56 pages • 1 hour read
The Book of Ruth
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Chapters 16-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary
The tranquility of their first few months with the baby has worn off, leaving Ruth, May, and Ruby more irritable with each other than ever. On days when Ruth alone is working, May insists on caring for Justy, leaving Ruby to wash the diapers. May still complains of his ineptitude even in this realm. When Ruth returns from work at the Trim ‘N Tidy, she occasionally waits on the porch to listen to their interactions. May’s unreserved and explicit bitterness towards Ruby leads him both to drinking more, smoking marijuana, and watching television into the night. Ruth cannot understand his reluctance to sleep, and, with her characteristic charity, attributes his slow processing speed and consistent faux pas at work to his recreational drug use. Ruby, on the other hand, won’t understand why Ruth herself won’t try smoking marijuana. She admits to having given up smoking altogether upon becoming a mother.
One day in the summer, Ruby comes home from work early owing to slow business at the Trim ‘N Tidy. Eager to play with Justy, he wakes his son up from a nap. May is furious at Ruby for causing the baby to cry, and her own yelling makes Justy wail even louder. Ruby throws a can of tomato juice against the wall, which no one cleans up for days. Instead, the three eat in silence.
Daisy’s return to Honey Creek from Peoria provides some brief respite from Ruth’s stressful life at home. Daisy confirms that she was in the top of her class at beauty school, and she offers to do Ruth’s hair and makeup. Having been named Justy’s godmother, she also cuts Justy’s hair.
Ruth and Ruby enjoy a few lazy summer days at the beach with Justy, only to be criticized by May for their idleness upon their return.
Chapter 17 Summary
Ruth and Ruby celebrate Justy’s first birthday. Though it is a celebratory occasion, May wishes she could stop time and remain frozen on the couch with Ruby and Justy as they lived during Justy’s days as a newborn.
Ruth decides that she and Ruby need a vacation that summer, and so she sets up a schedule for Daisy to help May watch Justy. May at first protests, but Ruth suspects she is secretly enthusiastic at the prospect of having Justy to herself. Ruth writes to her Aunt Sid, as she hopes to visit her in DeKalb on their way to Chicago.
Daisy has recently married and returned to Honey Creek for a visit. Her husband, Bill, runs an upholstery business and fell in love with Daisy when he saw her working at a salon, though he had a girlfriend at the time.
Ruth and Ruby’s vacation plans are spoiled when Ruby stops to look at the street when crossing the road and gets hit by a pickup truck, injuring his leg. Ruth begrudgingly tends to Ruby, slowly losing her patience. Daisy convinces Ruth to visit her aunt without Ruby, who she insists can take care of himself for a few days. Ruth takes a Greyhound bus to DeKalb wearing one of Daisy’s fine blue shirts and orange and yellow skirt.
The first part of the visit is a joyous occasion for both. They eat sandwiches and grill stakes as Aunt Sid gives Ruth a tour of the town. Aunt Sid also offers further glimpses of May’s childhood, particularly her happiness with Willard Jensen. Ruth confesses that she used Aunt Sid’s money to buy brassieres instead of using it all for her mother’s birthday gift. She also discloses that Matt never writes to May as she claims he does, but that her mother herself has to learn the details from his former principal, Mr. Heck. Aunt Sid, who has kept all of Ruth’s letters, is hardly angry, but Ruth can tell that she pities her.
When Ruth re-reads some of her letters, she cannot believe she has written some of the words. She confesses to Aunt Sid that she fabricated some of the letters’ details. Aunt Sid reassured her that this is what pen pals are for. Ruth divulges to Aunt Sid the various details of her life with Ruby, May, and Justy, and Aunt Sid tells her that May is very lucky to have her. Before leaving, Ruth hugs her Aunt Sid and thanks her for saving her life.
Chapter 18 Summary
Ruth is miserable when she arrives back to Stillwater. Daisy and Justy meet her at the Greyhound station, and after Daisy drops Ruth off at home, Ruth can sense the palpable tension. May immediately insists that she doesn’t want to know anything about Aunt Sid. Ruth also wonders why May continues to comment on how delicious the chicken is, and she soon learns that Ruby slayed and hung one of May's favorite hens on a planting hook. Ruby was provoked when May refused to allow Ruby to take Justy to the stow and threw the keys into the swamp. Despite the provocation, Ruth can still not believe Ruby’s impulsive behavior. She also comically remarks that May seemed to not have many scruples about frying and eating her allegedly “favorite creature” (272).
