The Book of Ruth

In the eighth grade, Ruth begins working for an arthritic, blind neighbor named Miss Finch. In addition to helping with basic household tasks, Ruth helps Miss Finch thread audiobook tapes in her cassette player, and the two listen to classics such as Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist. In the company of Miss Finch, Ruth not only is exposed to art and literature, but she is also reminded of how variable human nature can be: “It wasn’t until I got to eight grade that I started seeing clearly how different we were from other people” (23). At first, Ruth tries to behave properly in the presence of Miss Finch, whose sophistication is obvious to Ruth; however, when Ruth truly comes to believe that her mistress cannot see, she takes to sticking her tongue out, reclining on the furniture, and pilfering candies. Ruth also reads Aunt Sid’s letters to Miss Finch, who welcomes stimuli from the outside world. Aunt Sid tells Ruth about various chapters in her life, including her position teaching music.

May’s treatment of Ruth only worsens as Ruth gets older. Ruth attributes this change to her mother’s recognition of the fact that she is getting older. For example, when the onset of puberty requires Ruth to acquire a brassiere, she goes to Sears by herself with money she requested from Aunt Sid (on the pretext of getting her mother a birthday gift). When May notices, she seems almost impressed by Ruth’s ingenuity, though she won’t admit it.

Ruth doesn’t seem to begrudge May’s harsh treatment of her, rather assuming that she deserves it. Ruth recounts a particularly shameful moment in her upbringing during which she advanced through several rounds of the school spelling bee only to misspell the word “sandwich” in the final round, in addition to having lost her mother’s heirloom pin, a purple and gold daisy made of pearls and gemstones. To make matters more difficult, Matt advanced to the regional competition in Springfield. Nevertheless, Aunt Sid attends the competition from 40 miles away, unbeknownst to Ruth, and congratulates Ruth enthusiastically even after her elimination from the contest.

Ruth adds more detail to her brother Matt’s physical characteristics and disposition as he approaches adolescence alongside her. She notes his popularity among both teachers at school and girls in his class, despite his acne. The reverend at church seems to be the only one who sees May and Matt as equals. With virtuosic abilities in all of his academic classes, Matt is dismissive of his family, brushing off his doting mother’s attempts at affection. May takes a job at the dry cleaners when Ruth and Matt are in high school, and she also continues to raise chickens, whose eggs she reluctantly sells to Black families, whom she calls “Negroes.” Matt is not expected to do housework because of his commitment to his education.

Ruth recollects her mother encouraging her to go to a homecoming dance junior year and teaching her to dance using a broom. The two share a rare moment of pleasure together, but a scornful look from Matt upon his sudden entrance abruptly ends the activity. Ruth continues to struggle in school, only once having been placed in a non-remedial English class, which she ultimately fails. Ruth suspects that all of her teachers question why her performance is so different from that of her precocious brother.

May develops a friendship with Mrs. Foote, one of her egg customers. Mrs. Foote is a grey-haired woman with a husband with a disability and three children. One child is an overweight son who follows her everywhere, and another is a wayward daughter, Daisy, who goes missing once for two days, only to return to May’s kitchen table to announce that she merely went to Peoria with a trucker.