83 pages • 2 hours read
Eloise McgrawThe Golden Goblet
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1961A 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
In the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, 12-year-old Ranofer works as a lowly porter in the goldhouse run by kindly Rekh, the goldsmith. Ranofer is the son of Thutra, a renowned goldsmith who taught him many of his advanced techniques before his death ten months ago. Before Thutra’s death, he was on track to be apprenticed to Zau, the city’s master goldsmith. Ranofer loved learning goldwork in Thutra’s workshop and even learned to read a little bit. Now, Ranofer’s life is horrible. He lives with his half-brother, Gebu, a stonecutter who beats and starves him. Gebu refuses to apprentice him to Rekh to learn more about goldwork. Instead, all Ranofer can do as a hireling are basic tasks like washing the gold sweepings and pouring ingots. He is bitter and resentful toward Gebu. Ranofer has few friends. The new apprentice Heqet is near Ranofer’s age and makes friendly overtures but asks too many questions about things Ranofer does not want to think about.
Ranofer distrusts the unctuous Babylonian porter, Ibni, who asks him to deliver full wineskins to Gebu. Ranofer does not understand why; he knows Gebu pours out the wine without drinking it. Ranofer is horrified to learn that someone has been stealing gold from the shop and immediately suspects that Ibni is smuggling it out in the wineskins—which means that he has been unknowingly culpable and that Gebu is also guilty. Ranofer is torn: He knows he should tell gentle, honest Rekh, but he fears violent reprisals from Gebu and decides to wait until he has proof.
Chapter 2 Summary
In the evenings, Ranofer and the other workers on the western bank of the Nile return home to the City of the Dead, the part of Thebes where craftsmen create goods to be placed into peoples’ tombs. The Pharaoh’s palace is on this side of the Nile, while across the river is Eastern Thebes, where wealthy people live.
Ranofer dreads going home to face more of Gebu’s abuse and instead wades along the riverbank to think. He encounters a kindly old man, whom he calls the Ancient, harvesting papyrus stalks. Ranofer decides he will threaten to tell Rekh about the gold and thus make Gebu promise to stop stealing. Gebu waits for Ranofer at their rundown home on the Street of the Crooked Dog. Gebu is strong and cruel. He strikes Ranofer, knocking him down. Ranofer mentions the wineskins, but Gebu says Ranofer has no proof, and no one would believe him: They would think Ranofer is the thief. Gebu continues to hit and insult Ranofer, giving him only a half-loaf of bread to eat and saying that he should be thankful Gebu took him in.
Setma, a drunken Nile-boat captain, and the forbidding Wenamon, a mason, visit Gebu. Ranofer considers running away but worries about how he will survive. He imagines finding a cache of gold, becoming rich and famous, standing up to Gebu, and becoming Zau’s pupil. He refuses to become a thief. He recalls his father’s death and how Gebu arrived with a document proving he was first-born. Ranofer vows to resist Gebu.
Chapter 3 Summary
Ranofer is scared but happy about his plan to refuse to take the wineskins to Gebu. Although very hungry, he is lighthearted as he goes to work. He notices how everyday items like baskets are depicted as hieroglyphs and vows to remember his reading lessons. On the Street of the Goldsmiths, he encounters Heqet, who greets him with a smile. Ranofer is relieved they can be friends and thankful when Heqet gives him a fig.
Rekh learns from the gold weigher that they are still losing gold. Ranofer is angry at Ibni and Gebu. Flustered, he does not return Rekh’s friendly space, which reminds Ranofer of his father’s kindness. His cheer is restored when he considers that Rekh’s stealing problem will soon end.
While Ranofer teaches Heqet to make charcoal, he notices that one of the apprentices has trouble hammering his first gold bowl. He humbly offers suggestions that solve the apprentice’s problem. Rekh observes this exchange and tests Ranofer’s goldsmithing skills by having him make a delicate gold leaf. Ranofer does well, and Rekh tasks him with making 50 more leaves for a necklace. Ranofer is proud and elated, and at day’s end, he leaves with Heqet, who praises his work. He refuses to take Ibni’s wineskin to Gebu. Ranofer runs home to find a furious Gebu waiting for him. Gebu beats him bloody. Terrified and in pain, Ranofer agrees to carry the wineskins. Gebu threatens to apprentice him to his own stonecutting shop. Ranofer despairs of his future.
