51 pages • 1-hour read
Dead End In Norvelt
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Chapters 23-28Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 23 Summary
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, animal cruelty and death, death by suicide, and death.
Mrs. Vinyl dies, and her daughter wants her cremated. On the drive to Mrs. Vinyl’s house, Jack mentions the skeleton, and Miss Volker says that her sister used it for a drawing model. At Mrs. Vinyl’s house, Miss Volker and Mr. Huffer argue about the fate of Norvelt. Miss Volker wants it to be a “shining city on a hill” (329). Mr. Huffer claims that Norvelt can’t last forever—nothing can. Miss Volker believes that history lasts forever.
For Mrs. Vinyl’s obituary, Miss Volker discusses a birthday party she had during World War II. The Norvelt women saved their rations of sugar and flour and baked Mrs. Vinyl a cake. Fast-burning candles burned an extraordinary hole in the cake, but the woman ate it and enjoyed it. Since the date is August 6, Miss Volker notes the bombing of Hiroshima. She claims that countries win wars through principles, not ruthlessness. She also vows to never refer to Japanese people as “Japs” again.
Dad criticizes Miss Volker’s obituary for Mrs. Vinyl. He and other soldiers want to forget the “horrors” of war, but she reminds them. Jack thinks that remembering is a positive: If people remember history, they might not do the “bad thing” again. Dad says that no one will forget Hiroshima anyway, and he tells Jack to continue digging the shelter. He lets Jack listen to his portable radio.
Chapter 24 Summary
Mrs. Bloodgood dies, and Jack jokes that her battery ran out before the portable radio’s battery. For the obituary, Miss Volker details Mrs. Bloodgood’s racism. Mrs. Bloodgood didn’t want Black people in Norvelt; she tried to stop the Whites, a Black family, from receiving a Norvelt home. Mrs. White wrote to Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, and the first lady and president made sure that the Whites could live in Norvelt. To honor Eleanor, Mrs. White changed the name from Westmoreland Homesteads to Norvelt.
For the historical aspect of the obituary, Miss Volker discusses the farm owned by the Hurst families. The Hursts lived in Kentucky and took part in enslavement. They bought the land from William Penn, and eventually, the government bought the farm, including it in Norvelt. The irony is that the farm became a part of the Underground Railroad—a covert network of places and people that moved enslaved people to states where enslavement wasn’t legal.
While driving to Mr. Greene, Mr. Spizz pulls him over on his tricycle. Though he knows the answers, he asks for Jack’s license (Jack doesn’t have one) and about the owner of the car (Miss Volker). Mr. Spizz decides to give Jack a warning, but the warning involves “nosy” Mr. Greene, who calls the police to investigate the dying woman. If the police catch Jack driving, he will be in trouble.
Aside from Miss Volker, Mrs. Droogie is the only older woman still alive. Mr. Spizz tells Jack to drop off his mother’s casserole at Miss Volker’s house, saying that he’ll take it and the cookies to Mrs. Droogie. Before leaving, Mr. Spizz odiously promises that change is on its way.
Chapter 25 Summary
In a Norvelt News editorial, Mr. Greene says that the town is dying; people are “dropping dead” and receiving cremation without an autopsy. Alluding to Miss Volker, Mr. Greene claims that the cause isn’t a Hells Angels curse. Mr. Greene wants “scientific answers,” so he called the police.
Miss Volker replies to Mr. Greene’s combative column with a letter that she dictates to Jack. Miss Volker claims that history often reveals more about the present than the past. She talks about the panic that the Great Influenza of 1918 caused. No single individual was responsible for creating the “Spanish flu” that killed between 25 and 50 million people. Likewise, no single person is causing the deaths of the older women in Norvelt. She ends with a call to preserve Norvelt and reject fear.
At dinner, Mom tells Jack and Dad that she thinks she’s the cause of the deaths. The food she makes for the women involves mushrooms that she picks by the trash dump, and she thinks that maybe she’s been picking the deadly “Destroying Angel” mushroom by mistake. Dad reminds Mom that she’s been using the same mushrooms in their food and that Dad, Mom, and Jack remain alive. Dad suggests that Mom keep quiet for now. He doesn’t want to provoke an “angry mob.” Mom thinks that Norvelt wouldn’t succumb to mob behavior.
