35 pages • 1 hour read
Margaret Peterson HaddixRunning Out Of Time
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1995A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 6-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary
At the bottom of the tunnel is a door leading to an indoor hallway. Jessie marvels at the modern lighting she sees as a “miracle” (41). She runs into two guards and narrowly escapes by hiding under a stagecoach in a storage room. Before fleeing into a restroom, she overhears the guards talking about the Clifton tourist site being closed down soon. Jessie hides and falls asleep in a bathroom stall as Ma instructed her to do.
Chapter 7 Summary
The next morning, Jessie wakes to find another girl in the bathroom who seems confused by Jessie’s gawking at the modern sink. Jessie emerges into the main room of the Clifton tourist site and sees children her age milling about. A chaperone leading a field trip mistakes Jessie for one of her students; Jessie is forced to join the group to avoid being caught.
Chapter 8 Summary
As she walks with the group, she studies the children’s clothing and has trouble adjusting to all the new noise. Jessie notices “futuristic” photographs depicting the Clifton villagers, Jessie’s former neighbors. The tour guide, Mrs. Spurning, wears period clothing and explains the story behind Clifton Village—the original story Ma told Jessie. Jessie realizes the tourists are being lied to about the recent, potentially-lethal changes to Clifton. Jessie meets Nicole, a Black student in the group; this is the first Black person Jessie has ever seen. The group views monitors depicting footage throughout the site. Jessie recognizes her father at work in his blacksmith shop. On the wall, Jessie sees photos of her neighbors and eventually stumbles on an old one of herself: “Jessie was in that picture, in the fifth-grade row. She looked younger, but it was definitely her” (55).
Chapter 9 Summary
The tour group makes its way from room to room, viewing villagers on the monitors. Jessie listens to the children make ignorant comments about the “primitive culture” of the village (63). Jessie notices empty seats in the schoolhouse and asks about them. The guide informs her that a mild cold is going around, but Jessie knows the truth. When the group breaks for lunch, Jessie sneaks away outside.
Chapter 10 Summary
Outside the building, Jessie sees cars and buses for the first time, which she decides must be “witchcraft” (70). Taking cover in the woods, she follows exit signs until she reaches a guard post by the main exit. She sees a camera in a tree and must figure out how to get on the other side of the barbed wire fence while avoiding the guards and cameras.
Chapters 6-10 Analysis
In this section, the narrative juxtaposes past and present as Jessie pretends to be a tourist and observes her former neighbors. She struggles with reconciling the excitement of modern things like lighting and photography with the terror of being somewhere new and annoyance at strangers’ flip comments about her home. She compartmentalizes her feelings to focus on her plan to save the sick children: “It was a puzzle Jessie didn’t have time to worry about. She stored the idea with all the mysterious things Ma had told her, to think about later” (46). Her primary motivation is to get help for her sister; she must push her confusion and fear to the side. This is a significant decision that proves Jessie’s growing maturity and sense of responsibility.
The photograph that Jessie sees of herself in the fifth grade cements the dichotomy of past and present, of Jessie inside and outside Clifton. Here, she exists in both spaces: a teenager in 1996 on a field trip at a historical preserve, and a young girl in 1840 sitting with her classmates in school. The photo acts as a mirror that allows Jessie to reflect on her younger, oblivious self.
As Jessie begins her adventure in earnest, the structure and style of the narrative becomes clearer. The varied syntax of direct statements and Jessie’s longer, confused thoughts illustrates the jarring nature of Jessie’s modern experiences. The short chapters provide spurts of action interspersed with Jessie’s inner monologue of questions and fears. This helps a younger audience focus their attention, while also maintaining the quick and suspenseful pacing of the novel.
Related Titles
By Margaret Peterson Haddix