Chapters 1-3 Analysis
In these opening chapters, readers quickly connect with 12-year-old Ranofer largely because of his rich internal dialogue. Ranofer’s self-talk is colored by his imagination, personal loss and fears, pride, hopes, and moral code. McGraw also introduces timeless themes of courage, integrity, struggles against abuse, and the importance of friendship that prove as relevant to contemporary readers as to her character centuries ago. The rich historical detail and figurative language bring the bustling ancient city of Thebes to life for the reader.
Readers learn that goldwork is Ranofer’s raison d’etre, his passion. He has an innate talent for goldwork and an eye for beauty. He loves the craft he learned from his father and is frustrated that he cannot express or expand his skills as a goldsmith’s apprentice. Crafting the gold leaves for Rekh calms Ranofer’s nerves and temporarily eases his cares. He finds the entire artistic process a thing of beauty and desires to create such loveliness himself.
Ranofer is proud of his ability, and this pride and skill are some of the only things he can call his own. He not only grieves his beloved father, but he also misses the opportunities that had been open to him before his father’s death. Now, dependent on his abusive guardian, Ranofer sees no future for himself—except in his imagination, fantasizing about being free from Gebu and becoming a renowned goldsmith.
Ranofer is naturally introspective. The mental anguish he feels about the abuse Gebu inflicts on him equals the physical pain of hunger and violence. Gebu dominates and controls Ranofer, and his neglect and emotional and physical abuse take a toll on him. The beatings—and the bruises and welts from them—make Ranofer feel embarrassed, ashamed, and weak. Gebu further demeans Ranofer by refusing to use the boy’s given name, instead belittling him with terms like “Fatherless One,” “Useless One,” and “pig’s son.” These cruel names remind Ranofer that he has and is nothing: They make him feel worthless, which was Gebu’s intention.
Gebu’s abuse compounds Ranofer’s emotional trauma from losing his father. Ranofer cannot bear to talk about his past—or present—situation because he does not want his vulnerability exposed. Rather, he distances himself from those who would befriend him. Consequently, he is lonely, scared, and almost friendless.
Despite Gebu’s viciousness, Ranofer maintains a strong sense of self and even hope. In his private vow not to become a thief, he stands up for his beliefs and defies Gebu, actions that reveal his personal ethos. He is outraged that anyone would steal from kindly Rekh, asserting that “theft is a wicked thing” (18). When he becomes certain that Ibni and Gebu are behind the thefts, Ranofer is crushed to realize he has played a part in their illegal activities and feels a responsibility to stop them—despite his fears of Gebu.
McGraw makes Ranofer’s daily life in ancient Thebes accessible and relatable to contemporary readers through her extensive use of sensory detail, figurative language, and meticulous historical specifics. This verisimilitude adds even greater relatability to Ranofer’s physical and emotional challenges.
Sensory detail adds realism and a sense of immediacy to the narrative. Readers smell the metallic scent of liquid gold and the spring breeze from the Nile. We see the black eye paint used to protect one’s eyes from the harsh Egyptian sunlight and the artisans’ “ink-black” hair and white cotton shentis. We taste the honeyed, crisp-skinned fig Heqet gives to Ranofer. McGraw’s use of figurative language complements these sensory impressions. She frequently employs simile and metaphor to add a nuanced layer to Ranofer’s internal dialogue. Comparing his feeling of relief to “a fresh breeze off the river” (19) expresses his feelings in the context of his everyday life and gives the reader a clear visual image.
McGraw seamlessly incorporates historical facts and language in the narrative without being didactic. McGraw describes the clothing, the writing, the details of goldwork, and the spiritual life of Ranofer and his fellow Egyptians. Such vivid details help the reader understand Ranofer’s everyday life.
