56 pages • 1 hour read
Bethany HamiltonSoul Surfer
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2004A 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 14-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 14 Summary: “Aftermath”
In Chapter 14, Hamilton takes a closer look at how her community has been affected by the shark attack, looking specifically at her friend Alana and Alana’s father, Holt, who were in the water the morning of the accident. Counseling has helped all of them, Hamilton says, and she is forthright about the fact that she sometimes sees herself in the mirror and remembers all over again that she now has only one arm. However, she shakes such thoughts off, saying, “I’m working—we all are—to get over it. To deal with the new challenges. Past is past. On to bigger and better!” (197).
Hamilton recounts some of the opportunities she has had to travel and to represent various brands, and she discusses a humanitarian mission she has been able to work with: the World Vision Foundation, which helps children living in poverty around the world, and for which Hamilton is helping to raise awareness and funds through her surfing. The chapter ends with a list of items that are always in Hamilton’s travel bag.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Part of a Plan”
This chapter begins with a passage from the Gospel of Matthew. The passage has been put into easy-to-read English, and Hamilton includes it, she says, because it ends with an image of a person who built their house on a sandy beach (rather than a rock), and the house was destroyed by the first storm that rolled in. The message of this passage is that faith must be firm to carry a believer through the storms of life, and Hamilton writes, “But for me, knowing that God loves me and that He has a plan for my life that no shark can take away is like having a solid rock underneath me” (206).
People have asked Hamilton how she can still have faith after experiencing such a random and devastating accident. Hamilton mentions the biblical story of Job as an example of faith that persists even when terrible things happen and reluctantly accepts that she has been given the opportunity to be a voice for God, inspiring others with her story and her resilience. She explains, “I’m proud to be part of God’s plans, and I hope, in some small way, this surfer girl from Hawaii can make Him proud, too” (210).
Chapter 16 Summary: “Endnote: Sweet Sixteen”
A brief summary of the events in Hamilton’s life in the two years since her accident and the year since the initial publication of her book, which became a bestseller, make up Chapter 16. Hamilton has received several more opportunities to travel, as well as endorsements opportunities, and had many more celebrity encounters as well. There has been personal growth, too, Hamilton explains, writing, “It’s not really weird anymore to look at myself in the mirror and see only one arm. I’m not grieving it; I’m using it to God’s glory (to share my faith)” (217).
Hamilton’s knowledge of the Bible has grown, she reports, as has her faith. As her 16th birthday approaches, she wonders what the future holds for her, and writes, “One thing I know for sure: Sweet sixteen will be even sweeter with Jesus by my side!” (222).
Chapters 14-16 Analysis
The final chapters of the book are a reiteration of the memoir’s major themes: the foundation of faith that allows Hamilton to overcome obstacles, the importance of caring for members of your community, the resilience that enables Hamilton to look past her injury to the future, and the acceptance of random events that occasionally put us in the way of danger. The final chapters are also Hamilton’s summary of events based on the hindsight and perspective that a year has given her.
Most of all, these chapters are statements of faith in many forms. Whether Hamilton is writing about the opportunities that celebrity offers, the effect of her accident on her community, or wondering what the future holds, her belief that God already knows the answers to her questions is evident. For Hamilton, faith is the foundation upon which everything else in her life rests, and it is the theme that her memoir returns to again and again.
