73 pages • 2 hours read
John ConnollyThe Book of Lost Things
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2006A 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.
Chapters 18-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 18 Summary: “Of Roland”
David finds his way back to the road, and as he continues walking, thinks of his father and Rose. He wonders if he’s doing the right thing by moving farther away from the doorway through which he entered Elsewhere, but he knows that he cannot turn back at this point because of the wolves that are pursuing him. He soon meets a soldier on horseback named Roland, who seems kind and offers him a bargain: if David will accompany him as his squire and help him with a task he must complete, then Roland will deliver David safely to the king. David agrees, and joins Roland on his horse.
As the men continue down the road on horseback, they come across signs of a battle, including a military tank from the Great War. David is confused about why the tank would be in this world, when it clearly came from his own. An old man appears and tells them of a Beast who recently passed through the area and killed many of the king’s soldiers. David and Roland can smell blood and death and come upon corpses with nothing left but “bloodied bones” hanging from the trees (171). While Roland is gone surveying the battlefield, the old man taunts David, first asking if he can hear his mother calling, then showing him a scene of his father, Georgie, and Rose, laughing together. He tells David that they are glad he is gone, and they have forgotten him. Angry, David strikes the man with his sword, and the old man’s appearance transforms; he is the Crooked Man. Just as the Crooked Man offers to take David home in exchange for a small thing, Roland returns, and the Crooked Man disappears into a hole in the ground.
Roland tells David that based on the bodies he saw, whatever Beast killed them is still alive and has the strength to kill many people. Since there’s nothing they can do now, they continue in search of shelter for the night. As David rides with Roland on Scylla, his horse, he contemplates the scene the Crooked Man showed him and wonders if his family really is happier without him. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to David, the wolves find a way across the chasm and resume their pursuit.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Of Roland’s Tale and the Wolf Scout”
David and Roland come to the ruins of a church and decide to rest there. Roland explains that the church is a remnant of the religion the king tried to make others follow. David infers that Roland does not follow this religion anymore because something bad happened to him that made him lose faith. David tells Roland about his mother’s death and how he followed her voice into this world. He also talks about Rose and Georgie, and his resentment for Georgie reveals itself in his voice.
Roland tells David a tale about a king’s son who leaves his father’s kingdom with his servant to marry a princess. Along the way, the servant steals the prince’s clothing and royal cup and forces the prince to assume the role as his servant. When they arrive at the princess’s castle, the false prince makes the true prince work herding pigs, and he takes advantage of his new princely identity. The king hears of how gracious the swineherd is to others and asks him to tell him about himself. However, bound by an oath to the false prince, the true prince tells the king he cannot tell him the truth because he is “bound by a death vow” (179). The king tells the swineherd that he might feel better if he shares his secret with the hearth in the servants’ quarters, and secretly hides behind the hearth to hear the secret. At a banquet with the false prince, the king asks what he should do to a man who falsely took on the identity of another. The false prince answers that he would drag the man through the streets in a barrel studded with nails. The king then declares this the punishment of the false prince and restores the true prince to his rightful position.
David feels the false prince’s punishment is cruel and realizes that the stories he used to like when he was younger now seem void of mercy. In the middle of the night, he wakes to see Roland talking softly to a picture of a young man he carries in a locket. In the morning, David takes the Woodsman’s advice and performs purposeful routines, such as cleaning and sharpening his sword and saddling Scylla. Roland tells him that his task is to look for his friend Raphael at a cursed castle. Raphael left for the castle to set a woman free who is bound there by an enchantress, but he never returned. Unbeknownst to David and Roland, as they resume their journey, a wolf scout observes them, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Just as the wolf is about to attack, the Crooked Man silently kills the wolf and cuts off its snout as a trophy. The Crooked Man protects David because, “The boy was his, and his alone” (185).
Chapter 20 Summary: “Of the Village, and Roland’s Second Tale”
Roland and David meet a hunting party who say they lost one of their men to a creature that came up from the ground, but they never saw the creature or recovered their man’s body. Roland warns the group about the Beast who left several dead soldiers in its wake, but the men, from a nearby village, are unwilling to leave their homes to hide from the Beast. David and Roland walk with the men to their village, and one of the men, named Fletcher, invites them to spend the night in his stable.
