The Honest Truth

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2 ½

Chapters 3-4 ½

Chapters 5-6 ½

Chapters 7-8 ½

Chapters 9-10 ½

Chapters 11-12 ½

Chapters 13-13 ½

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 3-4 ½Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 3 Summary: “Miles to Go: 115”

Mark soon notices the teenagers following him. He picks up his pace until he nearly runs—he aims for a streetlight’s safety—but the boys catch him. Mark leaves Beau in the duffel bag. The boys shove him around, harassing him for money. They throw Mark to the ground, kick him, and loot his backpack. They find $100 that Mark budgeted for the trip. One of the bullies flips Mark to his back and punches him in the face. Mark’s hat slides off, and the bully notices his bare head. At that moment, the other boys open the duffel bag, and Beau leaps out vengefully. Beau isn’t a large dog, but he still chases the boys away. The boy who punched Mark drops a lone $20 bill onto his chest before leaving. Moments before, Mark begged the boys to leave him alone, but now his anger resurfaces: “Here’s what I don’t get: why people think I need help, just because” (46). However, anger accompanies Mark’s lingering fear and sadness. Beau returns and licks the tears and blood from his face. Mark drags himself to a brick wall so that he can die alone.

Chapter 3 ½ Summary

Jessie can’t sleep, partially because she can’t understand why Mark would leave and partially because she fears she already knows the answer. Mark’s final goodbye letter—a haiku poem—percolates through her thoughts. She continues thinking about the idea that came to her at Mark’s parents’ house, and she doesn’t know whether to tell someone. Though she’s nearly certain Mark isn’t anywhere along the route to Spokane, she can’t piece together why Mark decided to leave and whether he has a good enough reason to do it.

Chapter 4 Summary: “Miles to Go: 115”

Mark wakes to the sound of singing angels and assumes he’s dead. However, the pain resurges moments later, and he realizes the singing comes from the kitchen of a nearby restaurant’s backdoor. Mark follows the singing and is greeted with the aroma of Mexican food: “The smells were spicy and warm and poked at my stomach with delicious fingers” (56). He then darts past the kitchen to the restaurant’s bathroom. In the mirror, he sees a hideously marred face. As Mark carefully washes off the blood, he internalizes his plan’s insanity. The postcard crumpled in his pocket reveals his destination: Mount Rainier. He hasn’t even survived the first 24 hours on his own, and his resolve breaks. When Mark opens the bathroom door, one of the singing “angels,” as he calls them, stands right before him. Using the few Spanish words he knows, Mark asks the angels not to call the police, but he does request a phone call. The women let him use the office, and Mark shuts the door behind him. He calls the hotline number that he saw on the television the previous night and announces that he has information about the missing child. At that moment, Beau—who never makes noise unnecessarily—barks once. Mark’s determination resurges, and he gives the hotline operator another false lead. Mark reenters the kitchen, where an angel gives him a warm, fresh burrito. He assures the angels that his mom is coming, and he leaves the restaurant.

Chapter 4 ½ Summary

Jessie visits Mark’s house to ask why her friend ran away. Mark’s mom invites her inside, and they go to the dining room table, where Mark’s dad sits by the telephone. Mark’s mom tells Jessie about the doctor’s last phone call, suggesting that the doctors can’t do any more for Mark. Jessie now feels confident that she knows Mark’s destination and also that he trusts her to keep his secret, which presents her with a decision about whether she should speak up: “She wanted to reach out and pull him close and slap him across the face” (70). Jessie ultimately remains quiet. The phone rings, and Mark’s dad answers. The police processed Mark’s anonymous tip, but they recognized the boy’s young voice and the dog bark in the background. Instead of following Mark’s false lead, they trace the call to Seattle.

Chapters 3-4 ½ Analysis

The angels in Chapter 4 challenge Mark’s determination to complete his quest alone. He insists on meeting every challenge by his own strength, though in the angels’ company, he admits that it feels “good to be touched” and “good to be cared for” (62). So far, Mark despises any assistance offered to him, especially if it accommodates his sickness: The bully leaves some money behind for him, and even the waitress—who doesn’t know about Mark’s cancer—takes pity when she notices him vomiting in the bathroom. However, the three angels don’t know his medical history, yet they extend hospitality. Others might find a beat-up kid emerging from a restaurant’s staff bathroom and treat him suspiciously, but the angels address him with concern. They don’t even speak his language, but Mark perceives their authenticity. Of course, Mark’s definition of “authentic” requires an obliviousness of his condition; when the waitress and bully pieced together Mark’s ill health, their actions ceased being genuine—instead, to Mark, their concern is contaminated. Still, Mark somehow accepts the angels’ genuine care without resistance.

Aside from remaining unaware of Mark’s condition, the angels’ first impression of Mark softens his disposition. He can’t help but be captivated by the singing, which “sounded like it was about heartbreak, or hope, or maybe a little of both” (57). At this point, Mark is well acquainted with both heartbreak and hope, and so he connects profoundly to their soulful song. Second, the sounds and smells of Mexican voices and cuisine remind him of his best friend: “It smelled like Jess’s kitchen when her grandma was visiting from Mexico” (56). The atmosphere ignites a connection reminiscent of friendship, which further softens his heart. Even after his determination dissipates in the restaurant bathroom and he feels defeated, he can’t help but regard the angels kindly, trusting their genuine intentions and even accepting free food.

Mark’s crushing realization in the restaurant bathroom surfaces when he takes stock of how many things have gone wrong. He has less money than he needs to complete the journey, he’s hungry, and he’s physically beaten. At the end of this list, Mark also thinks about “the mountain he has to climb” (61). This specific phrase bears double meanings: one figurative and one literal. Figuratively, he recognizes that only 24 hours of his journey is complete, and the next challenges will only grow more difficult. This should be the easy part of the journey, but he stands uninvited in a restaurant bathroom, bloody, bruised, broke, and hungry. Mark questions how he can overcome the next obstacle when he barely survived the first steps. The phrase also has literal implications: Readers learn that Mark’s true objective is to climb Mount Rainier. The figurative language reflects his actual goal, which suggests the enormity of Mark’s plan and raises the stakes for his next decisions.