45 pages • 1 hour read
John ChristopherThe White Mountains
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1967A 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 4-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “Beanpole”
One evening a few days later, Will and Henry arrive in the port town of Rumney where, according to Ozymandias’s instructions, they are to look for a ship called the Orion, helmed by Captain Curtis.
Not seeing the ship, Will enters a tavern to buy some food as Henry waits outside. Inside the tavern, a heavyset man named Rowley forcefully tries to recruit Will to the crew of the Black Swan and begins to question him about his background. At that moment, Will recognizes Captain Curtis from Ozymandias’s description and calls out to him. Captain Curtis claims that Will is a member of his crew, and Rowley leaves him alone.
Captain Curtis takes Will and Henry to the Orion. Since only one member of the crew is friendly to their mission, Captain Curtis hides the two boys in his own cabin, where they fall asleep as the ship sets sail. The next morning, Captain Curtis serves them a hearty breakfast, including coffee, which they have never drunk before.
Will and Henry spend most of the next day feeling bored in Captain Curtis’s cabin. At one point, however, they are startled to see six Tripods moving rapidly across the water. The Tripods circle the Orion several times before moving away; the wake from their motion causes significant turbulence. Will is disappointed to realize that the Tripods are more powerful than he realized.
As he drops the boys off on land a few hours later, Captain Curtis advises them to be especially careful not to get caught since being Capped in a region that speaks a different language increases their chance of becoming Vagrants.
Minutes after stepping onshore, Will and Henry are apprehended and captured by the occupants of a tavern, who speak a language the boys find unintelligible. Will spots a thin boy wearing makeshift glasses (although Will does not recognize them as such) before the men lock him and Henry in a downstairs room.
Will speculates that they will soon be Capped. After failing to escape through a window, they are surprised when the boy with the glasses unlocks the door and speaks to them in English. Following Will’s request, he leads them out of the town to a road that leads south. When they tell the boy that they are going to a place beyond the Tripods’ control, he asks to come with them and introduces himself as Jean-Paul; Henry gives him the nickname Beanpole.
Chapter 5 Summary: “The City of the Ancients”
As they walk through the night, Beanpole explains his history to Will and Henry. Following the death of his parents, Beanpole’s aunt and uncle raised him. With an intelligent and curious mind, Beanpole taught himself English out of a book and created the glasses he wears, along with various other contraptions. Not wanting to give up inventing, he is keen to avoid being Capped.
At a crossroads, Beanpole leads them to the west, in the direction of a “Schmand-Fair,” a phonetic spelling of his word for railway. Arriving in a town, they watch from a distance as a small horse-drawn train consisting of five railcars leaves. The boys plan to hop aboard the next train at a moment when it slows to go uphill. Walking along the path, Beanpole speculates that steam could be used to push a train. A while later, a train passes, and the boys jump on and climb to the top. After riding for several hours, they get off as a large town comes into view ahead.
Moving south, they come to the ruins of a large city built before the Tripods came. Will plans to go around the city, but Beanpole suggests they travel through it. Inside the city, they pass the remains of the city’s inhabitants as well as their technology, such as horseless carriages. They also raid several shops, taking various tools and trinkets. Leaving Henry and Beanpole to examine a machine with rows of buttons, Will stumbles across a jewelry store, where he takes a wristwatch. The watch reminds him of his dislike for Henry, whose growing friendship with Beanpole leaves Will feeling left out.
After exploring shops for hours, they continue south through the city. When they pause to eat, they discover a series of steps leading down into a tunnel. Ignoring Will’s pleas for them to continue, Beanpole and Henry insist on exploring the tunnel, using candles for light. Following Beanpole’s lead, they discover a network of tunnels through which trains once ran underground. Inside one of the railcars, they discover a box full of “metal eggs” with rings attached. By accident, they discover that the eggs explode when the rings are pulled out. Despite Will’s concerns about safety, Beanpole packs several of the eggs to bring with them.
Back above ground, they continue south and soon come across a river, which they follow to the east. Along the way, they admire a massive cathedral on an island in the river. When Beanpole notices Will’s watch, he points out, to Will’s surprise, that it is still running. Running out of energy, the boys reluctantly decide to sleep in the city. They spend the night in a dusty building featuring a piano, faded perfumes, and a photo of a woman.
