79 pages • 2 hours read
Pittacus LoreI Am Number Four
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Prologue-Chapter 5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Prologue Summary
A 14-year-old boy and a 50-year-old man from a planet hundreds of light years away from Earth suddenly hear the bamboo door of their hut shaking. A long sword, clearly made of metal not found on Earth, cuts through the door and into the man’s chest. Before he dies, he tells the boy to run.
The boy runs straight through the wall and into the jungle, running at around 60 miles per hour. Both he and the creatures chasing him have supernatural abilities. The boy makes a nearly impossible leap across a ravine and believes he’s escaped his pursuers. Suddenly, a supernatural being called a Mogadorian grabs him and tears the amulet off the boy’s neck. The amulet protects him and his kind, known as Legacies, and the only weapon that can break the protective charm is the white metal sword. Before the Mogadorian kills the boy, the boy looks into his eyes and tells him that the Legacies live, and they will find each other and together destroy them. The sword bursts into silver flames and strikes the boy dead.
Chapter 1 Summary
The narrator is an alien from the planet Lorien. He says that there were nine of his kind before the destruction of his planet. When he was five years old, they left for Earth, where they were meant to blend in until they could return to Lorien. None of the nine know what the others look like. They each wear an amulet around their neck that is protected by a charm that guarantees that they can only be killed in the order of their numbers as long as they all stay apart. When one of them is killed, a scar appears on each of their right ankles. On their left ankle is a scar identical to each unique amulet they wear.
The narrator’s first scar appeared when he was nine years old, so he and his companion Henri immediately moved. The second scar appeared when he was 12 years old and lit his sock on fire. In total, he and Henri have moved 21 times. Henri always brings a chest known as the Loric Chest to each new location, but the narrator doesn’t know what is inside of it.
The narrator is currently in South Florida. Hours ago, the third scar appeared, indicating Number Three has died. This means he is next. He is Number Four.
Chapter 2 Summary
Before leaving their home in South Florida, Henri and Four burn all of their forged identifying materials, such as fake birth certificates and social security cards. They keep an atlas in Henri’s truck, the only piece of their life together that they share and one of the very few things they have kept since they arrived on Earth.
They are moving to Ohio. Four decides to take the new name “John Smith” when they arrive. He feels an urge to cry as they drive off the island they called home because he is so tired of running and starting anew.
Chapter 3 Summary
When Henri and Four stop at a truck stop to eat, Four tells Henri that he hopes they can stay in Ohio for a long time so that he can actually have a chance at a real life. Henri tells him that he needs to stop thinking about himself because their first priority is the survival of their entire race, and they will leave at the first sign of trouble.
They arrive in Paradise, Ohio, a small town with a population of 5,243. Their house is in a forest surrounded by trees. It is a one-story house that is worn down and has a creepy look to it. At the house they meet Annie Hart, their friendly real estate agent. Henri signs the lease, and Annie tells Four that she has a daughter around his age at the local high school and maybe they could be friends.
The inside of the house is dusty and home to many dead bugs. Henri tells Four that he will print all of his new identifying documents so that Four can go to his new school tomorrow.
Chapter 4 Summary
Paradise High School is a small building only three miles from the house. Before Henri drops off Four, he reminds him not to draw any attention to himself, to watch for signs of his Legacies—supernatural powers—appearing, and to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice if necessary. Henri is currently 50 years old, 10 years older than when they arrived on Earth. He still speaks with a strong Loric accent, so people often think he is French, which is why he chose the name “Henri.”
There are crowds of kids outside the school. Four spots a gangly boy standing alone looking at the sky with a telescope. He is wearing a NASA T-shirt and thick glasses. Four also sees a beautiful girl with blonde hair and blue eyes taking pictures. She introduces herself as Sarah Hart, the real estate agent’s daughter. Sarah is so friendly and gorgeous that Four can’t take his eyes off her. While they are talking, a thin and scrappy-looking beagle comes running up to Four and rubs himself affectionately against his leg.
The bell rings, and they make their way inside to class. A group of football players passes Four, and one purposely hits him with his backpack. He is Mark James, the son of the town sheriff and the star of the football team. He used to date Sarah before she quit cheerleading and dumped him.
