The Ogress and the Orphans

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2022

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-9

Chapters 10-15

Chapters 16-19

Chapters 20-24

Chapters 25-30

Chapters 31-36

Chapters 37-42

Chapters 43-49

Chapters 50-54

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 16-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 16 Summary: “The Reading Room”

While the Matron and Myron get the kids ready for bed, Anthea reads her to-do list, finding she’s done everything but organize the reading room. In truth, she keeps the item on the list so she can claim she has work to do while taking time for herself. In addition, the room seems to reorganize itself, and different books appear on the shelves at different times. Anthea pulls down a volume on crows and starts to read, unconcerned about the late hour. Time somehow works differently in the reading room, and “the more time the children spent there, the more time they seemed to have” (107).

Bartleby and Cass arrive. Anthea tries to get them to leave, but they stay and convince her to tell them her theory about the crows around town. Anthea’s noticed that whenever they hear crows at night, there is a box from their benefactor the next morning, and she believes the crows are responsible for the gifts. Anthea is fluent in the crow language, and she hears them outside, calling “the more you give, the more you have” (114).

Chapter 17 Summary: “Market Day”

Once a month, the orphans sell various wares at the market. As they set up their stall, Anthea notices new signs in the square—warnings about how neighbors are thieves and one that reads “a lovely town begins with you! give generously to the mayor’s fund!” (116). People stop to gaze at the signs and then argue with passers-by. The day is cold and damp, and combined with the Mayor’s appearance, leads to poor sales.

As Anthea and the others use what they earned to buy food, the townspeople say unflattering things about the Ogress and how the bad times are her fault, even though they’ve never seen her in town. Bartleby argues that their beliefs lack logic and are cruel, which starts a fight. The townspeople attack the orphans. Anthea is injured and spills the meager food they purchased. Enraged, Myron yells to the crowd that he’s “ashamed of the lot of you” for acting so poorly (125). He helps Anthea up, and the group heads back to the Orphan House as Anthea wonders how they’ll survive with such little food.

Chapter 18 Summary: “And Then There Was Elijah, Who Loved Stories”

In the days following the incident at the market, Elijah tries to help around the Orphan House but keeps being sent away because no one can stand his nonstop talking and storytelling. He finally goes to the reading room, where he tells a story about the Library before it burned. There was a book that supposedly told the history and the future, but no one ever read it. The people assumed the future would be lovely because life had been lovely so far, and Elijah cautions that this assumption “was a terrible mistake” (129).

Next, he tells about a stone that fell in love with an oak tree that was cut down before the stone could share its feelings, and the stone’s heart broke, which caused the world to shake. Finally, Elijah tells the story of the Ogress’s journeys and how she finally arrived at the farm outside Stone-in-the-Glen. When the children ask where he comes up with his stories, Elijah says “I’m just a good listener” (131), rather than telling them the walls whisper to him.

Later, Elijah finds Anthea in the reading room, crying. She’s been reading about the town and doesn’t understand how everything went from lovely to how it is now. Elijah tries to comfort her by explaining that people do terrible things for a reason—greed, fear, or loneliness. He says Anthea should focus on the town’s future rather than its past because the orphans need to prepare for growing up and leaving the Orphan House. Rather than comforting her, Elijah’s words make Anthea upset. She leaves, and the wood of the house whispers the beginnings of stories about the Ogress being in danger, a dragon swindling a town, and a community becoming unloved. Elijah asks the house for useful information, and it keeps repeating stories.

Chapter 19 Summary: “A Visit to the Mayor’s House”

The next day, most of the kids come down with a stomach bug. Cass remains healthy and rushes from task to task to make up for the others being too sick to help. At lunch, the Matron and Cass visit the Mayor to ask about funding to support the Orphan House. The Mayor’s mansion glitters in the sunlight, and instead of a lawn, it has colorful stones arranged in patterns. A sign proclaims that the town depends on its people to donate and questions whether the people of Stone-in-the-Glen are giving enough, with the words “they probably aren’t” in smaller letters (144).

