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 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “A Mostly Normal Life”
Hamilton is aware of the fact that, while her life seems perfectly normal to her, other readers may not find it entirely relatable. Hamilton invites those readers into her daily existence on the island of Kauai, introducing her large group of friends, discussing the pros and cons of living on an island, identifying the music and television shows she likes best and things she does not enjoy, and even listing what she believes are the three best things about living on Kauai. Hamilton then describes the large part of her life that is devoted to her faith community: church attendance, Bible study, church camps, and youth groups.
Even after the shark attack left her with only one arm, Hamilton still feels like herself, she explains, because of these elements—her community, her love of nature, and her faith. She writes, “I don’t think much about it or worry about how I look with one arm. People around here know me and don’t think much about it either [...]” (65). Thus, even with only one arm, Hamilton wants the reader to understand that she is still the same person she was before the accident.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Attack”
Hamilton details the morning of the shark attack. Bethany is floating in the water, with Alana and her brother not far off. She has a shiny watch on her wrist that, Hamilton thinks now, may have caught the shark’s eye. She senses a “large gray object” on her left (70), and soon she feels the pressure and tug of its teeth, though she notes she felt no pain at first. The attack lasts only seconds, and afterward, Bethany sees blood in the water and notices the stub where her arm has been bitten off.
Hamilton notes the good fortune that it was high tide at the moment of the attack: “It’s a small miracle that it was high tide. If it had been low tide, we would have had to go all the way around the reef to get to shore [...]” (72). A jogger passing by has a friend who is a paramedic staying at his beachfront home. The paramedic runs down and assists Hamilton while she waits for an ambulance.
Bethany’s response to the shark attack is to pray: “I wasn’t freaking out, but I was praying like crazy, ‘Please, God, help me. God, let me get to the beach,’ over and over again” (73). As the paramedic loads Hamilton into the ambulance, he likewise comforts her by whispering, “God will never leave you or forsake you” (79). Hamilton notes now, “He was right” (79).
Chapter 6 Summary: “Dark Hours”
Word of the shark attack spreads quickly throughout Bethany Hamilton’s community, the news relayed between friends and family members and setting a prayer chain into motion. In a strange coincidence, Hamilton’s father, Tom, is already at the hospital where Bethany is being taken. He is in the operating room, prepped for surgery on his knee, when the surgeon is interrupted by the news of an incoming shark bite victim. Hamilton’s mother, meanwhile, is driving to the hospital. In the car, she turns on Christian worship music and sings along. As people all over the island pray for Bethany’s safety, her mother is devastated. However, Hamilton writes, “Through her tears and pain, she praised God and told him that in spite of everything, He was in control. I was in His hands” (91).
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
In Chapter 4, Hamilton goes to lengths to provide information about herself and what she likes and dislikes. In doing so, Hamilton is giving readers the opportunity to find common ground with Hamilton. While the life of a surfer girl in Hawaii might seem far removed from the life of a teenage boy in New York City, for instance, the fact that they both hate snakes or love bananas may form a bond and a sense of shared community. This is a tool that authors, and particularly memoirists, use to engage a reader in a story that might otherwise seem too different from the reader’s own experience to be relatable. In Hamilton’s case, she uses it to ensure that the reader will receive the message about faith and community that she is providing through her story. This chapter focuses on several of the themes that recur throughout the book: the importance of community, Hamilton’s love for the natural beauty of Kauai, and of course, Hamilton’s deep Christian faith.
Hamilton revisits the shark attack in Chapter 5, as well as her response to that horrific event. Just as she did in Chapter 1, Hamilton stresses that, leading up to the shark bite, her morning was entirely ordinary, and she discusses the elements of chance involved. For instance, Hamilton writes, “[...] Alana was floating no more than fifteen feet from me; her brother, Byron, and dad, Holt, not much farther away” (70). By including these sorts of details, Hamilton is stressing the fact that several random details had to come together to put her in the path of the shark. These details can add up to misfortune, as they do in the case of the shark, but they can also bring good luck, such as the fact that it was high tide. In another instance of good fortune, a paramedic is staying close by and helps her immediately after the attack.
In telling the detailed story of the shark attack and the immediate aftermath, Hamilton returns again and again to her strong faith. For instance, Hamilton’s response to the shark attack is to pray. Once she has been pushed to shore, she writes, “A thought flashed into my mind: ‘You could die.’ But I pushed any negative vibes away quickly with a prayer. ‘I’m in God’s hands’” (74). The paramedic also comforts with a message of faith. Thus, while the theme of chance is present in this chapter, the overriding message is of faith in God.
Finally, in Chapter 6, Hamilton looks beyond herself and the people who were with her in the water to her friends and family and tells how they reacted to getting the news about the attack. Oftentimes in memoir, the focus is solely on the thoughts, feelings, and experience of the author, so it is noteworthy that Hamilton devotes time and pages to how other people dealt with her own trauma. It is not surprising that Hamilton does so, however, since she established, in Chapters 3 and 4, the importance that various circles of community play in her life: her family, her friends, her fellow surfers, and her faith community. Because these communities are so important to Bethany Hamilton, she shares with the reader the impact that her accident had on them to show the interconnectedness of people who are bound by friendship and love.
Hamilton makes it clear in this narrative that while the first reaction of her friends and family to the news of the shark attack was shock and fear, the second reaction was prayer. While Hamilton accepts the many elements of chance that led to her being in the exact spot to be bitten by the shark, she does not blame God for the accident, nor do her family and friends. Instead, they accept that a terrible accident has happened, and they immediately give over the outcome to God, trusting that God has a purpose and a plan.