At night, Jack contemplates the brutal unfairness of history. He also thinks about how the old women have died. His thoughts center on Mr. Spizz, who uses the Compound 1080 poison in the dump. Mr. Huffer also uses it—his name was on the list.
Chapter 26 Summary
While helping Miss Volker wash her clothes in the basement, he notices more chocolates with 1080. Upstairs, Miss Volker prepares another operation on Jack’s nose—it continues to leak—when she receives a phone call informing her that Mrs. Droogie died. Miss Volker is excited, and Jack sneezes; the blade and wire scratch the inside of his nose before he pulls it out. Jack thinks he cut his nose off, but Miss Volker says he’s fine and that the sneeze probably cauterized the remaining capillaries. As they leave, Miss Volker doesn’t notice the chocolates and notes that Mr. Spizz left.
Mr. Huffer and two police officers are at the Droogies’ house. To prove that she’s not flippant about the deaths, Miss Volker gives Mrs. Droogie’s body a thorough examination and concludes that she died from a stroke. The police officers insist on taking the body to a lab, and Miss Volker doesn’t protest.
In the car, Miss Volker uses the date (August 12) to tell Jack about the romance between the Roman general Antony and his romantic partner Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt. Believing that Cleopatra died (she was actually hiding from capture), Antony fell on his sword. Hearing that Antony was dead, Cleopatra let poisonous snakes bite her breasts.
At home, Miss Volker dictates Mrs. Droogie’s obituary. She was a “violin prodigy” who joined the New York Philharmonic when she was 11. Realizing that she was only playing the violin to please her parents, she married Mr. Droogie, a professional clown, and she and her husband became known for their humor.
Jack gets the note and chocolates from Mr. Spizz. The note says that he and Miss Volker are the only two original Norvelters left, so now she must complete her promise and marry him. Jack speaks to Mr. Greene, who believes that Miss Volker killed the older women. Jack doesn’t think it’s her, so he and Mr. Greene make a $4 bet. Later, Mr. Spizz calls Jack and says that the police arrested Miss Volker for murder. The police found 1080 in the chocolates and Thin Mints. Mr. Spizz wonders if Jack is Miss Volker’s accomplice. Jack reminds Mr. Spizz that he was the last person to handle the food before it went to the older women.
Chapter 27 Summary
Due to the murder allegations, Miss Volker is under house arrest, and Mr. Spizz is her guard. Since there are no more obituaries for Miss Volker to write, the newspaper only reruns her “This Day in History” column. On August 14, 1935, the United States government passed the Social Security Act. Ten years later, Japan surrendered, marking the end of World War II.
A gunshot interrupts Jack’s reading. His mother comes running to him. Jack quickly announces that he didn’t shoot Dad’s Japanese weapon again. A wounded deer appears, and Mom orders Jack to get her the weapon. Jack can’t find the sniper rifle, so he brings her the Japanese sword instead.
Mom shields the deer and confronts the masked hunter, who turns out to be Mom’s brother, Will. Will has the Japanese rifle. Jack believes that Will left the bullet in the rifle—the bullet that “ruined” his summer. Mom claims that Jack’s summer wasn’t “ruined”: He got a new girlfriend (Miss Volker). Jack brings up Mr. Spizz, and Mom thinks that Mr. Spizz always wanted to have Miss Volker as a captive. Mom also notices that the deer incident didn’t give Jack a bloody nose. Jack claims that Miss Volker fixed it. He thinks about the deer and its link to history: Like many victims in history, the deer didn’t do anything wrong, but it was in the wrong place.
Chapter 28 Summary
Jack writes an awkward but earnest obituary for the deer. As Jack researches a historical link, Dad, back from a job in Florida, tells Jack that he knows he didn’t put the bullet in the gun. However, Jack pulled the trigger. Jack promises not to repeat history and play with the gun again.
