68 pages • 2 hours read
Elise BroachMasterpiece
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2008A 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 36-38Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 36 Summary: “Safe Returns”
When James returns Marvin to the cupboard, much of his extended family greet him. They are happy he’s home but make sure to tell him how worried they all were and how dangerous Marvin’s outing was. Elaine tells Marvin she was worried he’d drown in the bottle of ink. Marvin accepts their concern and scolding because he understands it comes from a place of care. He feels lucky to have such a close family that worries about him.
Marvin spends the entire evening telling the family about his adventures while Mama and Aunt Edith serve plate after plate of scavenged food. Around midnight, Marvin goes to his room to sleep. Elaine follows him and tells him how lucky he is to have seen the world outside the apartment. Marvin realizes she’s right and that he’s grown mentally because of his experiences.
The next afternoon, Marvin visits James, who is sitting at his desk making his own art with the pen and ink set. It’s much less precise and professional than Marvin’s art. James is surprised by Marvin’s visit and works out a way to communicate when they want to see each other by drawing an X on the corner of a piece of paper. James says they’ll keep the X face down in the cupboard unless one of them wants to see the other. Then, they’ll flip it over and know to meet in James’s room in the afternoon. Marvin appreciates how easy it is to communicate with James.
James shows Marvin his art, saying he’ll never be as good as Marvin but that he’s having fun. James tells Marvin about meeting with the FBI, excited that he got to see the police station. James doesn’t think the FBI believed him about how he found the drawings. Denny is on the run. The FBI cannot find him, and he won’t answer Christina’s calls. James secretly wishes they won’t find him.
James tells Marvin all about the aftermath of returning the drawings. The news has made a big deal about it, and the museum has a special exhibit with the four works together before the drawings are returned to their rightful museums. The exhibit is extremely popular, and James says they’re going this afternoon, inviting Marvin to come along.
James tells Marvin that he’s a hero and that it’s unfortunate no one will ever know. Marvin is satisfied because James knows, and that’s good enough.
Chapter 37 Summary: “James’s Gift”
That afternoon, Karl, James, and Mr. and Mrs. Pompaday visit the museum. The Pompadays have brought William in a stroller, and James has brought Marvin in his jacket. They are let inside through a special side door to avoid the lines of people waiting to see the drawings. Mrs. Pompaday hopes that news reporters will want to interview them. She tells James that this is a great opportunity for him and that he’ll need to get back to drawing once the museum business dies down. James replies that he’s not sure he wants to keep drawing. Mrs. Pompaday insists, incredulous that James would consider stopping. Marvin wonders how long they’ll have to keep up the charade.
Christina greets the group, complimenting Mrs. Pompaday on James’s talent. Christina leads them to the Virtues display. Marvin peeks out for a better look and is once again awestruck by the artwork’s presence. He hopes he’ll never have to copy work again because he wants to focus on making his own original drawings.
Christina and Karl discuss the merits of seeing all the drawings together. Mrs. Pompaday suggests James make his own set, telling Christina that James has a gift. Marvin acknowledges that James’s gift is not what Mrs. Pompaday thinks it is, but that James does have a gift. Christina is excited because the recovery of the drawings is bringing a lot of attention to Dürer’s work. James asks if Denny will be caught, saying that he likes Denny. Christina replies that she isn’t sure but that he needs to face repercussions for his crimes.
James asks if Denny is mad at him. Christina presents the idea that Denny is relieved to not have to lie all the time, asking James if he has ever told a lie and then had to lie more to cover it up. James and Marvin understand this idea.
Mrs. Pompaday says they have dinner reservations and need to get going. Christina escorts Mr. and Mrs. Pompaday, along with William, to the museum exit. While the Pompadays work William’s stroller down the stairs, Christina and Karl agree to go for coffee together. As Karl says goodbye to James, he suggests they do something on Wednesday. Mrs. Pompaday says James may need to work on his art that day instead, causing James to squirm.
Mrs. Pompaday asks James to load William’s stroller in the trunk. As James hands the stroller off to the cabbie, he lingers with his hand in the way, and the trunk slams on his hand.
Chapter 38 Summary: “Masterpiece”
Several days later, Marvin hasn’t seen James. The Pompadays had gone straight to the hospital to get James’s hand seen by a doctor. Marvin saw everything from James’s jacket. The doctor said the break was very serious, and James will need rehabilitation once his cast is off. Mrs. Pompaday is outraged that James may never draw again. Marvin suspects James did it on purpose to set them free from their drawing charade.
