50 pages • 1 hour read
Justina IrelandDread Nation
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaPart 2, Chapters 26-30Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2, Chapter 26 Summary
As Lily returns home, Jane ventures into the forbidden building, and as she travels deeper inside, she catches “the scent of something powerful rotten” (303). She hears the moans of shamblers and finds “a giant, rolling shambler cage” (303), and as the shamblers try to reach a Black man asleep in a chair, the cage turns like a giant wheel. Gideon appears and explains that the town uses shamblers to generate electricity, but Jane is horrified at the thought of taking this kind of risk with bringing shamblers within the walls of the town. Gideon shares some peaches with her and explains that he had a vision for Summerland to become “a shining beacon of hope” (308) where everyone was equal, and the country could start over. Gideon, in fact, was the one who hatched the idea for Summerland, but once his father got involved with investors, the dream became “a Survivalist nightmare” (311). He sends Jane on her way, but as Jane approaches the Duchess’s saloon, she is caught breaking curfew by the sheriff.
Part 2, Chapter 27 Summary
Jane is dragged to the whipping post in front of the sheriff’s office, and the preacher calls the rest of the town to gather around and witness Jane’s punishment, because “this sermon requires sinners” (314). Jane is sentenced to twenty lashes for breaking curfew, and one of the sheriff’s men steals her lucky penny. The lashing is torturous, and Jane begins to pray for mercy from God. Suddenly, Katherine and Gideon appear and demand that the sheriff stop this punishment. He hesitates but agrees to stop for Katherine’s sake.
Jane realizes that the sheriff is looking at Katherine with “a soft kind of look, the way one would watch a baby or a bunny, full of wonder and interest” (322). Gideon and the Duchess take Jane back to the whorehouse, where Jane suggests a plan to make the sheriff fall in love with Katherine and use his affection to bring him down. Jane creates a false story about Katherine’s “tragic past” (327) and how she was once a proper lady who was dealt a series of misfortunes that were no fault of her own, including being sent to Summerland by the mayor’s jealous wife. Gideon and the Duchess agree to help with the plan.
Part 2, Chapter 28 Summary
The next morning, Katherine confronts Jane about telling Mr. Gideon “her secret” (332). Jane is confused until Katherine explains in a quieter voice that the Duchess’s girls are listening at the door, and if they are going to convince the town that Katherine’s tragic story is true, they must keep up the facade. Jane explains that they want the sheriff to fall in love with her so they can escape from Summerland. Katherine agrees but insists that they need to help the others as well. She tells Jane that as soon as she is healed from the whipping, she is to return to her Attendant’s post. Jane begins to feel some sense of hope.
Part 2, Chapter 29 Summary
A week after Jane’s whipping, she has had time to heal, and she learns that the sheriff has been “bending over backwards” to make Katherine comfortable since finding out about her “dire straits” (337). Jane begins to think of ways to kill the sheriff and still escape from Summerland with her life. She notices that Katherine is now surrounded by enthusiastic suitors, much to her friend’s horror. Katherine and Jane see the sheriff, and Katherine reminds Jane that she must act remorseful if their plan is to work. Katherine asks the sheriff to provide Jane with a suitable weapon, and to their surprise, the sheriff procures Jane’s “much-loved and much-used sickles” (343) that were taken from her before they arrived in Summerland.
The sheriff flirts with Katherine, who keeps up the act of feigning interest, but their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of one of the sheriff’s men. Jane hears “eastern fence, and townsfolk” (345). The sheriff urges Katherine to go home and stay there for a while. But as soon as he leaves, Jane says they should snoop through the sheriff’s office and try to find a map or a compass while he is preoccupied. In the middle of their search, Jane and Katherine are alerted to the sound of bootsteps, and they panic thinking the sheriff is returning. Jackson appears in the doorway instead.
Part 2, Chapter 30 Summary
Jane is overjoyed to learn that Jackson is alive, and he explains that Mr. Redfern “ain’t the loyal follower of the mayor that he pretends to be” (351). Redfern helped Jackson get to a town called Nicodemus, where the Egalitarians took him in. He has returned to look for Lily and to find bullets, and as they discuss their plans for running away, Jackson reveals that Baltimore has been “overrun” (354) by shamblers. Katherine and Jane leave the sheriff’s office to give Jackson a chance to search for supplies, but on the way out, Katherine runs into the pastor, who wants to know why Katherine and Jane were in the office. Katherine quickly concocts a lie and tells the preacher the tragic story of how she came to be in Summerland. She appeals to the preacher’s religious zeal by declaring that the Lord is testing her and has a plan. Jane is impressed by Katherine’s act, and once they leave the company of the preacher, Katherine explains that she grew up in a brothel: “If there’s anyone who knows how to put on an act, it is a woman dependent upon the appetites of men for her living” (357).
Part 2, Chapters 26-30 Analysis
Racist white characters use dehumanizing language to describe Jane. During the scene in which she whipped in front of the whole town, Jane is referred to as a dog that must be euthanized. The sheriff and his men have made it abundantly clear that they do not see Jane as a human, and at best, the preacher implies that she is a wayward, disobedient child. Jane may be smart, resourceful, and compassionate, but to the white men in power in Summerland, her supposed disobedience is a threat to their highly controlled way of life. They make an example out of her to discourage similar behavior in anyone else.
Katherine does not enjoy the attention her beauty brings, and the reader can sense her panic growing. She doesn’t want to be a lady; she wants to be left alone, and now she finds herself surrounded by men who objectify her. Jane admits throughout the novel that she has always been jealous of Katherine’s appearance, and she is finally beginning to understand that life for Katherine hasn’t been easy just because she is pretty.
The return of Jackson signals a hopeful shift in the situation at Summerland. Mr. Redfern’s decision to free Jackson and send him to Nicodemus shows that not everyone in the mayor’s employ necessarily agrees with his vision, and the presence of a town full of Egalitarians shows that there may be a safe place for Jane and Katherine to go to when they escape from Summerland. In the same way, Jane has always suspected that Gideon is unhappy in Summerland, and in chapter 26, Gideon confirms that he wants nothing to do with the town and its racist hold on its people.