Ruby claims that his leg is still in a lot of pain, and he has not returned to work. He asks that Ruth never leave him again. May knows that this is only because he has missed her waiting on him. Ruby and May continue to bicker, but the household gradually settles into its old unsteady harmony after Ruth’s return from vacation. Ruby buys Justy a sled for Christmas, which May thinks is a foolish idea. The winter is harsh, and Ruth regrets that Justy spends months at a time indoors; when he does venture outside, he finds a frozen dog. Ruth’s boss notices her absent-mindedness at work, and he encourages her to “take it easy” (276), an injunction which she admits that she doesn’t fully understand.
Meanwhile, as the fall turns to winter, Ruth dreams that she could escape with Ruby to a place far away, where one can wear a T-shirt all year round.
Chapters 16-18 Analysis
These chapters display the practical ramifications of having a child. Ruby is 21 years old when Justy is born. She admits to having conversations with herself, and that, “after a while, the monologues ending up nowhere, I stopped my thoughts midcourse and said, ‘This must be what life is—so strange you can’t believe it—and a person has to go along with it’” (236). once the novelty of Ruth’s maternity has worn off, though she loves Justy deeply, she feels she needs a vacation (an impulse which Daisy strongly affirms). When Ruby nearly gets hit by a car, Ruth admits, “I have to tell the truth: I cried not for Ruby, because I knew our vacation was out of the question” (256).
Now that she is a mother who is also charged with working to support her family, Ruth has let go of the idealized image of her husband. She has also become less forgiving of his idiocy, remarking that when he sewed a needlepoint rug with a sailboat image (purchased for him by Dee Dee during his convalescence), “he was loaded when he sewed the sail so it didn’t match up with the rest of the boat” (275). Instead, she admits to hoping that his leg healed “before we went bankrupt” (275). Ruth has matured considerably as a mother, and she wonders why her partner has not evolved similarly.
Though Ruth is mired in the practicalities of work, marriage, and child-rearing, she continues to adduce literary figures to help her make sense of the world. She admits that “when Ruby and I were sitting on the couch with our Justy I told him about Miss Finch’s books and the islands they went to. [...] I only told Ruby about the books where people were happy in the end, such as Great Expectations” (235). Here and elsewhere, Ruth editorializes her life, and the nature of life itself, for Ruby’s sake.
Ruth’s visit to Aunt Sid is a sort of recollection of her childhood. She has the unique experience of re-reading her childhood letters. Ruth admits that “most of the details and events I had written about her were exaggerated or had never taken place” (264). Ruth likens the child who authored these letters to a “strange and familiar person” (265). This experience with Aunt Sid allows her to reflect on her own coming of age, an experience which allows her to empathize to a greater degree with her mother May, widowed by Willard Jenson, agreeing with her Aunt Sid that “May didn’t have anything handed to her on a silver platter” (266).
In these chapters, Ruth develops a greater sense of self and exhibits a greater capacity for empathy, both toward her mother and toward Ruby, of whom she paints a picture for Aunt Sid that is at once honest and charitable. She advocates for his good points, such as his singing voice, generosity, and playful style of parenting, while acknowledging that he is not “the most notorious genius on earth” (267). Ruth’s conversations with her Aunt Sid demonstrate her ability to synthesize diverse experiences and make sense of them within her adult world.
May continues to verbally abuse Ruby, and Ruby becomes physically violent with another creature, killing May’s favorite chicken. This revelation again foreshadows Ruby’s violence and May’s tragic end. While Ruby isn’t necessarily a hero in the novel, painted as lazy and impractical, May is ruthlessly negative and abusive to the whole family. While May mightn’t be incorrect about Ruby’s failings, her constant criticism isn’t productive and only serves to push Ruby to violence. While Ruby’s violence is abhorrent, we see that he’s weak willed, often uninhibited by alcohol, and treats his family warmly. May, too, has positive and tragic traits and is a warm and loving grandmother to Justy. In this way, Hamilton allows the reader to empathize with the characters and their actions.
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