56 pages 1 hour read

Paulette Jiles

News of the World

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016

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

Chapter 14 Summary

As they arrive in Durand, the Captain bargains with the owner of a broom-and-stave mill about allowing them to stay the night in the loading yard. The man asks for 50¢, an exorbitant price, the Captain finds, but without many options, he pays.

The Captain readies himself for business and tries to teach Johanna how to tell time. He believes she understands and leaves his watch with her.

He tacks up his handbills everywhere. Street urchins follow him around, which annoys him. He knows they can't read and goads them by telling them that his placards say he is going to saw a very fat woman in half. He tells them to leave him alone, and they quickly grow bored and leave. A little later on, after placing handbills in several other key locations, he gives a well-dressed man one of them personally. The man appears intrigued and asks the Captain will he also be reading from the Daily State Journal, which the Captain vehemently denies he will do, touting the journal as mere propaganda. This offends the man. After some bickering back and forth, the Captain tells the man to just stay home if he doesn't want to hear non-political news.