The next day, the boys wait inside for a storm to pass. To pass the time, they play chess; Will loses to Beanpole and Henry. When the rain stops, they continue on their way, but Will feels increasingly tired and grumpy. After eating the last of their food, they pass through a cemetery that includes a gravestone dated 1966.
In the afternoon, they leave the city to find themselves in farmland; they spend the night in an abandoned ruin. The next day, as they continue south, Will feels increasingly unwell, but he refuses to show any weakness. They stop for the night near an orchard and farmhouse, which they plan to raid for food after dark. When Beanpole and Henry learn that Will has no appetite, they realize that he is ill and help him into a nearby shed. The next morning, they are discovered by a farmer and his dog.
Sometime later, Will wakes up in bed in a luxurious room to see a girl with a turban-like cap looking at him.
Chapters 4-5 Analysis
This section sees Will and Henry undergo many challenges and experiences typical of young adult adventure fiction. As part of their larger journey, Will and Henry face frequent changes of terrain and even spend some time aboard a ship. The threat of discovery and capture frequently looms over them, as when a competing captain attempts to recruit them, as well as when the Tripods surround the Orion. The name of the ship takes on ironic significance as the Tripods assert their dominance, as Orion is a mythical hunter from Greek mythology; the implication is that the hunters (humans) have now become the hunted. Later, the boys are captured and make an escape, which is another common trope in adventure fiction. Though passages like this have a somewhat episodic nature, the overall arc of the narrative continues to rise toward its climax as the boys move ever closer to the White Mountains even as they learn more about the menacing Tripods.
This section sees Christopher developing an additional theme, The Wonder of Human Ingenuity. Christopher develops this theme by considering mundane aspects of human civilization from Will’s perspective as he discovers and experiences those things for the first time. This technique, known as defamiliarization, allows readers to consider such commonplace things as coffee, railways, glasses, and more as if seeing them for the first time. The result is a heightened appreciation for human civilization and accomplishments. This extends not only within technical realms but also to art, as the boys take note of a piano as well as the grand Cathedral of Notre Dame. Notably, Christopher typically avoids using any modern words for these objects and devices, instead describing them as Will understands them within his limited vocabulary. For instance, instead of mentioning cars or automobiles, he notes carriages without horses. Grenades, meanwhile, are referred to as metal eggs. The overall effect is to offer a fresh and awe-inspired view of human civilization as it existed in the late 1960s.
Several motifs take on additional significance in this section. The Tripods are revealed to be more adaptable and mobile than Will previously knew as they move across the ocean, showing their technical superiority. They are also characterized by the variety of calls they use to announce or coordinate among themselves. The Tripods thus emerge as an intelligent but unintelligible class of beings. Their actions are not subject to regular, logical analysis. Instead, they demonstrate raw power and control. The better Will understands the Tripods’ massive raw power, the more tempting it is for him to submit to them, tying to Christopher’s larger theme of Freedom Versus Security.
Another motif that recurs here is that of watches. As in earlier chapters, watches are associated with human ingenuity and resourcefulness. Their mechanical precision and their role in regulating human affairs according to time make watches an apt representation of human civilization as it existed before the Tripods arrived.
This section also sees the introduction of Beanpole, a major character. Tall and thin with corrective lenses, Beanpole is not particularly impressive physically, but his mind is keen and analytical. Due to his quick wit, at least as far as logistical and technical matters are concerned, Beanpole emerges as something of a leader in this section.
The personal dynamics between Will, Henry, and now Beanpole continue to evolve in this section as Christopher furthers his discussion of Bonding Through Adversity. Here, the addition of a third group member somewhat destabilizes the relationship between Will and Henry, causing discord and jealousy to emerge. Will and Henry’s drifting apart in this section demonstrates the possibility for difficulties to drive people apart as well as bring them together; unification is not easy or automatic. Instead, unification only comes as the members of a group are sensitive to each other’s needs in ways that Will and Henry are not, at least in this section.
