31 pages • 1 hour read
Robb WhiteDeathwatch
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1972A 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 15-17Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 15 Summary
Ben arrives at the sheriff’s office to find a young deputy named Eugene Strick instead of Sergeant Hamilton, the sheriff. Ben explains his situation to Strick, who is immediately concerned about following the rules for situations involving injury and death. Strick drives Madec to the hospital and instructs Ben to drive the old man’s body around back of the hospital for them. When he arrives at the hospital, Ben finds that Doc Myers is not there but instead Dr. Saunders, or Boy Genius, is on duty. Madec and Ben receive treatment, and the doctor notes all of Ben’s injuries in a report that releases him to sheriff’s custody. Ben wants to go home, but Strick insists he goes back to the sheriff’s office to give a statement. Strick reads Ben his rights and gives him a waiver to sign before he speaks about the incident without an attorney. Strick asks Ben about what happened, but Ben becomes confused and says he is too tired to go over everything. He asks to go home to sleep, but Strick tells him he is being charged with felony aggravated assault and must go to jail.
Chapter 16 Summary
Ben falls asleep in his cell and wakes the next day. He asks for his uncle and waits. When his uncle arrives, he tells Ben that his attorney will not be there until the next day. He encourages Ben not to say anything in the meantime. Later that night, Sergeant Hamilton comes to take Ben to the sheriff’s office where his uncle, the game warden, the justice of the peace, Strick, the helicopter pilot, and Madec’s attorneys are waiting. Ben goes over what happened, and the justice of the peace orders Strick and the game warden to go out in the helicopter and check the details of Ben’s story.
When Madec’s attorneys question Ben, Ben’s uncle urges Ben to wait to speak until his lawyer is present. Ben returns to his cell, and his uncle comes to see him again. He asks Ben what really happened, and Ben tells him that what he said is the truth. His uncle has heard Madec’s version of events and notes that Madec’s story seems more probable than Ben’s. Ben’s uncle reveals that Ben has always had a temper. Ben realizes his uncle does not believe him before they say their goodbyes for the night.
The next day, Ben asks a worker at the jail to go look around the parking lot for his slingshot, which has mysteriously disappeared. When the worker brings Ben his dinner, he leaves a napkin with a note that tells Ben he was unable to find the slingshot. As Ben is eating dinner, Strick comes to take him back to the sheriff’s office where everyone has assembled again. Strick tells everyone what he found out in the desert and explains how it aligns with Madec’s version of events. Ben tries unsuccessfully to argue and explain why the evidence supports his own version of events, but no one believes him. The justice of the peace decides there is enough evidence to hold Ben for trial.
Chapter 17 Summary
As Strick takes Ben out of the sheriff’s office, Dr. Saunders comes in the door. The justice of the peace orders Strick to wait before taking Ben and asks the doctor if he has any information that is relevant to the case. The doctor explains that the injuries he treated support Ben’s version of events. The doctor also presents the slingshot, which he found in the trashcan of the emergency room after Madec put it there. The justice of the peace apologizes to Ben for not believing him and suggests they charge Madec with intent to commit murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Ben declines to press charges and reminds everyone that he only wanted to report an accident.
Chapters 15-17 Analysis
As the rhetorical struggle between Ben and Madec unfolds, the reliability of the narrator comes into question. Ben’s uncle tells Ben, “You know you’ve got a real hot temper” (190). Prior to this, there has been no mention of Ben’s temper, which signals that the narrator has withheld information. The possibility of an unreliable narrator creates suspense and adds a new dimension to the entire story that allows the reader to fully consider Madec’s version of events.
Youth and inexperience play a role in the rhetorical struggle between Ben and Madec from several vantage points. On one hand, Madec has expressed his willingness to exploit Ben’s youth and inexperience, reminding Ben early in the story that Madec’s standing as a married businessman with two children gives him an advantage over single, college-age Ben. At the same time, Ben is dismayed to find Strick, a young deputy, on duty at the sheriff’s office when he arrives and Dr. Saunders, a young doctor, on duty at the hospital. When Ben learns Dr. Saunders is the one on duty at the hospital, the narrator explains, “That bothered Ben. All the way across the desert he had expected that Doc Myers would be here and would, in that way he had, take charge of everything. Doc Myers had seen it all, life, death, sickness, accidents; you couldn’t shake him” (170). This quote suggests that Ben is still reliant on older authority figures, and he mistrusts youthfulness just as much as those Madec intends to sway. That this youthful doctor clears Ben’s name suggests growth for Ben and mirrors the larger story of the youthful Ben overcoming the older Madec.
Like the physical struggle, the rhetorical struggle between Ben and Madec fails to change Ben’s core set of beliefs and ways of conducting himself. Once the justice of the peace comes to find Ben innocent, he suggests Ben press charges against Madec. Ben remains consistent with his purpose from the beginning, which is simply to report an accident. In the course of his struggles with Madec, Ben has learned how to isolate the chaos Madec generates from his purpose. The ending of the story calls back to an earlier part in which the narrator explains, “Oddly, he felt nothing about Madec—no hatred, not even dislike. The man had ceased to exist except as part of this problem he now had to handle” (39). As a result of Ben learning this lesson, Madec fails to have the influence over Ben that he desires to have.
