39 pages • 1 hour read
Susan Carol McCarthyLay That Trumpet in Our Hands
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2002A 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 36-40 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 36 Summary
Reesa receives a letter from Vaylie with news. Though she and her mother have been “traveling” a lot to get away from her dad, her terrible family issues are finally resolving. After her “daddy’s momma” had to care for him for a while, she realized that he is ill. The doctors diagnose his illness as manic depression and commit him to a sanatorium where he is receiving electro-shock therapy and is improving. She and her mother are now staying at home, and she has a tutor who promises to help her get back up to grade level.
Reesa responds immediately. In the letter, she encloses a rattlesnake skin as good luck for Vaylie. Then she tells Vaylie of her family’s experiences and the fear with which they now live.
Chapter 37 Summary
Indictments for perjury are handed down to the Klansmen with J.D. Bowman, Marvin’s killer, leading the list. The McMahons celebrate with a meal out and ice cream all around. Feeling all is well with the world, the family drives home—until Lizbeth yells, “Stop the car!”
Chapter 38 Summary
In the palmetto beside their walkway are two White boys with ax handles, just like Luther’s choir ladies had told them. One of the boys hurts his ankle on a palmetto, and Warren sets Buddy on the boys. The boy hits the dog with one of the ax handles so Warren takes out his gun and shoots into the air, and the boys run away.
Once inside, the grownups have the most serious conversation yet. Doto wants to take the kids away, Warren wants them all to leave, but Lizbeth wins. Doto will leave, but everyone else will stay.
Chapter 39 Summary
Warren and the children go to the place where Buddy bit one of the intruders. He notes the blood on the ground and the vehicle tracks as proof of their presence. Reesa climbs her favorite tree and looks at the colorful beauty of nature, the sky overhead, and the groves of orange trees. A verse comes to her mind, but she can remember only one part of the verse: “Be still and know…” On Saturday morning, Warren tells Reesa to find Ren and join him in the truck.
Chapter 40 Summary
Warren makes a plan that involves the whole family as the problems with the Klan have affected them all. Ren and Reesa see him examining his dynamite before he tells them the plan. They load up in two vehicles—Warren, Reesa, and Ren in the truck and Lizbeth in the station wagon. They carefully circle the restaurant where the Klansmen frequently eat breakfast. Warren parks his truck against Casselton’s vehicle, ensuring that Casselton is unable to leave, and they wait until Emmett Casselton exits. The door to the truck has been left open so that the shotgun across Ren and Reesa’s laps is clearly visible. Warren indicates to Casselton that after his son was shot and the younger Klansmen came to attack him, it is his turn to be a threat to his enemies. Warren reveals to Casselton that all the dynamite all over the country has been confiscated by the FBI—except his own. They make a gentlemen’s agreement that must be fulfilled in fifteen minutes, so the McMahons head for home.
When they arrive home, Warren carefully places his dynamite in the sink hole where Reesa and her brothers like to play. They have just a few minutes left, so Luther and Warren send the family for cover before they set the wicks so that blast will go off timed to the minute. A huge explosion heard for miles occurs. Lizbeth, who had remained parked in town, secretly observed and later reported Casselton’s reaction—a hearty laugh. Warren is pleased with the reaction. Finally the family is overwhelmed with surprise when they notice that the explosion has caused the underground river to gush forth.
Chapters 36-40 Analysis
Lay that Trumpet in Our Hands has an ambiguous ending because the reader is not privy to the conversation that Warren has with the Grand Cyklops. Even though the McMahons have dealt with the Klan indirectly throughout the novel, this conversation is the family’s first direct confrontation with the leader. Though what was said is not specified, the narrative demonstrates that the action is a victory for the McMahon family. All of the themes come to some resolution at the end of the novel; good has won over evil, the bonds of the community are strengthened by Warren’s strategic act of courage, and the Klansmen’s act of racist violence have been stopped for the time being.
Warren fulfills his side of the gentleman’s agreement with Casselton when he blows up the dynamite in the sinkhole. To everyone’s surprise and amazement, an underground river gushes up from the sinkhole, and this river represents a spiritual and ethical cleansing. No more bombings or deaths take place after Warren destroys his supply of dynamite, indicating that Warren has achieved his goals and cleansed the community of Klan hatred.