At dinner, Roland tells another tale. A knight named Alexander wanted to test himself, so he set out in search of adventure. He battled a sorcerer, slew a dragon, and even journeyed to the underworld to rescue a queen. After 10 years of wandering, Alexander began his journey home, but on the way, suffered injuries at the hands of thieves. He came to a castle and asked for help, but a woman’s voice from within turned him away. He kept riding towards a village, but on the way, fell from his horse and went unconscious from his injuries. When he woke, he found himself in the castle with his wounds tended to. He heard the woman again, named the Lady, and could see her black, veiled figure through a transparent mirror in his room. Over the next few weeks as Alexander recovered, he fell in love with the Lady and declared his feelings for her. She asked if he would love her always no matter what, and Alexander said yes. When the Lady lifted her veil, Alexander saw that her face was crossed with the face of a beast. In shock and fear, Alexander backed away, and the Lady saw that he did not truly love her. Long claws emerged from her fingers, and she ripped him to shreds.
During the night, a blizzard comes, so Roland and David must stay before they can continue their journey. Roland offers to help the villagers kill the Beast in exchange for shelter. He suggests that the villagers lure the Beast within their walls, then close the gate and burn the Beast alive. However, the villagers are unwilling to sacrifice the houses they have built. They keep Roland’s plan as a last resort, but first, they will try to kill it from behind their walls.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Of the Coming of the Beast”
Women and children evacuate the village, and the men fortify the walls surrounding the settlement as best as they can. The men camp outside watching for the Beast for three nights before it comes. As they lie awake, David questions whether this world is real or just in his imagination. Roland assures him that everything he is experiencing is completely real, and he must take it seriously. When the Beast emerges from the ground on the third night, it’s bigger and taller than the men anticipated, and David feels as if he and the Beast are connected somehow, “as though a fragment of his own nightmares had come to life” (211). David lures the Beast inside the village gates to the church, where several fuses are rigged to light the village and Beast on fire. Before the Beast reaches the church, it gives birth to several miniature beasts, and as the village men flee, Roland and David must light the fuses and burn the Beast and her offspring.
Chapters 18-21 Analysis
Connolly again highlights death as an unavoidable part of life and shows how grief and fear make one vulnerable. When David sees the “bloodied bones” of soldiers hanging from trees, and smells the blood and decay in the air, he becomes scared and susceptible to the disguised Crooked Man’s taunts. The Crooked Man wants to make David feel alone and unwanted by his family in order to make him desperate and angry. His tactics show that one can easily be influenced when feeling afraid and helpless. Conversely, Roland affirms David by asking him to be his squire, showing that he believes in David and admires his bravery. The conflicting influences from the Crooked Man and Roland each correspond with David’s inner conflict between childhood and adulthood.
David’s journey from boy to man continues as he learns from Roland and shows bravery to defend the villagers against the Beast. As David talks to Roland about his family, he feels childish for his resentment towards Rose and Georgie. Even though he still feels anger towards them, he begins to recognize that his anger is somewhat immature.
Connolly shows that David’s worldview is changing through his response to Roland’s tale about the false prince and the true prince. David remarks that the punishment for the false prince is cruel, and he suggests that a punishment can balance mercy with justice. His response to the story shows that he no longer sees stories—or the world—as black and white. David recognizes that when he was younger, he liked the villain to receive a fatal punishment; however, he now recognizes that punishment and justice does not need to be cruel. This change in his way of thinking shows that David is becoming wiser and more mature. Furthermore, David follows the Woodsman’s advice by adopting purposeful tasks, such as sharpening his sword, rather than continuing his empty routines. This shows his newfound sense of purpose and responsibility, corresponding to his advance towards adulthood. Finally, David’s increasing bravery shows itself when he lures the Beast to the church in order to save the villagers. Even though David recognizes the Beast has some connection to him and his nightmares, he faces his fear.
Lastly, the story theme develops as David struggles to reconcile the many stories he has read with the happenings of this other world he is navigating. In stories, soldiers and knights are always brave, battling and vanquishing the villain. However, in this world, Roland explains that they must keep riding beyond the battlefield rather than face the Beast. Roland wisely tells David that a man must choose battles he has a chance of winning: “There is no glory in throwing [one’s life] away when there is no hope” (175). This shows David that the world is not black and white, and good does not always vanquish evil. Stories act as lessons for David as he realizes that the truths they contain can be learned from, but do not always accurately represent reality.
