48 pages • 1 hour read
K.J. Dell'AntoniaThe Chicken Sisters
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A 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: “Mae”
Mae follows Amanda back up the path, leading away from the tree stump, and she sees Barbara walk out of her house and past Mimi’s to Kenneth’s coffee shop that he owns with his husband, Patrick. She follows Barbara into the coffee shop, where Barbara tells her about Kenneth taking care of his father, who has Alzheimer’s disease. Mae feels guilty about not having been home to visit her family, and she asks Barbara why she was not at the restaurant the day before. However, before Barbara can respond, Kenneth walks up to Mae, and they spend some time reconnecting.
Mae, Barbara, Kenneth, and Patrick discuss the idea of offering a special of a slice of pie for dinner at Mimi’s that night for Food Wars, which Barbara has told Mae she is in charge of managing while she runs the restaurant. Kenneth reveals that he has been spreading the news about Food Wars on his Instagram to share with his followers to bring customers to Mimi’s. Patrick offers to help Barbara make some pies for their dinner service, which Mae fears will cause Barbara to lash out, because she does not want to relinquish control over her restaurant. However, Barbara surprises Mae by smiling at Patrick and requesting that he make blueberry and strawberry rhubarb pies. Barbara reveals that she taught Patrick how to make pie like her, and Mae takes pictures of their coffee and bakery shop for her Instagram. Barbara then tells Mae to share her motivation for actually coming back to Kansas, and Mae attempts to redirect her mother toward her grandchildren. However, Barbara does not budge.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Amanda”
Amanda thinks about how she dislikes being in her house while her kids are at school because of the emptiness. She either volunteers at the elementary school in the art department or goes to see Kenneth or Nancy. However, after seeing Mae, Amanda decides to go home to clean her messy home. The last time Mae cleaned her house was after Frank’s funeral, and at the time, Mae asked Amanda to move to New York City to be closer to her. However, Amanda fixates on how “Mae [doesn’t] get what it was like to be her” (114). Amanda cleans up some space on her kitchen table, and she works on her chicken drawings, including a teenaged cartoon chicken character named Carleen who “was not a good girl” at her high school (116).
Arriving at Frannie’s, Amanda meets with Sabrina about a special for their dinner service. Instead of doing a dessert special like Mimi’s, Amanda wants to do specialized, themed cocktails revolving around cities. Sabrina suggests that they advertise this special on social media, but Amanda reveals that Frannie’s does not use any social media platforms to advertise their business, a holdover from her late father-in-law. Sabrina tells Amanda that will have to change, and she suggests that Amanda gets Kenneth to advertise the special for them. Instead of calling Kenneth, Amanda hesitates, and Sabrina gets frustrated with her. Amanda designs chalkboard advertisements for their restaurant, and Sabrina hands her back her phone, where she has advertised the drink special on Kenneth’s coffee shop’s Facebook page. Amanda’s cocktail theme is centered around an “anti-New York drinking fest” (118).
After their busy dinner service, Gus and Frankie go home while Nancy warns Amanda not to create any more family drama, referencing the anti-New York cocktails. Amanda texts Andy warm regards about how their dinner service went, and he tells her that they should get a drink together. Amanda decides to go to Mimi’s with two beers.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Mae”
Mae hopes to clean Mimi’s the day after their dinner service to prepare for the first filmed dinner service, and she worries that Barbara will not be happy with her idea to do a deep clean of the restaurant. However, Barbara surprises her when she has Andy start pulling out everything from behind the counter to pressure wash and apply fresh paint to the inside of Mimi’s. After they prepare to paint, the dishwasher, Zeus, offers to help Andy paint while Barbara and Mae sort through the rest of the restaurant. Barbara asks Mae if she thinks they can win, and Mae does not know how to respond. Mae tries to reassure Barbara that she will do everything in her power to have them win the competition, and she spends time working on social media content, which causes Andy to make fun of her.
Before the next dinner service, Barbara comes back into Mimi’s dressed in slacks and a blouse, which veers from her usual attire and causes Andy and Mae to do a double-take. Mae feels that the night was a success, but she argues with Barbara over the menu. Sabrina comes back to Mimi’s after all filming has been done, and during their conversation, Sabrina reveals that Amanda told her about Mae stripping in college. Mae tries to ignore it, but she sees Amanda has come inside Mimi’s. She yells at her to leave. Barbara sees what is happening and also tells Amanda to leave. Sabrina questions what is happening, and Andy, out of anger, snaps at the women that he asked Amanda to come inside Mimi’s. Mae decides to get revenge on Amanda. The next morning, Mae gets coffee with Kenneth and reveals that she painted over Amanda’s sign at Mimi’s. Kenneth attempts to help her fix what she has done because her painting skills are not as good as Amanda’s.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Amanda”
Amanda wakes up to her son, Gus, hovering over her. He tells her that he read her comic of Carleen and praises her for it. She thinks about going into Mimi’s the night before to talk to Andy about how Food Wars went, and she regrets having gone inside. When she went inside, they discussed how nervous he was around the cameras.
