72 pages • 2 hours read
Rodman PhilbrickZane and the Hurricane
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2014A 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 7-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “When the Wind Screams”
Zane knows he was wrong to leave the church van and chase after Bandy, but he keeps following the little dog. Bandy leads him back to Grammy’s house. Zane is soaked and worried, but Bandy acts proud of himself for “saving” Zane. Grammy’s neighborhood is deserted, and many of the homes are boarded up. Zane climbs through an unlocked window in Grammy’s house and lets Bandy inside. The house is lonely and empty. They eat from cans of food they find in the cupboards. Zane calls his mom. She and Miss Trissy are frantic about his safety. Zane apologizes, but declares he had to save Bandy. Zane’s mom plans to have the police take Zane to a shelter, but Zane worries that a shelter will not take Bandy. Zane’s mom assures him she will find out and call him back. Zane falls asleep and awakens to discover that the power has gone out and the phone is dead. Outside, the wind picks, up, making frightening sounds.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Something Big and Bad”
The wind rises and a downed branch shatters a window. Zane and Bandy are terrified. Zane begs and prays for the wind to stop, but it continues to worsen. Zane hears other noises in the storm; sounds of trees uprooting, metal twisting, shingles flying off roofs, and power lines snapping. Fear makes Zane exhausted, and he falls asleep, only to dream about his mom saying something he cannot understand, and Miss Trissy trying to sing down the storm. When Zane awakens in the morning, he finds that “the storm has softened” (39). He is overjoyed that he and Bandy survived. Zane and Bandy survey the damage outside. They see broken branches, a dead bird, and odd objects like a pink rubber ball. Suddenly, they hear a loud, hollow “booming” sound that Zane knows is not a good sign. Moments later, jets of water shoot manhole covers into the air. Water floods the street.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Trapped”
Zane and Bandy hurry inside. Zane shuts the door, but water immediately begins pouring underneath and rushing through the broken window. Zane remembers Grammy telling him how she and her husband, Henry, went into the attic to survive hurricane Betsy. Zane climbs on the kitchen table and opens the ceiling panel that leads to the attic. He stacks a chair on top of the table and lifts Bandy into the attic. The water rises rapidly. Zane must pull himself into the attic and wishes he had put more effort into gym class. Weak, wobbly, and frightened, Zane manages to climb up and join Bandy. The attic is hot, airless, dark, and cramped. Zane sees fearfully that the water is still rising and approaching the attic opening. Zane searches for a hatchet that he remembers Grammy saying Henry had brought into the attic in case they had to break through the roof during Betsy.
Chapter 10 Summary: “A Face in the Window”
The house shifts and groans under the pressure of the floodwater and Zane worries it will tip over. Water comes within a foot of the attic but does not go higher. Zane cannot find the hatchet. He worries that he and Bandy will die in the extreme heat with no food and water. Zane reviews all the mistakes he believes he has made, from not holding Bandy tightly enough in the van, to leaving Grammy without saying goodbye. He calls himself names and berates himself for his stupidity. Bandy stops panting and closes his eyes. Zane worries he will die from overheating. Zane carries Bandy over to the small attic vent, which he breaks open with his feet. Cooler air enters. Zane sees that they are surrounded by water. Bandy begins to bark, and Zane thinks he sees a boat in the distance, but he loses consciousness. A voice tells him to wake up and Zane observes a young Black girl’s face in the vent opening.
