The Seventh Most Important Thing

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015

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Chapters 38-39Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 38 Summary

The next day, Barbara tells Arthur their mother has a boyfriend, Roger Dent, who’s coming for dinner on Friday. Arthur feels betrayed and like his mother is “throwing out his dad” (180). Roger is a carpenter. Arthur wants to believe Roger working with wood and wood being the fourth important thing is a coincidence, but he can’t.

“The Fourth Important Thing” Summary

Arthur expects Roger to be “a slimeball guy” that Arthur’s mom only went out with because she was lonely (182). Actually, Roger is overweight, balding, and older than Arthur’s dad was. Roger made a birdhouse for Arthur’s mother, which Arthur can’t help being impressed by. His mother loves the birdhouse, and Arthur realizes that, to her, Roger is “the fourth most important thing” (184).

Arthur is quiet through most of dinner, until his mother nervously points out how he hasn’t said much. Arthur asks Roger what else he builds, which gets Roger talking about his work and life. Reluctantly, Arthur finds he likes Roger.

Chapter 39 Summary

The next Saturday, Mr. Hampton tells Arthur to make more angel wings. Working on the wings with Mr. Hampton reminds Arthur of building stuff with his dad. Arthur tells Mr. Hampton about a pinewood racing car he made with his dad for Cub Scouts. Afterward, Mr. Hampton says Arthur’s dad “sounds like he was a good man” (191).

Arthur tells Mr. Hampton more about his dad. Specifically, Arthur mentions how his dad always put lights in every spot on the Christmas tree so there wouldn’t be any dark spots. Mr. Hampton says that’s how he feels about his masterpiece—not wanting any dark spots. Arthur asks how Mr. Hampton will know when the sculpture is done, to which Mr. Hampton replies “a saint’s work is never finished” (193). Arthur reflects that he doesn’t really understand Mr. Hampton, but he appreciates how Mr. Hampton asked about Arthur’s dad’s life, rather than his death.

Chapters 38-39 Analysis

In Chapter 38, Arthur feels his mother is throwing his dad away by seeing someone else. Initially, Arthur wants nothing to do with Roger. To Arthur, Roger is trash. Over dinner, Arthur sees how much his mother likes and maybe even needs Roger. To Arthur’s mother, Roger is treasure. Seeing Roger through the lens of his mother makes Arthur start to like Roger, too. Roger represents wood and a rebuilding of Arthur’s family, the fourth important thing Arthur needs in his life. The birdhouse Roger makes for Arthur’s mother brings Arthur’s family together through a piece of art.

In Chapter 39, Mr. Hampton tasks Arthur with creating angel wings. Arthur doesn’t want to make them and comes up with excuses not to. The wings remind him of his dad’s motorcycle cap, which reflects his lingering sorrow about his father. Mr. Hampton helps Arthur make wings, which reminds Arthur of building things with his dad. The father-son relationship between Arthur and Mr. Hampton here mirrors the relationship Arthur had with his dad. Mr. Hampton says Arthur’s dad sounded like a good man, even though he might have been a troublemaker. Unlike Judge Warner and Vice, Mr. Hampton doesn’t judge Arthur’s father by what he did wrong. Mr. Hampton also didn’t judge Arthur by his violent actions earlier in the novel, and he seems to suspend judgment more so than other characters.

Mr. Hampton’s actions support the idea that he is “saintly,” which the author suggests when Mr. Hampton tells Arthur a saint’s work is never done. Biblical undertones also appear in the many dreams in the novel, as God often communicated with biblical figures through dreams or visions. Particularly, Jacob of the Old Testament dreamed of a staircase to heaven (often called “Jacob’s Ladder”), which Mr. Hampton’s visions of heaven echo. Arthur’s allegorical dreams of trying to save his father with beer bottles mirrors several biblical allegorical dreams, such as when Joseph of the Old Testament predicts seven profitable years based on a dream of seven fat cows. In Arthur’s dream, the beer bottles represent the “junk” Arthur is using to try to save Mr. Hampton, who is standing in as his father figure. The text supports this idea when Squeak posits that building the sculpture is keeping Mr. Hampton alive. Bottles later serve as a symbolic means for releasing guilt, suggesting that Arthur harbors guilt over his father’s death.

At the end of the chapter, Mr. Hampton says the sculpture may never be complete. Like Arthur’s dad, he wants no dark spots, and Mr. Hampton understands that even beauty has darkness. The sculpture will never be finished because there will always be imperfections. The sculpture’s incompleteness mirrors how Arthur is a work in progress. Even at the story’s end, Arthur still acknowledges his flaws, showing he has more growth to do in his lifetime.