56 pages • 1 hour read
Bonnie-Sue HitchcockThe Smell Of Other People's Houses
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 2, Chapters 3-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “Spring”
Part 2, Chapter 3 Summary: “Ballerina Fish Slayer: Alyce”
Content Warning: This section discusses domestic abuse, substance use disorder, and teen pregnancy.
Alyce has spent most of her childhood fishing on her father’s boat, the “Squid.” Following her parent’s divorce, she moved to Fairbanks with her mother, who wanted to live near her sister, Abigail. Alyce’s Aunt Abigail adopted Selma.
Alyce sits on the boat, waiting for her father. Her Uncle Corky asks for her help with boat chores. Alyce recalls her friends and her mother saying goodbye at the airport. Her friends are auditioning for dance school scholarships outside Alaska during the summer, but she must help her father. Alyce is tired of fishing but hesitates to say anything because she only sees her father in summer, on the boat. She usually misses summer dance practice and feels other students with “simple parents who are married” are more skilled (45).
Alyce admits she sleeps better on the boat than anywhere, a sleep that “made [her] dreams bouncy” (47). As her father starts the engine, she recalls her childhood moments on the Squid. She knows boat practices and rules well.
As the boat floats away, Alyce’s worries about the dance audition fade. She feels the Southern part of Alaska smells better than Fairbanks because of the trees and the rain forests. For her, the two climates are as different as her parents.
Alyce sits on the flying bridge, taking in the smells of the sea and the “dancing” rhythm of the boat. She climbs into her raft, the Pelican, and falls asleep. Later, she wakes up from the boat’s pounding. She sees the Matanuska ferry passing by and notices something that makes her scream.
Part 2, Chapter 4 Summary: “Chasing Orcas: Hank”
On the Matanuska ferry, 17-year-old Hank sits on the deck with his younger brothers Sam and Jack. They are stowaways, fleeing their mother’s abusive boyfriend. Their father drowned in a tsunami caused by the 1964 Good Friday earthquake, and Hank felt his home life fell apart while watching his mother date dangerous men.
Hank recalls the argument with his mother. While she loved her fisherman husband, she complained that he was never home, and, after his death, she was left alone to raise them. Hank missed his father. Later, he went to the garage to go through his father’s things. His Old Spice aftershave smelled “like a ghost” (57), and Hank found a 1959 newspaper announcing Alaska’s statehood, which changed their lives. Jack joined him, holding stories he’d cut from the newspaper like their father used to. A story reads that an Indigenous girl in Fairbanks won the $2,000 Ice Classic prize, making Jack long for money to leave. Hank impulsively suggested leaving Anchorage. Hank narrates how Sam keeps their father’s memory alive through his fishing stories. On the day of his father’s accident, Hank pleaded to go with him, but he told Hank to stay home and “be the man of the house” (60). Hank finds the role exhausting.
On the ferry, the boys remain hidden in the baggage cart, but Sam wants to see the orcas. They move to the deck when Jack complains he is hungry. Hank suggests taking the passengers’ leftovers, but Sam insists on staying for the whales, which he relates to his father. Hank warns him to stay there until he and Jack bring food.
Hank and Jack sneak into the ferry’s cafeteria and grab food. When they return to the deck, Sam is missing.
Part 2, Chapter 5 Summary: “Shoot for the Stars: Ruth”
Ruth and Ray break up because Ray wanted someone with more availability. He has a new girlfriend and ignores Ruth. She regrets dating Ray.
Ruth experiences pregnancy symptoms, which she tries to hide. She loses trust in people after her breakup. She spends the early summer sleeping in her room, but Lily soon comments on her weight. Ruth declares that she is pregnant; her grandmother remains silent.
Ruth heads to the Salvation Army for larger clothes. There, Dora’s mother and friends tease her growing belly, and Ruth feels exasperated and alone, thinking that nothing changed for Ray. She feels she does not have friends and becomes nauseous. George, the manager, asks her how she is and puts her in the back room. Ruth doesn’t call anyone, not even Selma.
On the way home, Ruth sits on the church’s steps and recalls her parents. She remembers her mother thanking her father for saving her, and Ruth believes she meant saving her from her grandmother. She feels she and Lily have nobody to save them and knows that her grandmother plans to have Ruth’s baby adopted. Ruth wonders if her child will hate her.
Dumpling comes and sits close to Ruth. Ruth feels relaxed and notices a red ribbon in Dumpling’s braided hair. Ruth tells her she is going away soon because she is “a disgrace” to her family. Dumpling wonders if someone like an “auntie” could raise her baby, saying that everyone loves babies in her village. To Dumpling, sending Ruth away because of her pregnancy is nonsensical. Dumpling recalls the flood, remembering how her mother was trapped, and her father rescued her. Her ribbon was cut from a red undergarment carried away by the flood, which made everyone laugh. For Dumpling, it is a remembrance of “what love can do” (81). She takes the ribbon off her hair and hands it to Ruth, for her baby.