Chapter 11 Summary: “The Big Whoops”
The “wicked skinny” girl and a lighter-skinned Black man float in a green canoe just beneath Zane and Bandy. The girl calls Zane stupid for falling asleep: If she had not heard Bandy barking, they would not have found Zane. The man is calm and deep-voiced. He mildly tells Zane not to mind the girl, Malvina, who likes to criticize things. The man has thick black glasses, dreadlocks, and he wears an eccentric top hat with a pink feather stuck in the hatband. He helps Zane back his way out of the vent and get safely into the canoe. Malvina cheerfully warns Zane there are snakes in the water. Zane worries about how to get Bandy into the canoe, but before the man can come up with a plan, Bandy jumps into Zane’s arms. The canoe overturns, sending everyone into the dirty water.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Terrible Things”
The man lifts Malvina to safety on a rooftop where Bandy waits and then helps Zane up. Zane feels guilty and apologizes, but the man is unfazed. He uses his hat to bail out their canoe, helps them back inside, recovers their paddle, and they continue their journey. The man introduces himself as Trudell “Tru” Manning, and the girl as Malvina Rawlins. Tru says they are not related, but they are family, nonetheless. Malvina proudly explains that Tru is a famous musician who plays many different brass instruments. Tru says he is not famous, but he has played with big-name jazz and blues artists. Feeling guilty and sorry for himself, Zane ignores the altered world around him until Tru spots a giant barge sitting atop crushed houses. Zane notices other disturbing things floating by, including the steeple from Miss Trissy’s church, masses of swimming cockroaches, and what Zane believes are garbage bags, but realizes with a shock are dead bodies. Malvina sings a hymn but starts crying, hugging Bandy when he comforts her.
Chapters 1-12 Analysis
Zane’s struggle against the hurricane dominates these chapters. Philbrick builds atmosphere and tension through Zane’s vivid descriptions of the storm. Readers also learn more about Zane’s character from his actions both as he fights to survive and during the storm’s immediate aftermath. Philbrick expands on themes of the importance of friendship and the nature of family with the addition of new characters, Tru and Malvina. Philbrick also begins to show how Tru, Malvina, and Miss Trissy’s regional dialect helps inform their sense of identity.
As the storm approaches, Zane’s graphic narration creates a tense, eerie atmosphere. The reader shares Zane’s feeling of chilling isolation in the empty house and abandoned neighborhood. Using personification, onomatopoeia, and similes, Zane depicts the sounds and actions of the wind and water, emphasizing their unnatural effect on everyday objects. In Zane’s eyes, the storm becomes a deadly antagonist. The wind “begins to talk” and then to “scream,” sounding “like a pack of crazy invisible monsters coming through the night to get us” (35). The branches of the broken tree limb that shatters the window become “tree-fingers” scratching to get in. Outside, sheared metal screams “as if in pain” (38), and power and phone lines “snap” and “ping” as they tear off their poles. Under this onslaught, Bandy, and the house “whimpers.” Zane’s use of figurative language makes the storm seem like a living, malevolent entity. His descriptions augment the storm’s ferocity, reveal his own terror, and increase tension for the reader.
Zane’s use of detailed imagery to describe the storm not only reveals his creativity and imagination but also gives insight into other aspects of Zane’s character. Zane resists panic and shows courage in the face of life-threatening danger. Under pressure, he implements and executes a plan to save both himself and Bandy. The prospect of Bandy dying from heat exhaustion makes Zane “scared and furious at the same time” and propels him into action (50). We see again the important bond of friendship between Zane and his dog. Despite knowing he was wrong to leave the van and follow Bandy, Zane tells his mother he “had to do it” (34). Zane shows his soft side and empathetic nature in his devotion to Bandy and desperation to keep the dog safe. He endangers himself by putting Bandy into the attic first, but Zane tries to downplay his deep love for Bandy by referring to him as “stupid.”
Although he shows courage and strength in protecting himself and Bandy during the storm, Zane also reveals that he has self-esteem issues. Zane suddenly recognizes the value of investing time and effort in himself. For instance, had he applied effort in gym class, he would have been better able to get into the attic. Zane does not like to look foolish. Rather than trying harder at chin ups, he mocked them to save face. Zane also beats himself up for his mistakes, calling himself “the dumbest human being on planet earth” (48). After being rescued by Tru, Zane fixates on feeling sorry for himself. It takes him some time to recognize and empathize with the severity of the storm’s impact on others’ lives.
New characters Tru and Malvina present a different kind of family: one of choice and affection. Although not related, Tru declares they are family, and Malvina goes further, saying they are “blood.” Malvina’s unique definition of family will unfold as the story continues. Tru recognizes Zane’s family name, Dupree, and welcomes Zane into their party, saying he is “one of us now” (58). Tru begins to act as Zane’s mentor. He explains that his and Malvina’s unique way of saying “True dat” is a local figure of speech. Tru and Malvina’s African American English (AAE) dialect gives them a sense of solidarity with the community and, through its historical roots, helps inform their racial identity.
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By Rodman Philbrick
