Summary About a month passes, Arthur’s twenty-first birthday dawns clear and warm, and all the tenants of the estate prepare for a day of celebration: the heir has come of age. At the Hall Farm, Hetty is dressing for the party. We discover that she has received some pearl and […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book III: Chapters 22-26Summary and Analysis Book II: Chapter 21
Summary Adam arrives at Bartle Massey’s school and waits until the evening’s lessons are over. Bartle’s students are boys and men of the town to whom he imparts some elementary skills in reading, writing, and “cal’clating”; the author gives humorous portraits of several of them. Adam and Bartle go into […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book II: Chapter 21Summary and Analysis Book II: Chapter 20
Summary When Adam comes home from work, his mother is her usual querulous self, but he brushes off her complaints and declares that he must he left free to do what he thinks is right. He puts on his best clothes and goes to the Hall Farm, where he encounters […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book II: Chapter 20Summary and Analysis Book II: Chapter 19
Summary The next morning, Adam sets off to work on repairs on a country house. His mind is occupied with Hetty; with his drunken father gone, his burden of responsibilities is lightened, and he can begin to think of marrying within another year or so. He plans to set up […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book II: Chapter 19Summary and Analysis Book II: Chapter 18
Summary The action opens at the Poysers’ farm, where the family is preparing for church. The walk across the fields to town is described, as are the social and religious customs these simple people observe on a typical Sunday morning. Thias Bede’s funeral is held before the regular service, and […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book II: Chapter 18Summary and Analysis Book II: Chapter 17
Summary This chapter, entitled “In Which the Story Pauses a Little” does not advance the plot at all. The author says she intends to tell the truth about people and not to idealize or sentimentalize them. She says she finds more to love in simple, ignorant people, even though they […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book II: Chapter 17Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapter 16
Summary Arthur sets out early the next morning to carry through his resolution of confessing to Mr. Irwine. On the way, he meets Adam, and they talk for a while of Adam’s prospects. Arthur offers to lend Adam enough money to set himself up in business; Adam is grateful but […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapter 16Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapters 14-15
Summary While Hetty is parting with Arthur, Dinah is taking her leave of the Bedes. When she and Seth are gone, Adam and his mother talk about her. Lisbeth approves of Dinah so much that she hints that Adam ought to marry her, but Adam ignores her. Dinah and Seth, […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapters 14-15Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapters 12-13
Summary On the same morning as described in the previous chapter, Arthur decides to go on a week-long fishing trip. He discovers, however, that his horse is lame and then resolves just to visit a neighbor, taking his servant’s horse. He knows that Hetty will be at the Chase taking […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapters 12-13Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapter 11
Summary Dinah comes down to the kitchen at dawn the following morning. Adam is already in the workshop and comes out to see who is there. Dinah explains her presence, and the two young people take a long look at one another: Adam admires Dinah’s beauty, and Dinah is impressed […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book I: Chapter 11