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 3-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 3 Summary
Madec explains to Ben the dangers of being tried for the old man’s murder, listing all of the ways he could be found guilty, and he adds that Ben is a liability to him. To keep Ben from getting him in trouble, Madec makes up an “insane and illogical” (38) game that no one would believe so even if Ben survives it, he would not be able to get Madec in trouble. The game involves Ben taking off his clothes, shoes, and sunglasses before trying to make it 45 miles through the desert to reach the closest highway. Madec promises to make sure Ben does not get any water and generally make things as difficult as possible. Ben sets off, worried Madec will shoot him as he walks. He finds boulders and an arroyo (a gully) that provide him cover, and he makes his way back to Madec and the old man so that he can steal some supplies.
Chapter 4 Summary
Ben gets a look at the lay of the land between Madec and the highway and realizes it gives Madec a huge advantage. He describes the landscape as a bowl that the Jeep can easily circle, giving Madec a clear view of Ben’s movements. Ben is convinced that Madec will see the error in his ways and realize that treating Ben in this way will have worse outcomes than letting Ben go safely. Ben also realizes that he must find water soon or he will die of dehydration before Madec has time to come to his senses. His bare feet are also becoming increasingly injured and painful from walking on the unforgiving desert rocks. He waits until dark to return to the place where they left the old man. He finds that Madec has already stripped the body of anything that might assist Ben. Moreover, Ben realizes Madec is watching him when Madec yells out that he will put the old man’s clothes and boots back on after Ben has died. Ben remembers that prospectors typically keep well-outfitted camps, and he sets out to find the old man’s camp. Again, he finds that Madec has already been there and removed or damaged anything that could help Ben. Ben finds one small box that Madec missed, and he breaks it open to uncover a slingshot, which he can use as a weapon. Ben then turns his attention to finding water.
Chapter 5 Summary
Ben loses hope of finding water and feels a new level of fear. When the sun comes up, he sees a small catch basin of water at the base of the cliff. When Ben attempts to climb down to the water, Madec shoots, and debris from the shot hits Ben in the face. As Ben falls, he hears his rifle being shot. Ben tries to reach the basin, but Madec continues to shoot at him. Ben retreats and watches Madec drive the Jeep to an even better vantage point of everywhere except north of the mountains. Ben is approaching dehydration and is too injured to escape using the route along the northside of the mountains. He also realizes that Madec will not come to his senses and let him go safely. He decides to sleep the rest of the day and try to get water from the catch basin under the cover of night.
Chapter 6 Summary
Ben wakes up to the sound of Madec destroying the catch basin with a shovel. Defeated, he thinks about the other times in his life that he was close to death. He then thinks about the history of the landscape, noting transformations from seas to ice to volcanic eruptions to mountains to eroded desert. He studies the landscape and decides he will make his way up a butte that evening. He finds woodpecker nests and sotol leaves to use as shoes to protect his feet. He runs through the desert to beat the sunrise to his location.
Chapter 7 Summary
Ben reaches the butte, and he soon realizes he must climb the side of the butte that is in full view of the Jeep and Madec. In addition to being exposed to Madec, he is also challenged by his injured body and the symptoms of severe thirst. Despite his physical limitations, he channels his rage and makes it up onto a ledge of the butte. He then follows the ledge to its end and maneuvers himself in the only path he can manage, trying to stay out of the sunlight to hide from Madec.
Chapters 3-7 Analysis
Ben’s struggle to survive in the desert under Madec’s surveillance is shaped by Ben’s transition from hopefulness to acceptance. His overwhelming sense of hope drives him to assume Madec has made mistakes that he can exploit. His hopefulness then leads him to act as if Madec will come to his senses and end the dangerous game before Ben gets hurt. The narrator explains, “It was still difficult for Ben to realize that a man could plan a thing like this; could be so coldly deliberate about it” (36).
When Ben is confronted with evidence that his hopefulness is off the mark, he comes to accept the reality of his situation. The narrator relates, “Now all his hope for miracles was gone and Ben was left with a strange and chilling thought. He and this man Madec were locked together, chained together in a struggle for life itself—a struggle with no niceties, no rules of behavior, no sportsmanship, no gentlemanly conduct” (69). This quote introduces the chain metaphor that appears throughout the novel. The chain symbolizes Ben’s confinement and his connection to Madec.
When Ben allows himself to conceptualize his situation as the harsh struggle it appears to be, he finds a point of reference in the environment surrounding him. He considers “all the violence of pre-history” (72) and sees the butte as “A monument to those ancient times of violence” (73). In this way, the setting of the story carries its own story that parallels the struggle between Ben and Madec. From this parallel, that is only possible with Ben’s release of hope and acceptance of reality, Ben begins to understand his situation and continues to move forward.
White relies on flashbacks to illustrate how Ben tries to use “his own years in the desert” to “help him now” (47). The narrator relates Ben’s past experience with a prospector named Hardrock and describes how that led Ben to look for the dead man’s camp. Ben’s past experience working on search parties for tourists who went missing in the desert reminds him not to make bad decisions that can cost him his life. Ben remembers coming close to death to understand the fear he feels in his current situation, and he uses his past experience with Gila woodpeckers to find their nests and provide protection for his feet.
While Ben’s past experience enables him to develop possible solutions to his current problems, his openness to new experience proves equally productive in helping him overcome his struggle with Madec. Ben has no frame of reference for the slingshot he finds at the dead man’s camp, but he commits to learning to use it when he realizes its value as a weapon. With his discovery of the slingshot, the unknown becomes as valuable to him as the known.