Mr. Spizz takes Miss Volker’s car and goes on the lam, but he finds time to call Jack to tell him to go to Miss Volker’s house and untie her. Jack sees Miss Volker surrounded by mice, but she doesn’t want Jack to hurt Mr. Spizz. Miss Volker has had fun with him. She got him to confess verbally and in writing to killing the older woman. He wanted them gone so that he could marry her. Before taking a nap, Miss Volker tells Jack that tomorrow is the day the first English child, Virginia Dare, was born in America.
Jack won the bet with Mr. Greene and received the $4. Since Jack didn’t put the bullet in the gun, Mom ungrounds him, and Jack plays in the baseball game at night. Dad lands on the J-3 in the outfield, and Jack gets in. Dad thinks that they should build a fence around Norvelt. Jack thinks that the fence would make it like a concentration camp, while Dad claims that it would make it like a museum.
The drive-in plays another war movie, and Dad and Jack start dropping water balloons. Jack realizes that they’re scaring people, like how he scared people when he fired the sniper rifle. He tells Dad to stop, and Dad grounds the plane. Jack imagines a “This Day in History” column about himself. On August 17, 1962, Jack’s mother ungrounded him. On August 18, 1962, Jack will likely receive another grounding.
Chapters 23-28 Analysis
Gantos continues to develop Confronting Death and Violence as the narrative comes to its climax and resolution. In particular, the murder mystery genre dominates Chapters 23-28 as the characters try to figure out who is behind the deaths. Mr. Greene escalates the conflict with a provocative editorial. He also brings in the police. Miss Volker adds to the narrative tension by dictating a combative letter. Dropping the notion of a Hells Angels curse, Miss Volker writes, “[W]e’ve lost but a few ladies of advanced age by natural causes. They lived useful, long lives, so let us not panic like a bunch of Chicken Littles” (351). Mom adds a twist when she speculates that she killed the older woman through lethal mushrooms. Playing the role of an informal detective, Jack focuses on Mr. Spizz and Mr. Huffer, who use the 1080 poison. Gantos builds the suspense by waiting until the last chapter to reveal the culprit, Mr. Spizz.
The book also belongs to the didactic genre. In other words, Gantos has a message for the reader, and through his characters, he dictates it. While there are many messages about oppression and The Force of Community, the main message becomes clear in the final chapters. Realizing that Will, not Jack, put the bullet in the rifle, Dad still tells Jack not to play with the rifle again. Jack vows, “History won’t repeat itself” (392). Jack puts his words into practice when he orders Dad to let him off the plane because he doesn’t want to keep scaring people by dropping balloons on them. Jack explains, “Now I knew exactly what I was doing. The reason you remind yourself of the stupid stuff you’ve done in the past is so you don’t do it again. That was what Miss Volker had been teaching us all these years” (407). The narrative comes full circle. His behavior asserts the novel’s primary message: Do not repeat past mistakes.
The didactic genre links to the theme of History as Guidance, and it connects to the symbolism behind the obituaries. Miss Volker highlights history not to show off or retraumatize people but to educate them. She wants to point out the “stupid stuff” so that people can see it and avoid it. At the same, history holds hopeful elements. For example, in Chapter 24, Miss Volker tells the story of Mrs. White, who confronted racism and preserved her family’s place in Norvelt. The novel indicates that history can tell people what to do and what not to do. Thus, the obituaries symbolize teaching lessons. Through them, Miss Volker educates her readers about major events and figures. She shows that the specific, less well-known lives of Norvelters, like Mrs. Droogie, can contain moral lessons.
Mr. Spizz’s character becomes less straightforward in the final chapters. For most of the narrative, Gantos presents him as an antagonist. He’s a self-important busybody who gives Jack’s family a ticket and won’t leave Miss Volker alone. Gantos cements his adverse character by making him the murderer. The ironic twist, however, is that the murders make him seem somewhat sympathetic. Mr. Spizz murdered the women so that he could be with Miss Volker—the woman he’s loved for almost his entire life. Jack wants to harm Mr. Spizz, but Miss Volker says, “Don’t hurt ol’ Spizz. Over the last few days I really had a pretty good time with him” (394). Miss Volker’s ultimate perception of Mr. Spizz portrays him in a more sympathetic light, showing him as a more redeemable character since he was acting out of love.
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