89 pages • 2 hours read
Julius LesterDay of Tears
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2005A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “The Kitchen”
Content Warning: The Interlude 2 Summary of this section quotes and obscures the author’s use of the n-word, while the Interlude 5 Summary discusses suicide ideation.
Mattie discusses the rain, suggesting God is crying. Will discusses being scared by the thunder and lightning. Mattie explains how she has spent her whole life in the Butlers’ kitchen, suggesting that she intimately knows the family: “Master Butler’s father, Ransome […] would rise up out of his grave if he knew Master Pierce has lost so much money playing cards” (4). Will discusses how quickly Pierce sold off the slaves the day prior and how most of the slaves either were stoic or looked dead. Will talks about how he and Pierce grew up together like brothers and one time, Will even saved Pierce from drowning in a river. Will can’t believe this is happening.
Mattie and Emma discuss how Emma is readying Francis and Sarah Butler to go to the auction, which Mattie can’t believe. Emma reflects on how both girls miss their mother and how merciful the hard rain is because it hides the crying of broken families.
