43 pages • 1 hour read
Katherine RundellThe Explorer
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2017A 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 16-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary: “The Ruined City”
The man who appears before the children is cautious and mistrustful, brandishing a knife at the children and questioning them immediately. He has a pet vulture that stands beside him, and he complains that he cannot stand the sound of Max’s crying. Fred notices the man’s clothes are made entirely out of animal skins and furs, and he’s covered in scars and burns. The whole group is filled with fear, not knowing what the man will do or who he is. Fred explains that their plane crashed and they found a map, which they then followed. The man reluctantly gives the children water from inside a hollowed-out tree trunk. As they drink, the vulture approaches Max and seems to trust him. Seeing this, the man reluctantly takes the children to a shelter where they can sleep for the night. He also tells them to stay out of his private area, which is hidden by hanging vines.
The children ask for food, and the man tells them to hunt for it themselves. He gives them each a sharpened flint, including Max, who takes it eagerly. The man reluctantly shares some of his own food for the night, but he warns the children they will have to hunt tomorrow. He hands Fred a bird and tells him to figure out how to gut and cook it. The children find out that the man was a bush pilot whose plane crashed, and he’s been living in the jungle ever since. When they try to find out the man’s name, he becomes irritated and leaves them alone for the night. Max insists that he acts and looks like an explorer, so he must be one, whether he claims to be or not.
Chapter 17 Summary: “The Explorer”
The explorer finds the children just as they finish cooking their supper and they manage to stop him long enough to ask some questions. The explorer reveals that people occasionally come through the area, usually tribespeople, and that such an event occurs once every few years. He suggests the possibility of helping the children get home by giving them supplies and starting them off in the right direction, but on one condition: None of them must ever tell anyone about the ruined city or the explorer himself. Everyone agrees except Fred, who becomes belligerent and insists that the discovery must be known. Internally, he thinks about his desire for admiration from his father and his schoolmates, but outwardly, he feigns a more altruistic motivation, saying that everyone deserves to know about this place. Con and Lila try to change Fred’s mind, even suggesting that he can just fake the promise, but he refuses. Con and Lila become angry with Fred and refuse to speak to him. The explorer angrily hands the children a gift of some salt and herbs for their dinner before walking away.
Later that night, Fred decides that he needs to see what’s inside the explorer’s private space, and Lila reluctantly goes along, knowing they might need supplies for the journey. Con and Max show up moments later, having been spooked by being on their own. Fred leads the way through the thickly hung vines and spots something golden behind them. Just as he is about to cut through the vines, the explorer jumps down from above and stops the group. Angry and betrayed, he tells them to leave and threatens to cut off their fingers if they ever try to sneak into his space again.
Chapter 18 Summary: “The Trap”
Fred awakes from another nightmare and looks up toward the canopy above him. He admires the dozens of different colors hidden within it as he considers the fact that he must apologize to the explorer for trespassing. Fred walks shamefully across the stone city, past the statues of the animals and humans standing side by side. The explorer senses Fred’s presence as he approaches and warns him never to sneak up on him again. Fred manages to apologize for breaking the explorer’s trust, and the explorer demonstrates his forgiveness by teaching Fred how to set a snare trap.
Fred follows the explorer out into the jungle, marveling at the fact that the explorer doesn’t need to mark his path as he goes. The explorer shows Fred how to use a machete and cut fresh wood off a tree—just as much as they will need. As he teaches Fred how to create the trap, the explorer talks about how nature must be protected from humans. After the trap is set, the two return to the camp and discuss the irony of how Fred ended up in the jungle after living such a tame, ordinary existence. Fred notices the explorer wears a ring that carries an inscription; it reads (in Latin), “Difficulties be damned” (200).
Chapter 19 Summary: “Tarantulas”
Fred returns to camp and his friends, who are irritated at him for disappearing yet again. Fred and the others notice the explorer coming toward them, and at the same time, a large green snake appears ready to strike. The explorer casually throws a rock at the snake, killing it instantly. He tells the group how to avoid being attacked by a snake in the future. The explorer decides that one of the most useful skills he can impart to the children is to teach them how to hunt tarantulas. The thought terrifies and disgusts Con, but Fred is ready to try it, and Max is actually eager. Fred is the first to use a stick to lure a small tarantula out of a hole. The explorer grabs the tarantula by its middle and hands it to Fred, explaining how to slice it open without hurting it. The next hole is much larger and contains a Goliath tarantula, which the explorer traps. In the afternoon, everyone cooks a tarantula and tries to eat them. Con finds it tolerable, while Fred, Lila, and Max actually find it tastes good.