Part 2, Chapter 6 Summary: “Fish Camp: Dora”
Dora is happy about her Ice Classic win, but she is afraid it will make her a target for her parents. She has nightmares that people ask her for money to buy alcohol and is anxious that a newspaper asks her for an interview. Dora feels bad about her mother’s substance use disorder and would give all her money if things could change. Dumpling’s father helps Dora open a bank account and save the money.
Dora watches as Ruth waits for the bus holding a suitcase. She is surprised to see Dumpling sitting with her. Dora feels jealous, thinking her best friend keeps secrets. The next day, Dumpling tells Dora that her father and Ruth’s father fought together for land rights. Dora is shocked that the two girls have something in common. She wishes that her money could make Dumpling’s family hers forever.
Dora sees a reporter’s wagon coming to Dumpling’s place. It is Selma with her mother, Abigail. Abigail asks Dora about winning the Ice Classic prize, ready to take notes. Dora does not want to speak and disapproves of the newspaper calling her the first “native girl” to win. While talking to Abigail, Dora’s father arrives, intoxicated and just out of prison. He yells at Dora, and Abigail stands in the way to protect her and threatens to call the police. Dumpling’s father appears to lead Bumpo away as he swears at Dora.
At night, the family goes to fish camp at the Yukon River. Away from Fairbanks and in nature, Dora forgets about her father. At fish camp, she feels that “everything has a purpose” (94), and she is part of a family.
Part 2, Chapter 7 Summary: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Alyce”
Only Alyce saw Sam fall off the ferry. Her father and uncle were busy when she threw her raft into the sea to save Sam. Sam fell right into the orcas, and Dora found him unconscious. She struggled to pull him into the raft but finally, Sam rose up. Alyce saw a whale and feels it helped Sam climb on the raft. She immediately noticed that Sam was beautiful. On the boat, her father managed to resuscitate Sam.
Sam sleeps for two days, and Alyce remains with him. When he awakes, he looks disappointed and keeps asking about the orcas. Alyce feels embarrassed and wonders why he does not talk. Her father mentions there are no reports of missing persons from the ferry, but Sam says nothing. They decide to continue fishing, and Alyce’s uncle advises her to stop asking Sam questions. Sam’s presence makes Alyce momentarily forget about dancing.
Sam comes to the deck asking Alyce questions about the boat. Alyce cannot help herself and asks Sam about the ferry. Sam confesses he and his brothers were stowaways and asks Alyce to say nothing. She asks why they left home. Sam thinks she is asking too much.
Sam starts doing jobs on the boat. Days pass, and he and Alyce spend time together. Alyce learns he likes poetry, and he speaks about his brothers. She also explains how she saved him. Sam asks if there was somebody with the orcas. Alyce remembers how the orca looked at her and feels attracted to Sam.
Alyce and Sam overhear Alyce’s father and uncle talking about Sam’s father. Alyce’s father reveals he knew Sam’s father before his death. Sam protests his father is not dead but swimming with the orcas. Alyce thinks he acts like a kid, but ultimately understands his hopes. Finally, Sam says they must find his brothers.
At night, Alyce tells Sam the orca helped her save him. Sam also thought the orca protected him from drowning but now dispels the idea.
Part 2, Chapters 3-7 Analysis
This section includes all four narrators by introducing Alyce and Hank. Alyce’s character also illuminates the theme of Coping With the Trauma of Familial Disruption, which manifests in her as guilt. Alyce feels torn between her father’s life on the boat and her mother’s life in Fairbanks, disregarding her love of dance. Her parents’ relationship makes her feel that “[e]verything is always [her] fault” (46). Alyce decides to miss the ballet audition for scholarships to spend the summer helping her father in commercial fishing—a decision that troubles her on the boat and leaves her unsure of her identity.
As the plot unfolds, Alyce's saving of Sam from drowning is critical for her character arc and highlights the importance of Finding Hope Through Friendship and Community. Alyce experiences her first feelings of affection toward a boy as she develops a crush on Sam, even diverting her thoughts from dancing. The two bond while working together on the boat, as Sam awaits news from his brothers and Alyce reconnects with her inner self. She stops feeling alone on her father’s boat, and her consciousness develops as she shares Sam’s struggles. By having a friend and peer to share her thoughts with, Alyce creates a safe community that exists beyond the familial structure that she finds so draining. Additionally, Sam is a character with strong familial bonds, but he is comfortable leaning on his brothers, especially Hank. Sam helps model familial relationships that have both give and take, which helps remind Alyce to think of herself and what she can ask of her parents.
