59 pages • 1 hour read
Elvira WoodruffGeorge Washington's Socks
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1991A 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 16-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 16 Summary
Matt looks behind himself for the source of the strange noises. When he faces front again, two young Native Americans block his path. They hold weapons (a tomahawk and a bow and arrow) and do not speak. Matt shuts his eyes but hears Hooter. Tony is there as well, and they catch Matt up: Adam Hibbs and his injury, a collision on the river with ice, their rescue by troops on another boat, the revelation that Adam Hibbs is the grandson of the Adam lost on the lake, their discovery of the rowboat, and the capture of Katie and Q by Hessians.
Tony and Hoot reveal that Native Americans captured them, made a fire, and gave Tony and Hoot food. Matt says “authoritatively” that they must find and save Katie and Q, though he doesn’t yet know how they will accomplish this.
Chapter 17 Summary
Matt, who spent much time overnight fearing the Hessians, now fears he won’t be able to find them. He thinks that the Native American boys probably know where the Hessians are. He tries communicating with the Native Americans. He mimes “red hair” by holding red berries near his head. The two Native Americans understand, but also show their fear of the Hessians. Next, Matt tries to bribe them with a handheld electronic game for their help. They watch the image of a running man on the screen, and when they remove the batteries to keep for future bartering, they think the man has dropped into the underbrush. Tony’s complaints about the loss of the game escalate into questions for Matt about getting home.
Matt, instead of despairing at his lack of leadership, now thinks of the terrible odds General Washington faced crossing the Delaware and fighting at Trenton. Yet the Continental Army proved success possible. The Native Americans trade their guidance to the Hessians for the buckles on Matt’s shoes. Matt sends Blackjack away to find his way home, and he reflects on wartime farewells. Then, he sets off to follow the Native Americans to find Katie and Q.
Chapter 18 Summary
The Native American boys use berry juice to make patterns on their own faces, which Matt, Tony, and Hoot assume to be war paint. When the Native Americans find the formidable-looking Hessians, however, they reconsider, and slip away into the woods. Tony feel defeated, and Hoot wants to flee, but Matt convinces them to stay for Katie and Q.
Matt shares the idea to steal the Hessians’ muskets and take them with their own weapons. Though Matt tries to exude confidence and boldly initiates the plan, he has a moment of weakness when the Hessians face them with swords, and he cannot help but shut his eyes in fear.
Chapter 19 Summary
Matt opens his eyes when he hears Katie. Matt surrenders, and the Hessians accept. One Hessian seems kinder than the rest, learning Katie’s and Hooter’s names. This Hessian takes charge of the children when the rest of the soldiers decide to track a deer.
Matt hears from Q that Adam Hibbs said the rowboat is key to traveling through time. Adam Hibbs died before Q could get much more information, but he said the word mind was important. Matt sets the next course: escape the Hessians and find the rebels.
Hooter offers the Hessian, Gustav, a Band-Aid when he scratches his leg. Matt realizes the river is nearby from its sound. When they near it, Katie wanders onto thin ice, and Gustav saves her. They are thanking and admiring Gustav when an American soldier shoots him.
Chapters 16-19 Analysis
Matt shows more dynamic character change in this set of chapters. He seeks opportunities to take charge and makes more decisions, rather than allowing circumstances to affect him. As the main character, the story more completely “belongs” to Matt in these chapters, and his actions more effectively steer the plot. To drive this point home, symbolically, Matt asks Blackjack, his lone companion on his solo excursion through the woods, for help in how to rescue Katie and Q; but Blackjack, of course, offers up nothing. This symbolizes that Matt is on his own. He must begin to trust his own judgment if they are to ever return to Nebraska. Later, his sadness in saying goodbye to Blackjack transforms into “a shiver of excitement” (117), as he follows the Native Americans into the woods to find the Hessians.
Matt speaks “with conviction” about getting home, despite Tony’s doubts. He considers his own resolve: “He hadn’t left Israel to die by himself, and he had found the courage to go on alone into the woods with Blackjack” (114).
These chapters show the theme of empathy for the “other” and the erasure of lines that separate. Matt, Hoot, and Tony start to see that labeling a group “enemy” may not be fair or accurate. Matt, Hoot, and Tony all demonstrate respect for the survival skills and knowledge base of the Native Americans. When the Native Americans want the buckles on Matt’s shoes, he doesn’t completely understand their interest (we as readers do, only because the narrative breaks into omniscient point of view briefly). Matt trusts their knowledge without questioning it, however, and follows their lead to the Hessians who hold Q and Katie captive.
The interaction with Gustav demonstrates even more clearly the theme of a sympathetic “enemy.” After many chapters of dreading the infamous Hessians, here is Gustav, a kind, humane, smiling young man who appreciates a Band-Aid and risks his life to save Katie. Matt, Q, Hoot, and Tony quickly respect him as a person, not as an enemy soldier. Consequently, his death at the hands of an American rebel soldier is both traumatic and ironic.