Chapter 20 Summary: “Twice-Fried Oiseau Spectacle”
In the evening, the kids decide to cook the explorer a meal using the leftovers of their bird and some berries. They offer it to the explorer, who finds it horrid and offers to make them food instead. The explorer starts drinking home-brewed alcohol, called cachaça, that he made from coconut milk, sugarcane, and “some other things” (222). Fred tries it and finds the taste horrible, and Lila agrees. Con decides not to try any, but she is happy to eat the smoked fish offered. As the night goes on, the explorer becomes more and more inebriated and starts to open up. He criticizes the same explorers that Fred admires, believing them to be fools for trying to bring their own culture into the jungle. The explorer fell in love with the jungle the moment he saw it and vehemently believes that it needs to be kept secret. The explorer also confesses that he once had a wife and son, but he won’t say how he lost them. He believes love is dangerous and risky and that risks should only be taken for the self, not for anyone else. After the explorer falls asleep, the children tiptoe away. The mosquitoes are particularly active, so they attempt to smoke some leaves to ward them off. The experience proves to be extremely unpleasant.
Chapters 16-20 Analysis
Halfway through the novel, one of the most important characters is introduced. In the early chapters, the novel builds suspense and mystery around the absent presence of this other person, who would later be called “the explorer.” The children find a sardine tin, a den, and even a map, raising the possibility that there might be another English person living in the jungle. Despite these clues, the children are shocked to find a man living in the jungle who appears to have been there for years. The explorer’s initial appearance is filled with uncertainty and fear, as he comes across as a ruthless survivor who has no sympathy for intruders. The narrator describes the explorer’s attire in great detail: “His shoes were made from what looked like alligator skin, with very thin vines for shoelaces. A jacket, sewn neatly from black furs, hung over his shoulders. The buttons were caiman teeth” (153). These details characterize him as someone who has become at home in the jungle. The explorer also has a pet vulture, further indicating his ability to tame his surroundings in ways that the children could learn from. Ironically, the most terrifying experience the children have had so far turns out to be running into another person, because, unlike the jungle, they have no idea how to navigate this situation or predict the man’s behavior. In an additional irony, the explorer himself claims to be “against” the prospect of exploring the jungle, because while exploration brought him to his new home, it also spells disaster for the natural environment and people who live there.
While the explorer turns out not to be a threat to the children’s lives, conflict still exists between him and the children for the first couple of days that they are together. The explorer is mistrustful of all humans, and it takes time and a perspective shift for him to allow himself to be kind and open with them. In this way, the explorer learns from the children about Exploration as Self-Discovery, just as they learn from him. While the children learn to take responsibility for their actions and to trust themselves and each other, the explorer learns that he must accept the emotional risk that comes with caring for others—something he has been unwilling to do ever since losing his young son.
Fred—the story’s protagonist—leans to value exploration not for the adulation it might bring him, but for the process of self-discovery. Fred’s motivation, from the very beginning, has been to impress his father, and the discovery of a secret city is something Fred considers a perfect opportunity for recognition. Because having this sort of achievement is so important to Fred, it takes ample convincing, arguing, and social ostracization for Fred to realize he is in the wrong: “He thought of his father. He thought of the going back to school, not just that Peterson boy, the one with no mother—but a boy who faced down the jungle and discovered a whole world” (175). Fred’s mistake is in thinking that he needs to impress others or to expose precious secrets to the world to be proud of himself. He learns from the explorer that he need only impress himself. Fred also risks being expelled from the explorer’s camp by sneaking into his quarters at night, which he later apologizes for. The explorer understands the impulses and flaws of children, and he demonstrates his forgiveness by teaching Fred how to make a snare trap. The explorer’s wisdom proves to be exactly what Fred needs to shift his perspective on the value of exploration: “Take risks! That’s the thing to do. Get to know what fear feels like. Get to know how to maneuver around it. But!…But make sure the risks you take aren’t to impress someone else” (227). The explorer believes that most humans seek only to destroy and conquer, rather than to appreciate nature’s beauty.
Once the initial mistrust between the explorer and the children fades, he begins teaching them useful skills for survival. Ironically, the children end up not needing most of these skills, as they fly out of the Amazon to safety in the story’s conclusion, but these exercises still improve their character and their bond—evidence of Hardship as a Catalyst for Friendship. Everyone reacts differently to these shared but disturbing experiences, like the day that they are taught how to eat a tarantula. Although the children are only in the jungle for a short time, they grow up quickly, and this is largely due to the way the explorer treats them less like children and more like people who happen to be young. He even insists that Max carry a flint and have every opportunity to prove his worth as a survivor and explorer. Fred sees a part of himself in the explorer, and wonders if he may one day end up alone and resentful like the man before him. At the same time, he respects the explorer’s skills and wisdom, as well as his willingness to help the children.