The influence of the setting is explored in Alyce’s experiences on the ocean. Alyce's love of dance does not minimize her love for the Alaskan sea and fishing. The smell of her father’s boat is “the smell of [her] childhood,” and the sea makes her “dreams bouncy” (47). The smell motif underscores the formative role of the setting in Alyce’s character and directly connects to her love of dancing through the “bouncy” movement of the sea. Her work experience on the boat has reinforced her knowledge of the landscape as she vividly remembers the bays' names. Life in Fairbanks and life at sea characterize Alyce’s personality: “Same state, two climates, each as different as my parents; and like my parents, there’s a part of me in both” (52). Out at the sea on her raft, Alyce finds peace and grounds herself while confronting the struggles of her coming-of-age journey. At this point in the narrative, she puts aside her feelings for dance and instead focuses on Sam, which proves key to her ability to audition for the dance scholarship, again highlighting the importance of friendship.
Hank also bears the trauma of a broken family and, like Ruth, grieves for his father’s death and the troubled relationship with his mother. He also considers statehood a turning point in his life because his father’s death followed: “But everything really was different now. I couldn’t blame statehood, but if there was a way, I’d consider it” (56). The smell motif recurs, conveying the memory of Hank’s father, as he and his brothers still smell his aftershave. For Hank’s brothers, who are younger and dreamier, their father is still alive. Hank becomes more pragmatic, thinking about how to protect them from his mother’s abusive boyfriend, a situation that connects him to Dora. However, his father’s presence is still vivid: “But his voice tugs at something inside of me, that long-abandoned belief that my father might really come back” (63). Hank’s narration demonstrates his liminal position between childhood and adulthood: He assumes responsibility for his brothers and decides they must leave their home in Anchorage. This decision establishes the start of his coming-of-age journey. Hank is still a boy but believes he must fulfill his father’s wish and become “the man of the house” (60). This role weighs on Hank, as his later childhood is filled with troubles. Sam’s disappearance after his fall from the ferry is a breaking point for Hank, who believes he has another loss to confront. Hank’s narrative presents active grief and a strong sense of tension from the violence of loss, including Sam falling from the ferry. While the sea represents hope for Sam, it can also be read as a symbol of the great unknown, which Hank must navigate to find a new life for himself and his brothers.
In this section, Hitchcock explores the experience of teen pregnancy through Ruth. Ruth has lost trust in people, as she must cope with her pregnancy alone. With no support from her grandmother and limited communication with others, Ruth despairs. However, her consciousness develops as she realizes the position of young women at her time: “I hate the feeling that this is exactly what you hear about. How nothing changes for the guy. I am a cliché and a statistic all in one” (72). While Ray continues his life with no consequences, Ruth must bear full responsibility for her pregnancy. She realizes that she lacks agency and control over her life, losing any sense of self. Her grandmother arranges her relocation to an abbey in Canada and the adoption of the baby to avoid social judgment and protect Ruth from the “disgrace” and “burden” of being a single teenage mother. Her meeting with Dumpling, who presents a different perspective on her situation, is the only soothing moment for Ruth, highlighting the importance of Finding Hope Through Friendship and Community. While Ruth feels shame, Dumpling explains that in Athabascan communities, babies are “a gift” and protected by everyone. This scene highlights the distinction between the white and the Indigenous worldview in Alaska, as well as the value of building one’s community based on personal beliefs, as Ruth’s beliefs do not align with her grandmother’s. The red ribbon symbolism emerges as Dumpling gifts one to Ruth. For Dumpling, the ribbon signifies love, reminding her of the day her father rescued her mother from the flood. As a gift to Ruth, it symbolizes a connection between the two girls and their community in Fairbanks. The red ribbon proves important for Ruth in later sections, coming to symbolize her friendship with Hank and her dreams for her child.
The importance of community, especially concerning Indigenous identity, is also evident in Dora’s experience at fish camp. After winning the Ice Classic prize, Dora worries that her parents will take her money to buy alcohol, showing her persistent inner turmoil resulting from her parents’ substance use disorder. When her father, just out of prison, comes to threaten her, Dumpling’s father protects her, making Dora rely on his fatherly affection. She feels jealous seeing Dumpling talking to Ruth, demonstrating her insecurity about being sent back to her parents. Dora longs for a sense of belonging which, in this section, she finds at fish camp, a place of community for Indigenous peoples in Alaska. After the disturbing meeting with her father, Dora finds peace being with her Indigenous relatives at the Yukon River. The community shares a common purpose by preparing the camp for its annual salmon gathering. While her parents are disconnected from this Indigenous tradition, a fact that underscores the legacy of colonization, Dora finds meaning at fish camp. Despite her family’s disruption, she achieves a sense of belonging among the resilient Indigenous community.
