48 pages • 1 hour read
Neal ShustermanDownsiders
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1999A 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 6-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary: “Topsider Down”
With most Downsiders at the Floodgate Concourse for market day, Talon believes he can give Lindsay a tour without trouble. He continually calls Lindsay “you people” and asks why Topsiders cover their arms. He doesn’t know how they can move in the dark without feeling the air. He tells Lindsay that he was “born Down”: One of his great-aunts was a “Most-Beloved.”
As they leave the High Perimeter, the sour air becomes clean. The duo enters one of the Rune Chambers, an old train station featuring a dazzling display of hieroglyphics. Every Downsider between the ages of 12 and 16 has “Tagging rotation,” where they write their dreams, experiences, and hopes.
Talon shows Lindsay more of his world. Mushrooms bloom in the Hudward Growing Caverns, Hot Springs features a river and waterfalls, old subway tokens line the ceilings and walls of Brass Junction, and Grotto of Light features tropical plants and a chandelier-like arrangement of dangling crystals. Brass Junction is for weddings and naming ceremonies, and Grotto of Light is a theater.
Robert Gunderson, Talon’s “faller,” works in the theater. Robert still needs a new name, and Lindsay suggests Michelangelo. Talon thinks she means the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, but Lindsay means the Italian artist. Talon likes the name and gives Lindsay one of the dangling crystals to wear as an earring.
Lindsay spots a staircase, but Talon says it’s off limits to them. The stairs lead to the Place of First Runes, and only a “Most-Beloved” can enter it. Two assassin guards and a ring of fire keep people out.
With market day ending, Downsiders begin to disperse, so Talon hides Lindsay in a hatch in the floor before Railborn’s dad, Skeet, talks to him about starting his Hunt rotation with Railborn and Gutta. Talon lies and says he had to run an errand for the Hunt leader. Skeet leaves, and Talon joins Lindsay in the hatch, which leads to the Bot.
Chapter 7 Summary: “The Bot”
The Bot is the biggest Topside tunnel, and it has a scary reputation. If Downside kids misbehave, their parents threaten to send them to the Bot. Lindsay sees light, but Talon hears a threatening sound and orders Lindsay to run. Suddenly she sees cows, who first came to the Downside thanks to a failed movie, Bull!, which the producers advertised as Jaws (1975) with a cow.
The animals rush past Talon and Lindsay, and a large cow careens toward them until a falling sewer hole cover neutralizes it. Talon sees Railborn and Gutta, and they spot Talon and Lindsay. The three Downsiders argue, and Railborn says he and Gutta should do their rotations without Talon. Gutta is upset and wonders why Talon prefers “fallers” to “friends.”
Chapter 8 Summary: “Missing Persons”
Talon and Lindsay go to Champ’s home, where Lindsay showers and changes into a flannel shirt and oversized jeans borrowed from Champ. Champ teases Lindsay about Talon’s crush on her. He presumes Talon has been a “gentleman,” and Lindsay brings up what he said about his mom still knowing him.
Lindsay asks Champ about the Downsiders and his own affiliations. Champ is an “independent” and mentions a person named Alfred Beach. Champ gives Lindsay money for a cab home, and Talon suggests meeting at Champ’s sometime to play Monopoly.
At 3:00 am, Lindsay returns home and is met by her father, who has been worried about her. Lindsay claims she took a subway “tour” and got lost, but “nice people” helped her. While Mark paces, Lindsay asks him about Alfred Beach, and Mark describes him as an eccentric engineer and inventor. Lindsay remembers she hasn’t given Mark the box her mom wanted him to have, but she keeps it to herself. Lindsay’s punishment for coming home late is that she can’t go anywhere without Todd from now on.
Talon wonders if he should talk to his dad about Lindsay, but he’d probably just reply with Downsider idioms. Looking into the mirror, Talon wonders how Lindsay views him. His mom watches him, and Talon jokes about her not recognizing him. His mom quips that she’ll recognize him for quite some time.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Low Justice”
On the wall of the Brass Junction is a warning for Downsiders: “FEAR THE TOPSIDE, OR BE CRUSHED BY ITS EMBRACE” (116). The statement represents the “most powerful” aspect of Downside ideology. The Topsiders are considered evil, and any contact between Topsiders and Downsiders threatens the existence of both worlds.
A “good citizen,” Railborn visits the Wise Advisors and tells them about Talon’s relationship with Lindsay. The Wise Advisors ask Railborn to suggest a punishment. Railborn comes up with slime scrubbing, banishment from the Hunting rotation, and never going to the “Surface” again. The Advisors agree to Railborn’s conditions; they see Railborn as a potential Most-Beloved. Later in the night, Railborn hears rumors about an execution, and “doom” fills his heart.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Dead Man Flushing”
The narrator states that people remember the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, but they don’t remember the Great Sinkhole of 1885, when two blocks of New York City, including the Plymouth Theater, fell into one of nature’s “trap doors.” Maybe more people would remember it if President Ulysses S. Grant hadn’t died that day. Alfred Ely Beach caused the sinkhole. In a somewhat similar way, the trial and execution of Talon causes the Great Shaft Disaster.