Four goes to the office of the principal, Mr. Harris, where he tells him that his dad’s job as a writer is what brought them to Ohio. Mr. Harris doesn’t know it, but Henri is Four’s Keeper, or guardian, not his father. The Loric have two types of citizens: those who develop Legacies, who are called the Garde, and those without, called Cêpan or Keepers. All members of the Garde are assigned a Cêpan at a young age because the Cêpan can help them understand Lorien history and understand how their powers work.
In his first-period astronomy class, Mark trips Four, who is furious. He feels hot and sweaty afterwards, like something isn’t quite right. He notices his hands are slightly glowing, indicating that his first Legacy has arrived. The sharp, hot pain in his hands is unbearable. After class he locks himself in the photography room and waits for Henri to arrive.
Chapter 5 Summary
When Henri arrives, he is thrilled that Four’s first Legacy has finally started to develop. He gives Four a pair of gardening gloves to hide the light. As Four gets into Henri’s truck, he takes off the gloves and notices that the burning has started to lesson. His right hand looks like a flashlight beam while his left hand flickers dimly.
When they get home, Four realizes that his phone is missing and assumes that Mark took it. Henri asks him if anyone at school saw his hands. He chastises Four, who was in school for less than two hours and already left his bag, got into a fight, and sparked his first Legacy. He is concerned that Four is not blending in and reminds him that now is not the time to get careless. Half of Four is excited that his first Legacy has arrived after waiting so long, but the other half is devastated because he will never be able to fit in or make friends now.
He reaches down and feels the three scars on his right ankle that represent the three who are dead. They are bound together even though they never knew each other. Four wonders what they were like and what it might be like if they were still on Lorien. He wonders if they would have been friends, and what their lives would be like if they didn’t have the weight of their entire race on their shoulders.
Prologue-Chapter 5 Analysis
The Prologue consists of an action scene between a boy with supernatural abilities and monstrous creatures, the Mogadorians, with weapons not of this Earth. This scenario immediately indicates that the novel fits into the science fiction/fantasy genre, whose stories often include otherworldly beings from another planet, usually with magical abilities that could never exist in reality. It also sets up what readers can assume are the main antagonists of the novel, the Mogadorians, who are described as gruesome humanoid creatures.
Chapter 1 switches to the first-person perspective of Four, the novel’s protagonist, who is up against the same enemies the boy faced in the Prologue. Because readers are viewing the novel through Four’s eyes, they are instantly drawn to him and how he views the world around him. He speaks in a colloquial, or conversational, manner and in a matter-of-fact tone. Since the novel is told through his perspective, readers can also infer that Four is the hero of the novel, a setup that lends itself to two common themes in fantasy and/or science fiction literature: the hero’s journey and overcoming the monster. Four immediately establishes the novel’s main conflict, which is ensuring his survival since he is the next in line for the Mogadorians to find and kill. The conflict goes even deeper because it goes beyond individual consequences and into large-scale consequences: If Four is killed, then the Mogadorians will be able to move on to the next numbers, and then possibly all of them, which means that the Loric will have no chance at reinstating the planet to its former glory.
The conflict between the Lorics and the Mogadorians is an external conflict, or one that pits a character, usually the protagonist, against something or someone, often their antagonist. These early chapters also reveal an internal conflict, and that is one that Four has with himself. Despite knowing the constant threat on his life, he also desperately wants to live his life like a normal teenager. This also leads to tension with Henri, who plays the role of the mentor in the novel.
Chapter 4 also sets up the roles of characters who will play a part in the novel. The boy in the NASA shirt, who later introduces himself as Sam Goode, will become Four’s sidekick. Although this hasn’t happened yet in the novel, Sam is one of the few characters whom Four describes at his school, along with Sarah, who clearly is Four’s romantic interest, and Mark James, who acts as the novel’s smaller-scale antagonist and one who is actually visible and present, as opposed to the Mogadorians, who remain a mysterious threat looming on the sidelines.
The setting of the novel holds significance. The name of the small town Henri and Four move to is called “Paradise,” but based on its physical attributes alone, it looks anything but. Their new house is dilapidated, old, and covered in dead bugs. The town has a tiny population with an equally small high school. However, the name Paradise foreshadows the importance that the town will soon have for Four, who at this point has never experienced anything close to paradise since he is constantly on the run.
