65 pages • 2 hours read
Alistair MacLeodNo Great Mischief
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1999A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaChapters 37-39Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 37 Summary
Alexander works hard and sleeps little. He and Alex bond over movies and sports. One day, the hoist breaks, and work in the mine comes to a halt. Alex and his team begin to climb the ladders to exit the mine. When they reach the surface, rumors abound about how long the hoist will take to repair. Eventually, it emerges that the mine will have to be closed for a number of days.
Almost immediately, taxis begin to appear at the camp. They arrive to collect people, drop them off, or sell something. Unusually, everyone is above ground together, and a collective restlessness descends on the miners. After hours of boredom, Alexander decides to buy beer. Spotting the purchase, Fern Picard does the same, not wanting to be outdone by the young American.
After a few hours of drinking, Fern Picard approaches Calum and insults him. Behind Fern, men appear out of the shadows. Fern insults Calum again, so Calum attacks. A mass brawl breaks out. Alex fights as Alexander slips away into the trees. As Alex wrestles with an unknown man, Calum lands beside him. Fern falls on him immediately and begins to choke Calum. Grabbing a nearby wrench, Calum slams it into Fern Picard’s head and kills the man instantly. The fight stops.
Chapter 38 Summary
The police arrive and close down the roads. The men are held in the local jail until the following Monday. Calum is charged with second-degree murder, and the others are free to go. Back at the mining camp, the French Canadians are preparing to leave. Both groups have lost their leaders. Alex and Marcel see one another but do not risk a conversation.
In the clann Chalum Ruaidh bunk, they pry open Alexander MacDonald’s locker. Inside is Fern Picard’s wallet and many other stolen items. No one ever sees Alexander again.
Chapter 39 Summary
Calum is convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The judge hopes the harsh punishment would serve as an example to other potential law breakers.
Chapters 37-39 Analysis
The bad blood that has fermented between Fern Picard and Calum finally spills over into violence. In-keeping with the novel’s emphasis on perspective, however, the catalyst for the fight is not as it first appears. Throughout the book, the reader is led to believe that it is the bar fight and the general animosity between the two groups which will eventually boil over into violence. However, unbeknownst to clann Chalum Ruaidh, it is one of their own men who is sowing the seeds of their eventual downfall. Alexander’s theft causes Fern Picard to attack, but neither Calum nor any of his relatives are aware of this. The ultimate irony of clann Chalum Ruaidh, who depend so much on familial bonds, is that one of their own betrays them.
As a result, Calum becomes more of a tragic figure. When he is sat alone in his small apartment, drinking himself to death, he is constantly re-litigating his past. Now, the reader understands that it is not just a general nostalgia, but an urge to understand all the tiny details he missed before. Calum had no idea Alexander stole Fern’s wallet, and due to the language barrier, he was unable to communicate or resolve this issue. He failed as a leader and let his family down, and now he is stuck inside his own memories, desperately worried about it happening again. Calum is obsessed with the past—and with other people’s perspectives on stories— because a failure to fully understand events led to his downfall. He became a murderer because he defended a family member, only for Alexander to betray him.
The arrival of the police brings a closure to the earlier instances when Calum encountered law enforcement. On those occasions, he fought back against their authority. At the time, he could blame grief or his circumstances for the unfair treatment he received. But on this occasion, he knows that he is in the wrong. Earlier, the police closed down the roads for Alexander MacDonald’s funeral. Now, they close the roads for a similar kind of funeral procession: Calum being taken away by the police along the closed roads marks the death of this iteration of clann Chalum Ruaidh, who will never truly recover.
