90 pages • 3 hours read
Priscilla CummingsRed Kayak
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2004A 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 1–3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
The Red Kayak opens several months after the main action of the novel, but its events continue to haunt our narrator, Brady Parks. The book begins with a question: "After all this time, I still ask myself: Was it my fault?" (3).
"It" is the sinking of the DiAngelos' kayak and the death of their son Ben, but Brady does not mention those details here. Instead, he talks about the ways his life has changed: the DiAngelos have moved away, and Brady is no longer friends with J.T. and Digger. Brady wonders whether he could have prevented these things from happening, either by calling out a warning the day the kayak sunk or by staying quiet about the role J.T. and Digger played in the accident. The "one thing" he's certain about is that he'd still be fishing for crabs if the accident hadn't occurred: "Fall's a great time for catching crabs before the females head south and the males burrow into the mud. I could fix the engine on the boat easy if I wanted…I could bleed the engine tonight, set my alarm for 4 A.M., and be on the river before the sun was up over the tree line" (3).
Brady fantasizes a bit more about going crabbing before abruptly breaking off, saying that he "can't go back out on the water" yet; he's too wrapped up in his thoughts about the accident(4).His parents and his cousin Carl have tried to help him in different ways, reminding him that the past can't be changed and drawing on their own experiences of loss and trauma. So far, though, Brady has been unable to truly move on; he constantly "replays" what happened and often sits brooding by the Corsica River, where the kayak sunk (5).
Chapter 2 Summary
The narrative flashes to six months earlier. Brady, J.T., and Digger are waiting outside Brady's house for Carl (a paramedic) to give them a ride to school in his ambulance. The three toss a ball for Brady's dog Tilly, and Digger pokes fun at J.T.
The conversation eventually turns to Brady's father, who earns his living fishing the Chesapeake Bay. However, the dwindling crab population and increasing government regulation have recently forced him to rely more heavily on his boat repair business; at the moment, he's renovating a sailboat so that its owner can install an electronics suite. Hearing this makes Digger angry, and hesays that, "Some people got too much money for their own damn good" (9).
Digger's mood improves when Brady and J.T. begin exchanging funny oxymorons, which they've been studying in school. At that moment, the DiAngelos' red kayak appears on the river. Brady worries that the person rowing the boat—he assumes is Mr. DiAngelo—will be caught off guard by the wind and currents, and he suggests shouting out a warning. His friends persuade him not to, though Brady gets angry when Digger says it would be "lucky" if Mr. DiAngelo capsized and died (11).
Brady explains to us that this was the first time he realized the full extent of Digger's resentment towards the DiAngelos—wealthy out-of-towners who bought a farm Digger's family used to own and then tore it down to build a mansion. Brady understands Digger’s feeling, particularly because Mr. DiAngelo had scolded the boysa few days earlier for hanging out on his property—which Brady sees as their "stomping grounds" (12). Nevertheless, he says he can't understand how Digger could feel so little concern for the DiAngelos' safety.
Chapter 3 Summary
Carl and his girlfriend Mindy pick up the three boys. J.T. and Digger joke and horse around in the back of the ambulance, butBrady can't stop thinking about the kayak; before heading inside the school, he chats with Carl and Mindy about his concerns. Carl assures him that Mr. DiAngelois probably already on his way home, and Brady goes to his classes feeling somewhat calmer.
At school, things continue to look up: an algebra quiz goes well and J.T. comes up with more oxymorons. In Spanish class, however, Brady notices a fire truck passing the school and wonders off-handedly where it's going; it occurs to him that it could be headed to Digger's house, since Digger's father has a history of abusing his wife and children.
Thinking about Digger reminds Brady of that morning's disagreement about the kayak. Brady feels some loyalty toward the DiAngelos, because they once paid him well for babysitting their three-year-old son, Ben. He has a particular soft spot for Ben: "He was only three, but you could have a decent conversation with Ben. 'Bwady' he called me because he had a hard time with his r's. We put together some LEGOs the afternoon I took care of him, and we constructed some fairly sophisticated stuff" (18).Bradycontinues to reminisce, remembering how he played LEGOs with Ben, and planning to bring over some of his old Aquanauts the next time he babysits.
A message from the intercom interrupts this train of thought: the school secretary is asking Brady to collect his things and come to the front office. His father is waiting for him there, and tells him that he wants Brady to help find someone who's gone missing on the river. Brady assumes Mr. DiAngelo has been in an accident, but his father corrects him: Mrs. DiAngelo and Ben were the ones in the kayak.
Chapters 1–3 Analysis
Although short on action—in fact, Cummings withholds key plot points in order to create suspense—the first chapter of The Red Kayak introduces virtually every major theme that will appear in the book. Brady's lingering doubts about his own role in the accident suggest that questions of guilt and responsibility will loom large. The discussion of crabbing, along with Brady's patterns of speech (e.g. "settin'" instead of "sitting"), establish his family's working-class background (3).
Above all, though, this first chapter establishes that The Red Kayak will be a novel about the ongoing power of the past. Although Brady knows that dwelling on the past won't change anything, he can't stop revisiting the accident in his thoughts; it intrudes constantly, most often in the shape of the red kayak itself. What's more, thenovel's structure echoes its thematic concerns, beginning in the present day and then jumping back to the day of the accident in Chapter 2.
Oncethis main narrative is underway, Cummings begins to flesh out thethree boys at the center of the plot: Brady, Digger, and J.T. The first conversation we see them engaged in speaks to each boy's personality, as well as the overall dynamics of the group. Digger mocks J.T. for drinking green tea, apparently "disgusted" by the drink's reputation as being fancy or high-class, and his scornfulnesshints at his resentment of the upper-middle class DiAngelos—something Brady comments on later in the chapter (7). Digger's callousness toward J.T. is also striking, as is the fact that J.T. takes the teasing in stride; J.T.'s "easygoing" nature—his willingness to go along with Digger's more assertive personality—is what will ultimately land him in trouble (7). The semi-bullying Digger inflicts on J.T. in this scene foreshadows the ultimate revelation that he pressured J.T. into standing watch while he drilled holes in the kayak.
Brady, meanwhile, says very little during the entire exchange, which is telling in and of itself; he is clearly the most reserved and perceptive member of the group, picking up on the "uncomfortable" tone of the conversation but keeping his thoughts to himself (7). Significantly, it is Brady who intervenes when the teasing begins to escalate into an argument, calling out to Digger and J.T. in a voice "like a referee's whistle" (8). Brady's responsible nature becomes even clearer when he speaks out in favor of warning the person in the kayak against setting sail.Nevertheless, he is not immune to peer pressure, and even admits to feeling some anger at having been kicked off land that once belonged to Digger's family. It is presumably for one or both of these reasons that Brady ultimately decides not to call out a warning, which partly explains why he feels complicit in the accident.