The Wise Advisors accuse Talon of treason, but Talon argues that people do tiny treasonous things daily. Talon wonders why they’re persecuting him, but he knows the answer: Going after him makes them look less “useless” and “weak.” The Advisors also think Talon’s death will teach young people to be less rebellious.
The Advisors deny Talon a last meal and a reflection in the Grotto of Last Light. They transport him to Brooklyn, where Downsiders divert water from the Bensonhurst water main for their deadly purposes. The Advisors allow Talon to say his last words. Stumped, Talon wills his bottle-cap collection to Railborn before he climbs in the pipe, and freezing water assaults him for miles.
A woman grabs Talon’s arm, wraps him in blankets, and lets him sleep under the Coney Island boardwalk. When he awakes, the woman claims Talon was “sewer surfing.” Talon asks her to turn off the “light,” but she says only God can do that. Getting up, Talon realizes he’s in the Topside. The pigeons, the sky, the sun, and the Atlantic Ocean mesmerize him, and he starts to cry.
Chapters 6-10 Analysis
This section continues to develop the theme of The Fluidity of Binaries when Talon takes Lindsay on a tour of the Downside. Contrary to Downside dogma, this episode shows that Topsiders can inhabit Downsider spaces, and they can do so with good intentions. Death is portrayed as mutable as well. The image of a “mighty surge of frigid water” propelling Talon “toward the land of the dead” symbolizes death’s fluidity (127), which is further reinforced when Talon doesn’t die. An older woman disrupts the process and saves him. This passage emphasizes that even death doesn’t come with a guarantee in a constantly changing world.
Talon’s bringing Lindsay into the Downside also advances the theme of Breaking Rules and Norms. The “single most powerful piece of Downside doctrine” reads “FEAR THE TOPSIDE, OR BE CRUSHED BY ITS EMBRACE” (116). However, Lindsay’s benign interest in the Downside challenges the necessity of rules and norms that frame Topsiders as evil. By deviating from the norms and rules, Talon exposes the truth, which makes him a threat to the established order. To conceal this destabilizing truth, the Advisors dole out a lethal punishment, explaining, “[W]e need to make an example of Talon so this sort of thing won’t happen again” (118). They don’t want more young people deviating from laws and customs and challenging the myth that keeps the Advisors in power and Downsiders in line.
Railborn also advances this theme. Acting as an honorable, law-abiding Downsider, Railborn tells the Wise Advisors about Talon’s relationship with Lindsay and recommends a series of non-lethal punishments. The Wise Advisors ostensibly agree to his recommendations, but then they decide to execute Talon to protect themselves. Railborn’s faith in rules, norms, and authority is shown to be extremely misguided.
Railborn continues to complicate the theme of Cruelty Versus Compassion. Railborn’s decision to tell on Talon may seem cruel, but Railborn thinks he’s acting laudably, with the narrator noting that Railborn “believed with all his heart” that telling the advisors was the correct step (116). When Railborn realizes the Advisors will kill Talon, his heart fills “with a hopeless sense of doom” (120). Railborn feels compassion for Talon, but his concern creates cruelty. Talon maintains his compassion for Railborn and even gives him his collection of bottle caps.
These chapters maintain a humorous, lighthearted tone. When Lindsay suggests naming Robert Michelangelo, Talon replies, “You mean the turtle?” (89), alluding to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Talon is more familiar with the comic book characters than the famous Renaissance artist, and the twist makes Lindsay laugh. The movie Bull! Also adds comedy, with its absurd premise poking fun at Hollywood. The tone remains light even as Talon prepares to be executed when he wills his bottle cap collection to Railborn, as if bottle caps were a priceless heirloom.
To illustrate Downside landmarks, the novel uses imagery. It provides vivid descriptions of the spaces. Since Downsiders inhabit ornate spaces, the diction becomes intricate and flowery. The narrator describes one of the Rune Chambers:
[It was] a magnificent feast of hieroglyphics, a multicolored spectacle of lines and texture, like the walls of an ancient temple. Images within words, words within images, intertwined until the whole place seemed to glow with the captured light of an Impressionist painting (83-84).
Words like “feast” and “spectacle” highlight the sumptuous, mesmerizing aspects of the Downside. The allusion to Impressionism connects the Downside to art that’s textured, nuanced, and lavish, yet representative of common, relatable experiences. The allusion establishes that their world is one of culture and refinement.
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By Neal Shusterman
