48 pages • 1 hour read
Brother
A 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 14-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying, sexual violence, rape, child abuse, child sexual abuse, child death, animal cruelty, animal death, addiction, graphic violence, sexual content, cursing, death, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.
Chapter 14 Summary
At the movie theater, Reb, Lucy, Alice, and Michael watch The Shining. Michael wonders where Reb got the money to pay for the tickets. He admits he’s never seen a movie in a movie theater before. Reb claims he’s been in movie theaters before, and he mentions the actor (Sigourney Weaver) in Alien to prove his point.
Alice buys Michael snacks, and they sit away from Lucy and Reb. Michael has seen movies on TV, and he gives Alice a cheery interpretation of The Wizard of Oz. Alice sees it as unsettling. The Shining begins, and Alice and Michael hold hands as they watch the movie. Afterward, Reb claims the end is unrealistic. Michael wants to see it again.
Alice thinks Michael is “shy,” making him “special.” Michael imagines Alice as one of the dead girls in the storm cellar. Reb thinks Alice likes Michael, and Michael admits that he likes Alice.
Chapter 15 Summary
Michael hangs out in Misty’s room while she repeatedly plays Neil Diamond’s “Cherry, Cherry.” Reb enters the room drunk, causing Michael to remember how his brother acts when he drinks alcohol. Once, during dinner, Reb stood on his chair and claimed the family treated him like an abused “slave.” Momma told him to get his boots off the chair.
