37 pages • 1 hour read
Betsy ByarsTornado
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1996A 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 4-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “Carey’s Turtle”
Pete says that the three of hearts story always reminds him of the turtle. The narrator says they’ve never heard that story and encourages Pete to tell it.
Pete recalls when his sister, Emma Lou, was watching a turtle that belonged to one of her classmates, Carey. The turtle was “about the size of a silver dollar” (22). Emma Lou was very meticulous about caring for it, making sure he had fresh water, and the rest of the family stayed away from it. One day, when Emma Lou puts the turtle on the porch to sunbathe, he disappears. She is distraught, shouting about someone having stolen Carey’s turtle. Emma suspects Pete and Sammy, though they swear they didn’t do it.
Pete looks over and sees a turtle foot sticking out of Tornado’s mouth. Sammy sees the same thing and tells Emma Lou where the turtle is. She tells the dog to drop it and that the turtle “better be all right or you’ll be sorry” (24). He doesn’t, but Pete says, “Drop it,” loudly in his father’s voice, and Tornado does. The turtle is unharmed. Tornado begins to run around the yard, and Pete runs with him, thinking that “sitting there for an hour with a turtle in his mouth and not knowing what to do with it must have been the worst thing that could happen to a dog” (26). Pete instructs Emma Lou to praise Tornado for keeping the turtle safe. She reluctantly does.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Five-Thirty”
In the cellar, Pete says he will tell one more “quick story about Tornado” (28). The narrator tells him not to make it too quick.
Pete describes his sister’s cat, which was named Five-Thirty. It was named because it used to come to the house each day at that time for food, and then Emma Lou declared that it was her cat. Pete reflects that Tornado took pride in digging holes but only when he needed them for a particular reason.
Pete remembers that Tornado dug a hole to lie in and cool off during hot days. One day, Five-Thirty sits in Tornado’s hole. He growls at her to get out. Pete knows that Five-Thirty will scratch him if he tries to get her out, so he tries to call Tornado away instead. The dog doesn’t move. Five-Thirty remains in the hole until five-thirty. Then, Tornado gets into the hole and begins to dig, “trying to get the feel and the smell and the memory of that cat out of his special place” (33). Pete’s mother tells him to fill in the hole, which he does. Pete thinks he must be doing Tornado a favor since he would never be able to dig deep enough to remove the memory of the cat. Tornado takes “the loss of his lying down hole hard” (34), never goes into that area of pine trees again, and stops digging holes.
Chapters 4-5 Analysis
The beginning of Chapter 4 includes a brief scene in the storm cellar when Pete says that talking about the three of hearts always makes him think of the turtle. The narrator and one of the brothers assure Pete that he hasn’t told them that story before, and the narrator asks a clarifying question to prompt Pete to start the story. The framing device of the present tense in the storm cellar emphasizes the importance of story. Whereas most of the action of the book is in Pete’s childhood, brief returns to the present highlight the dual timeline of the novel. The primary effect of the framing device is to emphasize the novel’s theme of Stories as Sources of Comfort and Connection. While the family is in a dangerous and anxiety-producing situation, Pete’s stories help them pass the time and cope with what they are feeling. The time shifts between present and past—the storm cellar and Pete’s childhood—create connections between the narrator and Pete, who have similar childhood experiences. It also suggests the importance of shared experience. Both Pete and the narrator have had similar experiences with tornados. The members of the family are having the same experience of waiting out the storm in the cellar. Like natural disasters, stories also produce communal experiences. Because the family members are listening to the same story, they are all sharing in Pete’s memories and his experiences.
This section of the novel characterizes Emma Lou, Pete’s sister, as a minor character. She is described as “particular” and meticulous in her care for the turtle; she “gave it fresh water every day whether the turtle wanted it or not, and wouldn’t let any of us so much as near it” (22). She is also dramatic, screaming loudly for the entire county to hear when she discovers the turtle is missing and is reluctant to believe her brothers didn’t take the turtle. Pete’s “mother had come out to referee, and was giving my brother and me a little talking-to about playing jokes on people” (23), which suggests that pranks are part of the sibling dynamic among Pete, Sammy, and Emma Lou. At the end of the chapter, after Pete realizes that Tornado has attempted to protect Carey’s turtle, Pete praises Tornado, and she replies, “‘Good dog? […] For lapping up Carey’s turtle?’ ‘For keeping it safe,’ I reminded her. ‘Oh, all right,’ she admitted. ‘Good dog.’” (27). This suggests a subtheme of sibling dynamics in the novel. Relationships and shared experiences with his siblings are evidently an important part of Pete’s childhood and the memories he relates during the novel. This is another point of connection between Pete and the narrator. While there are no specific stories about the dynamic between the brothers and the narrator, it is assumed that sibling dynamics are an important part of their individual childhood experiences as well.
This section of the novel builds on the theme of The Power of Human-Animal Bonds. Whereas Pete demonstrates an increasing connection with Tornado, Emma Lou is characterized by her interactions with Carey’s turtle and Five-Thirty. The inclusion of other animals suggests the importance of pets to childhood experience and the variety of forms those experiences can take. At the same time, the references to other animals like the turtle, cat, and the family’s previous dog, Babe, are not described in the same intimate detail as Pete’s interactions with Tornado. Thus, Pete’s narrative emphasizes the closeness of the connection with the dog. In both Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, Pete demonstrates a strong sense of what he thinks Tornado is feeling. When Tornado begins running after having Carey’s turtle in his mouth, Pete understands that the dog has been suffering as a result of being forced to stand still. When Five-Thirty sits in his laying down hole, Pete begins to dig deeply in the hole. Pete understands that the dog is trying to remove the memory of the cat from his special place.
Tornado can be positioned within a tradition of middle-grade novels that center on animals, especially dogs. Such novels often include interactions between children and animals as a way to discuss difficult or mature themes like loss. In the case of Tornado, Byars positions childhood experiences of pet ownership alongside the consequences of natural disasters and major destruction. Other examples of middle-grade fiction with descriptions of connections between humans and animals, as well as mature themes, include Because of Winn-Dixie, in which the protagonist adopts a dog who helps her process her difficult emotions regarding the mother who abandoned her, and Where the Red Fern Grows, which focuses on the protagonist saving money to buy a pair of coon hounds, with whom he forms a close connection but ultimately must cope with their loss.
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By Betsy Byars
