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 37-42Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 37 Summary: “Humph”

That night, the townspeople confront the Ogress, yelling about how dangerous she is and how they don’t want her there. One man throws a rock at her, and the crows chase the mob away. The crows want to go after the townspeople, but the Ogress begs them not to be violent. The townspeople are not bad; they have just lost sight of themselves, and she vows to “show them what their best selves can look like” (283).

Chapter 38 Summary: “Enough”

That night, the Ogress leaves more gifts than usual. The following morning, the townspeople are so grateful that they admire their gifts outside and notice that others have also received presents. Meanwhile, Anthea, Bartleby, and Myron hear drunken townspeople bragging about attacking the Ogress. Anthea insists they need to help the Ogress, but Myron forbids it. He worries about what would happen if those people turned their anger on the Orphan House, arguing that “all we can do is lock the gates and keep ourselves safe” (288).

That night, the butcher rallies a mob to go to the Ogress’s house, where they throw rocks through the windows and rip up the plants until the crows chase them away. The butcher hurls a lantern into the barn, setting it aflame and trapping the sheep inside. The Ogress runs to rescue them, yelling that lambs and new mothers are inside. Overcome with guilt, the butcher rushes to help, and they manage to save the animals. They watch the barn burn while a lamb curls up in the butcher’s lap. After some time, the butcher apologizes and leaves, feeling ashamed.

Chapter 39 Summary: “Consequences”

The Ogress watches the burning barn until the sun rises. Then, she goes inside, throws the treats she made in her compost pile, and settles into her chair. She doesn’t come out for the next few nights, and the crows wonder if she ever will. In town, the people find no treats for the next week, making them sadder and sadder until “the hole left by the lack of these acts of generosity began to feel more like an abyss” (299).

Chapter 40 Summary: “Rope”

The orphans try to find a way to sneak out to visit the Ogress and finally realize they can use a rope to climb out an upstairs window. After making sure Myron and the Matron are fast asleep, they sneak out and climb over the outer wall, finding themselves beyond the Orphan House grounds without an adult for the first time. The kids can’t believe they are outside alone, to which one says they aren’t because they’re together, and “that’s the opposite of alone” (306).

On their way out of town, they pass the Mayor’s house and notice him moving around inside. They peer through a window to see mounds of gold, which infuriates them because the Orphan House has been struggling so much when the Mayor could have helped. Resolving to take care of this later, they continue to the Ogress’s house.

Chapter 41 Summary: “As It Turns Out, the Crows Discovered, Children Are Wonderful”

For a week after the attack, the Ogress doesn’t leave her house, and the animals sit solemnly by, telling her they love her. The orphans come on the eighth night and explain the Mayor’s betrayal of the town. He’s been cheating the people out of their gold for years, leaving them frustrated and angry, and “as a result the townspeople had begun looking for someone to blame” (314). The orphans ask if they can see the Ogress, and the crows agree.

Chapter 42 Summary: “First Impressions”

The children immediately like the Ogress, and the Ogress is overjoyed that they’ve come. The Ogress’s house is a mess from the attack, and the children set to work cleaning up. Cass thanks the Ogress for rescuing her and gives the Ogress a hug, which the other children and all the animals join. It’s the best hug the Ogress has ever experienced, and “she’d keep it with her, always” (321). Anthea studies the Ogress’s workbench, which makes her think about how the town’s troubles started when the Library burned and gives her an idea about how to fix it.

Chapters 37-42 Analysis

The violent acts in Chapters 37 and 38 are the culmination of the Mayor’s spread of misinformation. He has sufficiently convinced some of the townspeople that the Ogress is a threat, and the people have taken matters into their own hands to get rid of her. Their attacks are against the law, but the Mayor permitted them to break the law as long as they weren’t caught, so they have no fear of repercussions for their violence. The crows defend the Ogress out of loyalty, but their loyalty to her differs from the townspeople’s loyalty to the Mayor. Where the people follow the Mayor’s words because they are angry and afraid, the crows defend the Ogress out of love. At the end of the book, the crows are still with the Ogress, but the townspeople have lost faith in the Mayor and are glad to see him go.

The butcher’s actions in Chapter 38 show how complicated people are. One moment, the butcher attacks the Ogress’s house with his fellow townspeople, and the next he charges into the barn to save the animals he trapped inside. The butcher is fine with attacking the Ogress’s home, but when lives are in danger, he realizes his actions were wrong. He can’t leave the sheep to die. They’ve done nothing wrong, and deep down, he knows the Ogress has done nothing wrong either. His shame shows that he is unsettled with his actions, even if they are what he thinks the Mayor wants. He will not be violent toward the Ogress or her land again because he can’t bear the thought of life being lost.

Following the attack, the Ogress’s heart breaks. She believed she had found a home, only to learn that some people didn’t want her there and were willing to chase her away by destroying her property. Her reaction to the attack and the townspeople's response to the lack of treats shows how we are all connected. The Ogress is deeply hurt by the townspeople, and she doesn’t bring more gifts. Not receiving treats makes the townspeople sad. They came to enjoy or even rely on the Ogress’s gifts, and not having them feels like they’ve lost something. The individual feelings of loss combine into a massive sadness that overtakes the town.

The orphans visiting the Ogress begin the rebuilding process that persists throughout the rest of the book. Since the children now know the Ogress has been leaving the treats and vegetables, their absence means something is wrong. They sneak out against the Matron’s orders because some things are more important than following the rules, and they believe visiting the Ogress is the only way to truly fix Stone-in-the-Glen. Their discovery of the Mayor’s hoarded gold foreshadows how the crows return the wealth to the people and how the people run the Mayor out of town. The orphan who observes that they aren’t alone because they have each other shows how there can be multiple correct interpretations of something. Throughout the book, Barnhill focuses on how there are right and wrong ways to view a situation, but here, there are two right ways. The children are on their own because they are without supervision, but they are also not alone because all 15 are together.

The children immediately help the Ogress put her house back together in Chapter 42, showing how caring they truly are. They don’t know the exact details of what happened, but it doesn’t matter. The Ogress needs help, and since she has been nothing but kind to them, they are willing to help. The giant hug at the end of the chapter symbolizes the power of caring. Closeness lets the orphans, Ogress, and animals feel part of something bigger than themselves. From this point forward, the orphans and the Ogress work as a team to fix Stone-in-the-Glen, and their unique skill sets allow them to succeed where no one has before.