The Running Dream

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2011

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Part 1, Chapters 22-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapter 22 Summary

An uncomfortable encounter occurs between Kaylee, her group of friends, and Jessica. As the girls rush into Jessica’ home after school, they abruptly stop when they see Jessica in the hallway. All of the girls are wearing shorts and seem embarrassed to run into Jessica.

Jessica can tell that the girls are trying not to look at her leg, and she admits that she can’t help looking at their legs. The awkwardness that ensues makes Jessica feel like “a stranger” (53) and “a freak” (53). Suddenly angry, Jessica moves past them to take her medication and nurse her hurt feelings in the family room.

Part 1, Chapter 23 Summary

With time and practice, Jessica learns to navigate around her home, usually by holding onto the walls and furniture. She feels this process is easier than using the crutches. She reflects on the amount of physical work that went into moving her bedroom downstairs and moving the couches that had been there to other rooms. Jessica knows she should feel more appreciative of what her family has done for her, but instead she feels “like a stranger in my own house” (54). It’s only when the family is gathered around the kitchen table and Jessica’s stump is hidden underneath the table that she can feel normal again.

Jessica is keenly aware that she isn’t sure who she is anymore. She is highly irritable and can’t spend time with happy, positive people. She is thankful for so many get-well wishes, but she bluntly notes that “it isn’t working” (55). She is caught between wanting visitors to leave and then crying once they’ve gone, wishing they would come back.

Part 1, Chapter 24 Summary

Jessica begins to slip into the bad habit of taking her pain medications earlier than she should, and then “slipping in an extra when I really need it” (56). She finds that the only time she feels better is when she is taking the medications, and she is genuinely fearful of experiencing pain without the pills there to dull the agony.

When she asks her mother to get a refill from the pharmacy, an argument ensues between her parents. Her father confronts her about how often she has been taking the pills, and she initially lies to him when he asks her this question. When her father demands the truth, Jessica admits that she had taken extra pills to alleviate the pain. Her father determines that Jessica will no longer take the pain pills: “I’m sorry […] But we’re through with these” (57). Despite Jessica’s protestations, the prescription will not be refilled.

Part 1, Chapters 22-24 Analysis

Jessica’s homecoming brings about more struggle than she anticipates. Being around her sisters’ peers makes her feel freakish and ugly, and the simply getting around the home proves a challenge. Often, Jessica doesn’t feel like she belongs in the only home she’s known; further, she feels as though her physical disability has somehow made her less sure of who she is internally. While the amputation has very much changed her physical identity, its ramifications transcend the physical, too.

In these chapters Van Draanen introduces the very real issue of opioid addiction, America’s premiere drug epidemic. A large number of opioid addicts fall into their addiction via situations similar to Jessica’s: they are given a prescription for a legitimate and legal cause, only to then fall victim to abusing that medication. When the addict can no longer obtain the prescription, they begin using heroin, the street-drug substitute for prescription opioids. When Jessica asks for a refill, her father steps in and determines that she is done with the pain pills before a severe dependency begins.