48 pages • 1 hour read
James Ramsey UllmanBanner In The Sky
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1954A 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 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “A Prisoner Escapes”
Franz explains his encounter with Winter to his sister, Ilse. Winter is the best he ever climbed with, and he promised to climb any peak with him for half his usual rate. But Winter wants only to climb the Citadel, which Franz thinks is “against the will of God” (90).
At the hotel, Rudi cannot focus on work, despite Old Teo’s attempts to encourage him or the proprietor’s warnings about the number of dishes he breaks. The worst part of his day is walking home, when the boys of the town taunt him for doing domestic work after climbing only once, saying things like, “All hail the conqueror of Mount Dishpan!” (92). The summer is busy, making Franz busier than ever. Rudi wants to tell his uncle how well he climbed with Teo, but he can’t bring himself to do so. He thinks about Winter, knowing that he went to Broli to find the famous guide Emil Saxo. Rudi thinks the mountain is Winter’s, just “as it was Rudi’s mountain” (95). That night, Rudi leaves a note for his mother, telling her he will be all right. Sneaking into his uncle’s house, he retrieves the climbing equipment Winter gave him. He stops at the shrine for his father before climbing onward.
Chapter 8 Summary: “White Fury”
The sky lightens as Rudi reaches the junction of the glaciers. After pausing to put on another sweater, he makes his way toward a hut in the distance, passing the glacier where he rescued Winter. When he arrives, Rudi finds a large man, Emil Saxo. Just then, Winter arrives, and Rudi explains that he wants to climb the Citadel with him. Saxo laughs at this claim, but Winter takes Rudi seriously, introducing him as “Son of the great Josef Matt, of Kurtal” (102) and explaining how Rudi saved him from the glacier. Rudi insists that he has permission from his mother and his uncle to climb with Winter, who is not climbing the Citadel today, but only part of the route. He agrees to allow Rudi to accompany them. Winter thinks the best way up the Citadel is across the saddle, between two glaciers. He warns Rudi that there will “not be any experiments” (107) like on their last climb. While the beginning of their climb goes smoothly, they are terrified at the sound of an avalanche. They look up to snow cascading in “white fury” upon them.
Chapter 9 Summary: “The Challenge”
Franz arrives back in Kurtal after a practice climb with a novice client. As always, he goes to the Edelweiss Tavern, which functions like a club for the guides. The atmosphere is tense, and a friend explains that Winter is climbing the Citadel with Saxo. Franz finds Saxo “proud and treacherous” (117), even if he is a skilled guide. Ilse enters and asks where Rudi is. Immediately, Franz realizes Rudi ran off to climb again. He reassures Ilse that “he has only gone to the glaciers” (119), despite his fear that Rudi might be in trouble.
Not long after, a man named Hans returns from watching the climbers on his telescope. When he reports that there were three people climbing, Franz announces that the third climber is his nephew, “up on the Citadel with that madman” (121). While everyone else gasps in shock, Old Teo goes to the bar and orders a beer. He toasts to Rudi, calling him “the only true mountaineer” (122). He sees his father’s spirit in Rudi and believes he is a true Alpine guide who is not afraid of the Citadel, while the other guides sit in the tavern drinking beer. Franz announces that he will head up the mountain to get Rudi in the morning, and a group of men agree to go with him.
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
In this section, suspense increases when Rudi decides to go climb with Winter, with or without permission. Rudi always had a rebellious streak, but getting a taste of climbing makes the mountains irresistible to him. Now that he is on a more intense climb, he learns more about The Relationship Between Humans and Nature. The Citadel is always presented as the “king.” Nature is to be respected and revered, not something to be trifled with. In this section, Rudi learns why: While Saxo and Winter are expert climbers, leaving only a little too late in the day makes them vulnerable to an avalanche.
Banner in the Sky portrays Rudi’s encounter with the Citadel as a matter of destiny. While he chooses to go climb the mountain, the decision seems unavoidable. From the book’s opening pages, it’s clear that Rudi will climb the Citadel one day. Similarly, although Franz rejects his brother-in-law’s path, Rudi’s dream suggests that the uncle and his nephew will climb the Citadel together. Franz departs the Edelweiss thinking he will bring Rudi home immediately, but Rudi’s dream suggests that will not happen.
Honor is closely tied to the theme of Maturity and Masculinity. In this section, Rudi learns that not everyone who embodies the traditional role of the strong, powerful mountaineer is honorable; physical strength does not ensure integrity or ethics. Saxo is a regarded guide, but the men of Rudi’s community dislike and distrust him. Whether this is due to Saxo’s personal traits or to the tensions between the people of Kurtal and Broli is unclear at this point. In the end, Rudi will learn that overcoming these differences to protect one another is what shows true character.
This section further highlights the ways that his family’s attempts to protect Rudi from climbing imprison him. Chapter 7’s title, “A Prisoner Escapes,” captures Rudi’s feelings about being confined to his life as a dishwasher. While Old Teo tries to tell him to cheer up, Rudi feels like a prisoner looking at the world “from behind the bars of the cell” (91). It is Rudi’s destiny to climb. Before beginning his hike to the hut, Rudi stops at his father’s shrine: He is following in his father’s physical footsteps but also wants desperately to be the type of man that his father was. He carries his staff with him, even though he doesn’t need it with his ice ax, for “something he scarcely dared dream of” (98): to fly the banner at the top of the mountain that his father dreamed of pitching.
Only Old Teo understands the depth of these desires. While Franz sees them as immature rebellion, Teo knows that Rudi is full of courage and needs to feel powerful and mature. Rudi is driven by the will to live freely and have adventures, whereas other climbers repeat the same ascents just to make money. For this reason, Teo chides the other climbers, “Swill your beer. And see how you feel when the ‘impossible’ summit is climbed by others” (123). Teo understands that while listening to the wisdom of elders is important, adults also need to allow children to make mistakes and develop their own identities.
