Echo

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015

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Part 2, Chapters 6-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2, Chapter 6 Summary

Pennyweather asks Mike and Frankie to play a song on the piano for two men, Mr. Golding and Mr. Howard, whom she believes are potential buyers. Together, they play “America the Beautiful.” Mr. Howard asks them how they learned to play. Then, Mr. Howard announces that the two men wish to adopt a child on behalf of Eunice Dow Sturbridge, the daughter of a famous businessman who has recently died. They asked about the piano because they are looking to adopt a child who is musical, and they hope to start the adoption proceedings immediately.

Part 2, Chapter 7 Summary

Pennyweather recommends that Mrs. Sturbridge adopt Frankie. Mr. Howard talks to the boys in private, and Mike tells Mr. Howard that he wants what’s best for Frankie, even if they can’t stay together. After the emotional conversation, Mr. Howard tells Pennyweather that Eunice will adopt both boys.

Part 2, Chapter 8 Summary

Mr. Golding heads to the courthouse, and Frankie and Mike come upon the large Queen-Anne-style house where they will live. There is a two-story tower on one side of the house. Mike learned from his grandmother that “if something [seems] too good to be too true, it [is] probably a swindle,” so he begins looking for the catch (258). They meet the groundskeeper, Mr. Potter, and his wife. They both say that Mr. Howard has “‘stirred the pot real good’” by adopting boys (259). Mike struggles to understand what they are implying, and why Eunice didn’t choose a child herself. They meet Eunice, and her eyes fill with tears: “she look[s] them over and [makes] a face as if she’d seen a dead animal” (265). Mr. Howard tells them that their meeting went well.

Part 2, Chapter 9 Summary

Mrs. Potter gives the boys a bath. Frankie asks if Eunice will like them once they’re clean, and also tries to glean more information about the inhabitants of the house. Mrs. Potter says that Eunice has been through a lot. The boys go to sleep in a room in the tower, with Mike still trying to puzzle the information together.

Part 2, Chapter 10 Summary

Mike plays the grand piano in the living room. He looks up from playing to see Eunice, “her hand on her heart, looking like she’d seen a ghost” (274). She runs out, and he apologizes to Mrs. Potter, who asks him never to play the piano. Mike is confused, as he thought that Eunice wanted a musical child.

Part 2, Chapter 11 Summary

Mr. Howard takes Mike and Frankie shopping for new outfits. While he goes to take care of an accounting matter, the two boys proceed to the third floor, where they are mistaken for thieves. Mr. Howard comes to the rescue just before they are turned out the door. After his intervention, they purchase new outfits, and Mike and Frankie are both thrilled by the unfamiliar luxury of their new clothes.

Part 2, Chapters 6-11 Analysis

These chapters show a dramatic change in Mike and Frankie’s fortunes. For Friedrich, a slot at the conservatory is a way to avoid sterilization; for Mike and Frankie, piano-playing skills are a path out of the orphanage. However, it is implied that Mike is correct in thinking Eunice’s opulent house may be too good to be true.

The sequence of events—the quick adoption, Eunice’s obvious anger and confusion—suggest that she seeks a child not for love, but for some other reason. It is strongly implied that Mr. Howard decides to adopt two boys rather than one girl because he is moved not only by their playing, but also by Mike’s willingness to sacrifice himself for his brother’s safety, even if it means working on the farms rather than finding a home of his own or pursuing music.

While Eunice’s treatment of the boys could make her character seem cold-hearted, though Mr. Howard and the Potters’ clear sympathy and love for her suggests that she is simply going through a difficult time and unsure. However, these chapters suggest that the two boys will have to find a way into her heart, and their clear musical talents alone are not enough.

While Eunice is unsure, Mr. Howard has clear affection for the boys, and is driven by the belief that all individuals, regardless of their backgrounds, have equal rights. He thus agrees with Mike and Frankie’s grandmother, who believed that even the poor had a right to music, and with the Schmidts, who supported their neighbors regardless of religion or physical appearance.