Marvin visits James’s bedroom several times in the days following the injury but keeps missing him. He spends time under the Pompadays’ kitchen table, listening to James’s life updates. James’s cast and the story of the stolen drawings have made James popular at school, which makes Marvin happy. One evening, Marvin tells Mama that he misses James and asks if James has forgotten him. Mama leads Marvin to a newly carved room in their home, complete with fresh plaster dust. Inside sits a bottle cap filled with ink and a stack of small scraps of paper. Mama tells Marvin that James left the ink under the sink for him, so Papa and Uncle Albert made a studio for Marvin.
The following day, Marvin finds the small piece of paper with an X on it in the corner of the cupboard. He goes to James’s room, where James is reading. James casts regular glances at his desk until he spots Marvin and greets him excitedly. James tells Marvin about his cast. James says Marvin can let him know any time he needs more ink for his drawings.
James takes Marvin across his bedroom to another wall and lifts Marvin up so he can see. On the wall, Marvin’s first drawing of James’s bedroom window scene is matted and framed. James tells Marvin that Christina did it for them as a gift, and she is working on doing their Fortitude copy as well. Mrs. Pompaday decided not to sell the drawing because she fears James may never draw again, which James confirms to Marvin that he won’t.
James says that smashing his hand really hurt, but in the end, it worked out for the best because they couldn’t keep making drawings and lying to people. James says he fears what people would do to Marvin if they found out about Marvin’s talent. Marvin feels loved by James in a way he’s never felt before. It’s different from the love he feels from his family because James chose Marvin and cares about him over anyone else.
James tells Marvin that he’s going to dinner with his dad and Christina that night, adding that he suspects his dad likes her. Marvin agrees that they’d be a good couple and would make a wonderful second family for James. James tells Marvin that he’s his best friend. Marvin decides that great friendship is a lot like great art: it takes time and attention, as well as some abstract moments. Karl arrives and James says goodbye to Marvin.
The story ends with Marvin daydreaming about all the fun he and James can have in the future, taking walks, visiting the museum with Karl and Christina, and coming home so Marvin can make his own art.
Chapters 36-38 Analysis
The final chapters of the book bring home the themes of family and friendship. Chapter 36 revolves predominantly around Marvin’s homecoming and the reception his family holds to welcome him. The illustration on page 266 helps to emphasize the breadth of Marvin’s large extended family. Their concern for him is reflected in the scoldings they give him and the attention they pay to the tale of his adventures. It’s clear through these scenes that Marvin is a beloved member of the family. The beetles also show their familial affection for Marvin in Chapter 38 when they reveal the art studio that Papa and Uncle Albert carved out of the wall. The act of adding a new room to the house shows how much the beetles want to support Marvin’s interests and talents. This is consistent with the beetles’ behavior in the first chapter of the book where they are proud of Marvin’s accomplishments as a swimmer.
The familial theme is touched upon again when James informs Marvin that Karl and Christina are seeing each other. Marvin feels they’re a good fit but is careful not to insult the Pompadays or imply the Pompadays aren’t enough. He is merely implying that James would benefit from a family that values the arts the way Karl and Christina do.
Broach develops the theme of friendship in every scene that James and Marvin share throughout the novel. In Chapter 38, Marvin contrasts the theme of familial love with friendly love, emphasizing the difference between the love and support his family gives him and the trust and care James shows him. In the final chapter, the importance of friendship is reinforced with Marvin’s acknowledgement of how lucky he is to have found James: “It was a happy, lucky accident, finding some kindred part of yourself in a total stranger” (287). Marvin creates a simile, comparing a great friendship to a great work of art in the level of attention and time that both require, which also strengthens the art motif that runs throughout the story.
The story’s final conflict is wrapped up when James and Marvin find a way out of their artistic obligations. Though it isn’t clear whether James smashed his hand on purpose, Marvin suspects as much and James hints at it. The subsequent injury provides James with a reason to discontinue his art, finally freeing James and Marvin from Mrs. Pompaday’s pressure and expectations. At the end of the book, James is free to resume his life as a normal eleven-year-old, and Marvin is free to create works of art for himself without having to copy a masterpiece or create under the pressure of human expectations.