The Matron explains the situation and how she’s worked hard to cut corners and teach the children thrift. Rather than offering help, the Mayor congratulates her on her industriousness until the Matron is beaming with pride at her accomplishments. He warns her about the townspeople and their thieving ways before praising her a final time by saying, “Thank the Antelope for you,” and going inside (149). As soon as the Mayor is gone, the Matron’s expression of pride fades to confusion.

That night at the Orphan House, Cass overhears the Matron telling Myron what happened with the Mayor and how worried she is. They discuss the rule about 14-year-olds needing to leave but decide they can’t turn Anthea away, even though having one less person would make things so much more manageable. Cass decides to leave, so the others will be better off.

Chapters 16-19 Analysis

Books and stories play a significant role in The Ogress and the Orphans. These chapters show the importance of both and how they offer the right information when we need it, even if we don’t recognize it. The fluidity of time around stories is likely a metaphor for how a good story can steal our attention so that we no longer notice the passing of time. Chapter 18 features Elijah, who hears the stories from the wood of the Orphan House that were once told by the trees before they were cut down. Elijah is the only one who hears the story, and no explanation is ever given for his gift. As a result of hearing the stories, Elijah is a bit out of touch with reality, which is the downside of living in stories. While stories are useful for passing along information, clinging to them too much can blur reality. He constantly tells stories, which is fine when people want to hear them, but when other things need attending, Elijah’s gift becomes a distraction.

One of Elijah’s stories is about the book of all stories that no one ever read because they assumed they knew the ending. This passage calls to the danger of assumptions. When things are going well, we tend to think things will always go well, and we don’t entertain notions of how things could get worse. When things are not going well, we hope things will get better and fear what will happen if they don’t. In both cases, we make assumptions about the future, and those assumptions influence our actions in the present. In real life, we don’t have access to a book that tells all the endings. No one reading this book in the story world speaks to the unpredictability of the future. Elijah says no one reads the book because they assumed the future would always be lovely, but it may also be that no one reads the book because the future matters less than the present. This calls to the debate of whether it’s better to know what’s coming or deal with things as they occur, another question that is not answered by the end of the book.

At the end of Chapter 18, Elijah asks the house for useful information, and it responds by telling stories. The house’s response to Elijah’s request says a few things about the nature of stories. First, it suggests stories have all the information we need if we search for it. A story may not offer the quick advice or answers we want in the moment, but the lessons imbued in stories offer long-term solutions and lessons we can apply to experiences in the present and future. In the case of The Ogress and the Orphans, the stories the house tells literally have the answers and advice Elijah needs because they contain how the orphans will save one another, the Ogress, and the town.

The sign outside the Mayor’s house in Chapter 19 is an example of sowing division. The sign proclaims that donating to the Mayor is the best way to help the town and implies that more donations will lead to more prosperity, even though nothing has been done to help the town since people started donating. The smaller words stating that others probably aren’t contributing enough are there to make people feel either guilty or superior. If someone isn’t donating a lot, the words will remind them how they aren’t giving to their community and likely inspire them to give more. If someone feels they are giving a lot, they will feel as though they are better than their neighbors and also make them suspicious of everyone because they don’t know who isn’t giving enough or who doesn’t have a proper level of respect for their town. The Mayor plays on people’s emotions to turn them against their friends and grow his hoard of wealth.

The Mayor’s interaction with the Matron shows how he twists words and situations to his benefit. The Matron explains the hardships, but rather than offering to help or admitting that his greed has caused the problem, the Mayor focuses on the “good” lessons the Matron teaches the orphans. He takes part of her words out of context and twists them until she believes she’s doing something good and doesn’t need the Mayor’s help after all. In turn, she doesn’t demand assistance from the Mayor, who gets to keep his riches, and when the Mayor goes back inside, the Matron is left feeling like her own shortcomings are why the Orphan House is struggling. The Mayor thanking the antelope is a slip-up, but since the Matron is dazzled by his compliments and charisma, she doesn’t notice the oddity, which allows the Mayor to keep his secret.