96 pages • 3 hours read
Susan Beth PfefferLife As We Knew It
Fiction | Novel | YA | 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 4-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part One: Spring
Chapter 4 Summary
There is no school on May 20, and Miranda is happy that the electricity has come back on. She visits the Brandon Erlich fan site again, where a lot of people are asking if she has any news about him. His parents still live in town, as does Mrs. Daley, his former coach, but she has not heard anything. Matt also sends an email saying he is fine, and that he will arrive home on Wednesday, as scheduled. The president addresses the nation on May 21, and declares Monday a national day of mourning. He reiterates the fact that there are an untold number of people dead, and that floods and tsunamis are still wreaking havoc. He also urges people to prepare for the worst. After the president’s speech, each governor addresses the current state of affairs in their state. On May 22, Jonny asks if they can go to McDonalds. Not only does the family learn that the price of gas has risen even higher, they find that all the fast food places are closed, which is surreal to Miranda. They manage to find a local pizza store that’s still open and have to stand in a long line to get food.
Miranda wants desperately for Matt to come home. For some reason, she feels that everything will be fine once he’s home. On May 24, the family drives around and finds a store that’s open. They buy a large supply of baby clothes, plus thermal underwear and scarves. School starts again on May 25, the same day that Matt is due to return home. Miranda remarks that school does not feel the same; no one talks much about their situation, and her mother has told her explicitly not to let anyone else know what provisions they have in their house. An assembly is held at school where the students are informed that there will be no prom, and that afterschool activities are being canceled. Miranda tries to talk to Megan about what is happening, but Megan starts preaching at her about how great things are and the wonderful things God is doing, which upsets Miranda. Megan tells Miranda to repent for her sins, and that the setbacks and hardships are mere “earthly concerns.” Miranda decides to stop arguing, and instead joins members of the swim team, who are complaining about the situation. While writing her entry for that day, she hears her mother and Matt arrive home.
Miranda is relieved that Matt is home, and on May 28 she writes that she cannot wait to talk with him like they used to. So far, he has been helping their mother organize all of their provisions. Peter arrives that evening with a bag of apples, and the family decides to have a nice dinner. Matt goes to invite Mrs. Nesbitt to join them. Over the next few days, the family deals with intermittent electricity and sad news about friends who live in coastal towns and cities. Miranda’s mother is a writer, and she learns that her publishers and her agent, who were all based in either Boston or New York, are on a list of the dead. Matt finds a few of his classmates on the list as well.
Chapter 5 Summary
On June 2, the school announces that there will be no final exams. Miranda says that with all of the changes at school, the only people who will be annoyed by this are the really smart kids. On June 3, the school cafeteria serves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on stale white bread. Miranda does not want to complain about how hungry she is, especially because she is eating better at home than most people are. During lunch, she sees Megan split her sandwich and offer half to whoever wants it, which many people do. The gesture annoys Miranda, though she does not know why.
Miranda tries speaking with her mother about her grades, but her mother says none of it really matters. Shocked, Miranda asks Matt if their mom thinks they are all going to die. He thinks about the question for longer than Miranda would have liked, but says that she does not think they will starve to death. She is worried about food, however, and about what to do if things do not improve. She is also worried about Jonny having as normal a summer as possible. If they send Jonny away to the baseball camp he was supposed to attend, it means they will have one less mouth to feed for a while. Ultimately, says Matt, grades will not matter when the state of the world is hanging in the balance.
On June 6, Megan again splits her sandwich, this time giving half to Sammi. Miranda pulls her aside and asks why she is not eating. Megan says that God is sustaining her, and that God tells her how much to eat and what to do, especially in this volatile time. Miranda accuses Reverend Marshall of telling his parishioners to starve themselves, but Megan denies it. She tells Miranda that she needs to ask for forgiveness, and then walks away.
On June 7, Miranda has a dream about Becky. Becky tells her that she cannot enter heaven because she is not dead yet. At school that day, Megan again tears her sandwich in half, but this time gives both pieces away. In her June 8 entry, Miranda says that she does not want to know what is going on in the world. She says that pretending that everything is ok makes it a bit easier, and that she is scared. She did not intend the diary “to be a record of death” (71).
On the second to last day of school, the school prints out flyers asking for people to donate provisions such as blankets. Miranda gives it to her mother, and is shocked to see her mother ball up the paper and say they will not be donating anything to anyone who is not family. Miranda then tracks down Matt to complain, but he says that their mother is worried because there might not be any heating oil come winter. Miranda still cannot imagine things remaining so bad for so long. If there is no oil, however, they will certainly need all of their blankets, as their mother pointed out earlier to Miranda. Matt says that it is better to err on the side of caution than to be caught off-guard.
On the last day of school, Megan splits her open-faced sandwich into four parts. Miranda is disgusted, and after school, goes to Miller’s Pond alone to swim. Dinner is canned vegetables, and all Miranda can think about while eating it are the stale sandwiches from the school cafeteria.
Chapter 4-Chapter 5 Analysis
People’s reliance on outside assistance and their desire for things to “get back to normal” is highlighted when Miranda’s family attempts to go to a fast food restaurant; they are shocked to find them all closed. The fact that McDonald’s is closed seems to signify just how bad things are. The scene is both comical and indicative of how desperately people want to hold on to some sense of normality. Even when the family finally finds a pizza place with a long queue, they have to “make do” with that they can get.
Religion plays a bigger role in these chapters, as Miranda’s friend, Megan, begins to play the martyr role at school. Though Megan needs to maintain her own health and eat, she says that God will provide for her, and gives her food to others. While this might seem like a nice gesture, the way Megan does it infuriates Miranda. Throughout the novel, Megan’s actions are meant to show one response to the idea of the end times. Many believe that the end of the world is God’s way of punishing humankind’s sin. Though Miranda believes her friend is taking things too far, Megan exemplifies the kind of fanatical point-of-view that can often arise in a catastrophic situation.
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