110 pages • 3 hours read
Varian JohnsonThe Parker Inheritance
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2018A 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 40-45Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 40 Summary
In Chapter 40, Siobhan Washington is forced to move on from her life in Lambert as her family settles with her aunt in Maryland. Siobhan is frustrated by the lack of justice after the attack, as well as by her father’s “constant headaches” (257); these negative feelings are heightened when she comes home to the news that “Reggie died in Georgia” (258). As Siobhan reels from the tragedy, her father refuses to even “call him by his name” (259). They argue about her father’s desire to get revenge on the Allens, and Siobhan feels determined “not to let Big Dub’s mistakes define her” (261).
In 1985, Siobhan finally goes back to Lambert to see a plaque installed at a park dedicated to her father. Before leaving, she decides to put back on her bracelet “to bring Reggie with her as well” (262). She wants to leave a “memento” (263) in the dirt where the tennis courts would be built, but she isn’t sure she can leave the bracelet behind.
Chapter 41 Summary
Candice and Brandon struggle to make headway in the puzzle the next day. When Candice tries to sleep that night, she realizes, “We hear what we want to hear. We see what we want to see. It seemed like everything that summer had been pointing to that” (265). The crux of solving the mystery becomes clear: being able to hear and see beyond her assumptions. Candice quickly borrows her mother’s cell phone and searches a few new combinations of words and realizes that “right at the top of the browser, was exactly what Candice and Brandon had been looking for” (266).
Chapter 42 Summary
After Reggie Bradley becomes James Parker, he quickly completes military service and uses the GI bill to obtain a civil engineering degree. By 35, he owns his own design firm and is wildly successful. Despite this, “Parker didn’t forget everything about his true identity as his wealth and power grew” (269). In 1986, Parker’s desire to get revenge is still important to him, and he has his secretary keep an ongoing file about the Allens. As time goes on, Parker manages to financially ruin the Allens. He is later in life now, with his secretary retiring, and Parker is “scared” (271) of the next step he needs to take: contacting Siobhan.
James Parker finds Siobhan and writes her a short note at her school asking her to meet him at the park, just as he did all those years before. They continue meeting and walking in the park, discussing the possibility of having the serious relationship they had been denied. When Parker suggests that she come with him “forever” (274), Siobhan challenges him, asking if he would “be okay with dating someone who’s black” (275). They argue, with Siobhan pushing Parker to use his wealth to make real change.
When Siobhan asks him if he still doesn’t drink Coke, and Parker admits that he doesn’t, Siobhan tells him that she “can’t be with a man who hates the world as much as [he] do[es]” (279) and they part ways. The next day, he receives an envelope holding a long letter and a bracelet. He goes back home still thinking about Siobhan.
Chapter 43 Summary
Candice has finally cracked the mathematical clue, realizing that it didn’t refer to the Oilers, but to “Euler, an eighteenth-century Swiss mathematician” (281). Through some addition, she gets to the number “6.85987,” but “that still didn’t mean anything” (281). When Candice is woken up the next morning by her mother, Brandon is waiting for her in the living room. When she tells him her findings, Brandon figures out that there’s a key to solve the code, starting with the letter W, for Lil’ Dub, Siobhan’s nickname. When they use the code, they discover the meaning: “Ada Marie Perkins! The first principal of the school” (284), and they immediately go to the portrait of her at the Memorial Room.
Chapter 44 Summary
Tori agrees to drive them to the Memorial Room to help distract Ms. McMillan. As soon as Tori and Ms. McMillan walk to the storage room, Candice and Brandon take down the large portrait of Ada Perkins, cutting the paper backing off. They find “a small envelope taped to the inside of the wooden frame” (287) holding a note. They put the frame back on the wall and realize the note, which says, “The heir must find the…” (287), must meant that they need to “FIND THE FOURTH!” (287).
The fourth clue is the one that refers to Siobhan, who “loved all” (288), and Candice and Brandon realize that this refers to the score “love” in tennis, which is actually zero. They take down the large tennis match painting, which has “a small bulge in the canvas” (289). Ms. McMillan comes back at that moment, and Candice breaks the edge of the frame to open the canvas. Ms. McMillan is shocked as Candice pulls out a small key to the “First Lambert National Bank” (290). Though the bank is now closed, Ms. McMillan thinks that the safety deposit boxes were transferred to the “Spirit of Independence Bank” (290). Before they can get on their way, Ms. McMillan demands an explanation.
Chapter 45 Summary
In 1999, James Parker receives a call from Siobhan Washington, who tells him to sit down before she tells him some news. They meet in Washington a few days later and Parker pushes her wheelchair for her. Despite her changes in physical appearance, “Parker only saw the woman he had loved for most of his life” (293). Siobhan tells him a riddle—the answer is pi.
Siobhan reveals that she is reaching out to him because she saw some of the changes Parker made to make reparations to the Allen family and to act for justice in his company and personal life. Parker decides that if he is going to take action to “help the city” (294), he will make the people of Lambert work for it. They reconcile, drinking some sparkling cider and toasting to “third” (295) chances.
Chapters 40-45 Analysis
The lifelong connection between Reggie and Siobhan is explored at length as the plot of The Parker Inheritance nears its conclusion. Only hints about their relationship are given early on in the novel, but it becomes clear later that Reggie and Siobhan have a lifelong romance, even though they are separated for many years. In many ways, their forced separation reflects the larger social inequities plaguing Black people in the United States, both historically and in the present day. As young people, Reggie was viewed as a bad choice for Siobhan because he was unlikely to attend college or make a name for himself. Later, after Reggie chose to change into James Parker, it would have been difficult for him to build a public life with a Black woman. In addition, even when they begin forming their relationship as adults, Siobhan questions James’s motivations and choices as a white man. In fact, James is only able to earn Siobhan’s trust when he begins changing his actions to center on creating a just society rather than retribution.
Candice’s revelation that people see and hear what they want to see and hear is a critical theme of the novel, though it isn’t made obvious until this moment. As Candice and Brandon struggle to unravel the mystery behind the inheritance, they frequently must look at something from a new angle and try a new search to get to the next step of the puzzle. Yet what Candice really learns is not just how to do this as a logical exercise, but how to apply this practice to her personal life. She experiences several moments where a change in her perspective allows her to understand someone very differently. For example, after Brandon’s violent encounter with Milo, Candice realizes she must be more honest with Brandon if she wants to be friends with him. This growth in understanding what intimacy means only arises because she sets aside her own assumptions and biases to see more of the whole picture.
One of the things that makes Candice an interesting protagonist is that her own growth reveals some of the blind spots of the adults around her, as supportive as they might be. Young people in Johnson’s novel are more likely to be the ones who are willing to set aside their personal beliefs or prejudgments to look at a situation in a different way, whereas adults are less willing to do so. This is illustrated in many cases, like Coach Dub, who refuses to accept that Siobhan and Reggie are in love. By creating a protagonist who moves beyond what she wants to see, Johnson illuminates the ways that adults often operate only from a position of their own bias and beliefs.
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