60 pages • 2 hours read
Edward Eager, N. M. Bodecker, Alice HoffmanHalf Magic
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1954A 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 1-2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “How It Began”
Told from the third-person omniscient point of view, the story begins by noting that “it” began 30 years ago. The “it” is magic, but before the magic begins, four siblings are introduced. Jane is the oldest and most authoritative. Mark is the only boy. Katharine is the middle girl, and Martha is the youngest and most challenging.
The children’s mother works for a newspaper, and their father has died; as a result, a woman named Miss Bick looks after them every day. The children long for an adventure in the countryside, but Miss Bick refuses to take them.
Despite this, the children still enjoy summer. They relish going to the library and reading. While all of them love fiction, Mark detests nonfiction because it tricks him into learning things. Katharine recites poetry on the walk home, much to Martha’s chagrin, who refuses to walk until Katharine stops. As a result, the kids make a rule that they cannot read out loud. However, once they discover the writer E. Nesbit, they make an exception.
When they borrow the last of Nesbit’s books, Jane reads it aloud all the way home, through dinner and into bedtime, picking up where she left off the next morning. When she finishes, Martha asks why they never experience magic. Mark, “who was old enough to be sure of this” (5), claims that magic is not real.
An argument ensues about whether the children in the story are like them or not. Someone points out that they never go anywhere as exciting as the fictional children. Despite this, the kids acknowledge that their neighborhood has a house like a castle and a garden that seems magical.
Later that morning, Jane finds a nickel and puts it in her pocket. Then they wander to Mrs. Hudson’s house and decide that it does indeed look like an enchanted castle. Then they visit the Miss Kings’ garden but soon lose interest.
Sitting on their front steps, full of disappointment, Jane wishes for a fire, and, instantly, a fire truck zooms by. Incredulous, the children chase after the truck. After running eight blocks, they arrive at the site of the fire, but it is not an actual house. Flames lick through a child’s playhouse in a backyard.
Mesmerized, the children feel awe and satisfaction that the fire is especially for them. But when the flames are finally extinguished, this excitement changes to guilt, especially for Jane. When she asks a woman what happened, the lady reveals that the playhouse suddenly burst into flames, like someone set the fire. When she looks at Jane suspiciously, the girl abruptly walks away, with her three siblings following close behind.
They wonder if they have magic or if they are witches. When Jane starts to wish again, Katharine screams for her to stop, and Mark insists that they talk about what just happened. They decide that they should all make a wish to see if they have powers. Martha is scared, so only Mark and Katharine do. Nothing happens. Jane refuses to make a wish and keeps to herself for the rest of the afternoon.
When their mother comes home, she announces a visit with their aunt Grace and uncle Edwin for the evening. Once she is gone, the children press Jane about her potential magic. She fears even thinking about making a wish. Here, the narrator interjects that having magic is only wonderful if you know what you have and how to use it. Since Jane knows neither, she is upset.
When she goes to bed, Jane has a strange feeling that she has forgotten something. Later that night, she wakes with a start and inexplicably approaches her dresser to look at her money. She notices that the nickel she found is gone, and this sets her mind in motion.
Chapter 2 Summary: “What Happened to Their Mother”
That same night, the children’s mother, Alison, is at Aunt Grace and Uncle Edwin’s house. Although kind and polite, the couple bores her. Because it is getting late, she insists she must go and wishes that she were home.
Instantly, the lights flicker out, the moon and stars appear, and she is sitting in a prickly, uncomfortable seat. Alison realizes that she is on the side of the road in the dark night, halfway home. Befuddled, she does not remember leaving or saying goodbye or how she even got to this place. However, she begins walking toward the glowing lights of the town.
As she walks, her fears take over. The surroundings are spooky, and she cannot fathom how a successful woman like herself is in this situation. She thinks of worst-case scenarios like getting murdered and wonders if she is stuck in a nightmare.
Oncoming lights appear, and a car stops by her side. The driver, a gentleman, asks if she would like a ride. Her instinct forces her to say no, which is not what she wishes, but she remembers warning her children about strangers. The gentleman kindly urges her to get in the car, and she unexpectedly obliges. Uneasily, she takes stock of the man. Even though he has a beard, which she dislikes, he seems gentle and kind.
Surprisingly, she shares her experiences. She insists that she briefly lost her memory, and he gently responds that there are always multiple explanations. He shares his belief in “six impossible things before breakfast” and that “the trouble with life is that not enough impossible things happen for us to believe in” (23). Unlike most adults, this gentleman accepts the idea of magic.
Against her better judgment, Alison states her address. Then the man drives her home and bows to her before leaving. Alison realizes that she and the man never exchanged their names.
Seeing the house lights on, she worries that something terrible has happened. When she enters, Jane cowers on the sofa, and her mother immediately comforts her. Jane asks if her mother borrowed a nickel from her dresser, and Alison bristles, admonishing the girl for being greedy.
