to New York. She is thinking about Chance, or in her mind, Chauncey. She finds him mysterious; he never speaks about himself or his past. She assumes he is wealthy and that a business or bank manages his affairs since he does no business dealings of his own. He is confident but careful not to reveal his true thoughts. His evasiveness makes her desire him even more.

When EE comes home, she visits Chance in his room. She begins to seduce him, and Chance is unsure of what to do. He has never seen sex depicted on television and knows nothing of sexual intercourse. When Chance was young, a maintenance man who worked for the Old Man showed him some pornographic photos. Chance tried to masturbate but was unable to achieve an erection. He does not experience sexual desire, nor does he understand how women became pregnant. When EE begins to touch him, she interprets his lack of erection for sexual restraint. She thanks him for being sensitive and not using her like her past lovers had. Before she leaves, she tells Chance that she is in love with him. Chance settles into bed after she leaves and turns on the TV.

Chapter 5 Summary

The next morning, Rand has a relapse of his illness, and more doctors are called to the house. EE calls Chance to let him know that the newspapers are hailing him as a chief advisor to the President on his economic policy. She comes to his room and tells him that she and Benjamin would like him to stay on with them. Chance agrees, and she arranges a secretary for him.

At the United Nations gathering, EE introduces Chance to political luminaries who praise his television appearance. The Soviet Ambassador, Vladimir Skrapinov, approaches and initiates a conversation with Chance. He tells Chance that he has seen his interview on This Evening and wants to know more about his political views. He implies that after Rand dies, Chance will play an even greater role in policy administration. He is trying to sound out whether Chance will have a friendly attitude toward the Soviet Union when it comes to economic and foreign policy without asking him outright. Chance makes an innocent comment about their chairs being so close together that they are almost touching, and the Ambassador interprets this as a humorous political analogy. He agrees that they both “want to remain seated” on their chairs and draws out the metaphor (89-90). Skrapinov asks Chance if he is familiar with Krylov’s fables. When Chance replies enigmatically, Skrapinov takes it as an affirmation. He even becomes convinced that Chance speaks Russian.

After the event, the press surrounds Chance and EE. They want to know if Chance has read any of the articles on the President’s address. Chance tells them that he does not read newspapers; he watches TV. The journalists are stunned; no other public figure has been brave enough to admit that they follow television more than newspapers.

The narrative cuts to the President looking over his press clippings from the previous day. He decides he needs to learn more about Chauncey Gardiner, but his secretary cannot find any background information. Skrapinov, too, is having trouble discovering anything about Chauncey Gardiner aside from his recent press appearances.

At the dinner gathering, Ronald Stiegler, a publisher from Eidolon Books, approaches Chance and asks him to write a book about his political philosophy. Chance tells him he cannot write, and Stiegler assumes he means that he is not a good writer. Chance tells Stiegler that he cannot read either; Stiegler assumes Chance means he does not have enough time to read.

A man approaches Chance and propositions him. Chance agrees because he does not understand that the man is asking for a sexual encounter. Chance tells the man he would prefer to watch, and the man takes this as an expression of sexual voyeurism (108). As the man pleasures himself using the sole of Chance’s shoe, Chance interprets his convulsions as an illness.

At home, a similar scenario takes place with EE. She comes to his room and tries to initiate a sexual encounter. Chance tells her that he would like to watch her, and she finds that pleasuring herself in his presence is a more satisfying sexual and emotional experience than she has had with other men. For Chance, the act of viewing is the most intimate form of contact: “He wanted to tell her how much he preferred to look at her […]. He did not know how to explain to her that he could not touch better or more fully with his hands than he could with his eyes” (113). Chance is unmoved by the encounter, and when she leaves he returns to watching TV.

Chapters 3-5 Analysis

Chapters Three through Six comprise the plot’s rising action and the progression of the hero’s journey. Rand serves as Chance’s mentor figure. Unlike the Old Man, Rand sees value in Chance and considers him intelligent. Kosiński sets up these chapters with irony: the reader knows the truth about Chance’s background, whereas the characters judge him without context. Rand finds Chance’s simplicity refreshing. Even the President of the United States interprets Chance’s remarks as meaningful.

In a traditional hero’s journey, the mentor opens the path for the protagonist to engage in trials and temptations that test their mettle. The political spotlight in which Chance finds himself and the sexual situations he encounters embody these trials.

In a hero’s journey, the protagonist is always the underdog; they are not armed with strong enough weapons to defeat potential foes. As he is thrust into the highest levels of the social and political elite, Chance is armed with his knowledge of the garden, a nice wardrobe, and the social interactions he has witnessed on television. 

In this satirical narrative, Kosiński is implying that Chance’s meteoric rise to fame—despite being illiterate and having little experience interacting with others—is due to society’s shallowness. The press and politicians make conclusions without verifying their information. Their judgments are based on appearances rather than substance.

On the other hand, Chance’s unintentional metaphors can be seen as profound. The patience, care, and depth of observation needed to grow a garden translate well to many other endeavors. One could indeed interpret Chance’s remarks as wise. In that sense, Rand, the President, EE, and the others with whom Chance interacts recognize the wisdom of Chance’s simple metaphors amid a world of artifice.

No matter what scenario Chance finds himself in, he prevails. Sexual encounters pose a particular challenge because, in addition to not experiencing sexual desire, Chance has no television reference. And yet it turns out that watching television translates into the vocabulary of sex; there is an overlap between viewing and voyeurism. Chance’s experience of life from a voyeuristic point of view is part of Kosiński’s commentary on the disconnected nature of a society dominated by television.

blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text

Related Titles

By Jerzy Kosiński