On her way to get coffee from Kenneth and Patrick, she sees that the sign she painted at 15 is now gone. She sees Kenneth painting “Mimi’s” over the freshly painted barn-red color. Amanda feels enraged at Mae’s actions, knowing that her sister took away her painted chicken. Amanda knows that Mae’s attempt at expanding Mimi’s menu to include organic options will fail, and she decides to get revenge on Mae. She goes to Frannie’s, where Sabrina is waiting on her, and Amanda asks her to get into the car.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Mae”
Mae rushes to Mimi’s to tell her mother that John Calvin, who has been selling his chickens to Barbara, will no longer sell any chickens to her. Barbara accuses Mae of making him angry, but she claims that he refused to talk to her. Barbara and Mae head back to his farm, and Barbara convinces him to sell her chickens. He reveals that Amanda told him that Mae claimed he did not have good enough chickens for them, and when Barbara clears this up, he only has frozen chickens left to sell them because he sold their order to Amanda. Barbara worries they will not defrost in time for dinner. Andy and Barbara are convinced that Mae did something to anger John Calvin and Amanda, but she claims that she did not do anything.
As they prepare for dinner, Mae realizes that Barbara needs a break, but Andy and Zeus reveal that she does not like to be told what to do even though she cannot do as much as she gets older. Mae questions whether Barbara would be open to doing a lunch service, but Andy claims that they need to wait to ask to see if they win the competition. As they defrost the chickens, Mae remarks that many restaurants use frozen food, and she plans to say something to Sabrina about the food at Frannie’s.
Chapters 6-10 Analysis
Within these chapters, the novel illustrates how the interpersonal struggles between Mae and Amanda affect their views on the Food Wars competition. The use of the omniscient narrator provides the reader with a reliable account of events while also depicting how Amanda and Mae respond to these events through the alternating perspectives of each chapter. For Amanda, the town of Merinac serves as her home and illustrates how comfortable she feels within her community, which contrasts with how out-of-place Mae feels within the same space. For example, Amanda’s emotional response to their fallen cottonwood tree is juxtaposed with Mae’s view of it being “ancient history.” Mae appears emotionally removed from the tree, and therefore, her response implies an emotional distance from her sister and their childhood as well. She views Amanda as being “stubborn” and unwilling to work together despite the tension Food Wars creates. However, Amanda feels as though “Mae didn’t get what it is was like to be her,” indicating her own perspective on their emotional barrier (114). At the same time, the omniscient narration illustrates that both Mae and Amanda ultimately want the same things, even if they have not voiced that to each other. This narrative style creates tension and builds conflict between the characters that drives the plot forward, which is intensified by the backdrop of the competition show and relates to the theme of The Influence of Reality Television on Personal Narratives. Through alternating chapters, the narrator can both accurately depict the town and its inhabitants while catering to Mae and Amanda’s differing perspectives about this place and its people.
As Dell’Antonia continues to set up the conflicts that will arise in the latter half of the novel, Barbara’s commentary on Kenneth’s decision to move back to Merinac to care for his father with Alzheimer’s foreshadows her eventual revelation about her own diagnosis of early Parkinson’s disease. Mae’s acknowledgment that “lately Barbara had begun to ask just how long Mae intended to stay in New York” implies her recognition that Barbara is keeping something from her (105). Without revealing her diagnosis, the narrator implies that Barbara would like Mae to move home to help take care of her and the restaurant. In this moment, the narrative reveals that Barbara has more than a financial motivation to participate in Food Wars.
Even further, Mae’s reunion with Kenneth provides an outlet for Mae to reconnect with her past and signifies her path to overcoming her shame about her hometown and family. Like Mae, Kenneth couldn’t wait to leave Merinac after graduation, so his comfortable existence in their hometown confuses her. However, as they rekindle their friendship, Kenneth helps Mae navigate what she wants to prioritize in her life, explaining, “There’s just something about being in a place where what matters most is right in front of you. And look—here you are” (152). Mae’s reunion with Kenneth thus advances the theme of The Struggle Between Personal Ambition and Familial Responsibility. Furthermore, Kenneth’s relationships with both Barbara and Amanda act as a buffer between them and Mae.
At this point in the novel, Amanda’s decision to poke fun at Mae’s life in New York City through her cocktail specials at Frannie’s illustrates her willingness to try anything to win the Food Wars competition, furthering the theme of Family Feuds and Reconciliation. By hosting “the anti-New York drinking fest,” Amanda’s joke appears light-hearted (118). However, the tension between the sisters means that even small moments have the potential to create even more strife between the restaurants. Even further, when Mae discovers that Amanda told Sabrina about working as a stripper, Mae recognizes that the competition is furthering the tension and the seeds of betrayal within the family, illustrating the theme of the influence of reality television on personal narratives. In these moments, Dell’Antonia depicts underlying issues the sisters have with each other, and the medium of the reality show provides an outlet for them to express these issues.