Jane ignores all of this and asks if her mother spent the nickel. Fortunately, she did not and returns it to her daughter. Immediately, Jane sees that her thoughts were correct; it is not actually a nickel.
Then Jane asks if anything unusual happened to her mother that night. Not wanting to scare Jane, Alison lies but wonders where this question came from. Not wanting her mom to know the truth, Jane also lies, pretending she had a dream in which her mother wished for something. Intrigued, her mother reveals that she did wish to be home, but when pressed by Jane, Alison pretends that a friend of Uncle Edwin gave her a ride. Instead of going to bed, Jane continues that she dreamed that her mother wished to be home but only made it halfway. Without thinking, her mother acknowledges the truth but instantly tries to pretend otherwise. She looks away, and Jane knows she is lying.
Jane then runs to her room, clutching the nickel in her hand. Her mother is flummoxed as to how Jane would know the truth. Alison decides to turn out the lights and go to bed because she clearly needs rest.
In her room, Jane examines the coin and sees that it has strange signs on it. After her mother calls for lights out, Jane knows that this thing will be the source of great adventure for them, so she hides it in a shoe bag in her closet and vows to wake early to share the news with her siblings.
Chapters 1-2 Analysis
In the first chapter a heavy emphasis is placed on the setting and how “boring” the town is. This dullness is augmented when the kids cannot even visit the country or the lake. When they finish reading the last of E. Nesbit’s books, Martha laments, “Why don’t things like that ever happen to us?” (5). The ordinariness of their town and lives emphasize the realism of Eager’s writing. It also reflects the influence of E. Nesbit, who was known to set her stories in quiet, ordinary towns. Having the children read Nesbit’s work aloud and compare themselves to the characters intentionally foregrounds the importance of Nesbit’s literary ethos in Eager’s narrative.
These chapters introduce the main characters and reveal the differences between the siblings. Jane, the eldest, is clearly the authority figure and leader of the group. Katharine is literary and romantic, for she recites poetry and wishes for Shakespeare to arrive. Martha, the youngest, is stubborn and childish, which is evident when she sits and refuses to walk when Katharine recites poetry. Mark, the only boy, is rational and often reminds his sisters to take a more logical course of action. This characterization represents outdated gender stereotypes that men are level-headed, and women are prone to emotionality and need men’s guidance. For example, when Jane is upset about the fire, Mark states, “This won’t do any good. We’ve got to talk it over” (12). Consistently, Mark serves as the voice of reason while the girls tend to react emotionally. Martha’s response reinforces this when she unironically acknowledges her respect for Mark because he is “a boy and he knew everything” (12).
In addition to the siblings, two other supporting characters feature prominently in the second chapter. The children’s mother, Alison, is a responsible adult and believes that all things have a rational explanation. For instance, when she finds herself halfway home in the middle of the night, she claims that “there’s only one explanation […] I must have lost my memory, just for a minute” (22). She searches for a logical answer to her problem and never considers the possibility of magic. She serves as a foil to the gentleman in the car, Mr. Smith, who clearly puts stock in the incredible, for he shares his hope for “six impossible things before breakfast” and his idea that “the trouble with life is that not enough impossible things happen for us to believe in” (23). The contrast between Alison and Mr. Smith emphasizes the divide between those who subscribe to magic and those who question its existence.
Also highlighted in these chapters is the theme of The Paradox of Wishing, as the novel presents wishing as both powerful and limiting, solving one problem while creating another. The first evidence of this is when Jane starts the fire but has no control over stopping it. At first, she is thrilled by the prospect of what she has done, but then guilt arises due to her powerlessness. Furthermore, the charm itself emphasizes this theme, for even though it has the power to grant wishes, it only half achieves those desires. The power and restriction of this is illustrated when Alison nonchalantly wishes to be home and finds herself stranded on a dark road. The danger of her situation dawns on her when she wonders, “When she was set upon and murdered by highwaymen and her body was found the next morning what would the children think?” (20). Although the wish enables her to leave the boring social engagement, she ends up in a precarious situation, illustrating that one cannot predict the manner in which their wish will be granted.
Another theme that emerges is The Value of Rules and Structure. The greater world provides rules for the children, like the limits on borrowing books from the library. Additionally, the children establish their own rules. For example, when Martha suggests they pretend their neighborhood is magical, her siblings berate her, for “the only way pretending is any good is if you never say right out that that’s what you’re doing” (7). When Martha breaks this unspoken rule, the children lash out. This need for structure, even in play, resurfaces repeatedly. When the newfound magic threatens this framework, the narrator interjects that having magic can feel wonderful, “but in order to enjoy that tingling, you have to know just how much magic you have and what the rules are for using it” (15). Though children are thrilled by the idea of magic, they still need guidelines to steer their creativity, fun, and imagination.
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