45 pages • 1 hour read
John ChristopherThe White Mountains
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1967A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Preface-Chapter 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Preface Summary: “What Is a Tripod?”
Thirty-six years after the novel’s initial publication, author John Christopher reflects on his experience writing The White Mountains. As a boy, Christopher was fascinated by science fiction set in the future and in space, but his interest faded as human exploration of space failed to reveal intelligent life forms. He thus decided to set The White Mountains in a future that closely resembles Europe’s feudal past. As the novel was his first attempt to write children’s fiction, Christopher went through multiple revisions with the guidance of his editor, Susan Hirschman.
Chapter 1 Summary: “Capping Day”
Around the year 2070, 13-year-old Will Parker lives in the small town of Wherton in England. About 100 years earlier, a group of large, mechanical Tripods appeared and enslaved humans around the world, obliterating most human technology in the process. The Tripods control people with mechanical Caps that they embed in individuals’ heads when they reach the age of 14. Some people become mentally unstable after they are Capped, leaving them to live as so-called “Vagrants.”
Will opens by describing his father’s mechanical clock, one of only five in the village. Will’s father’s greatest treasure, however, is an ornate wristwatch, which is unrivaled even in Winchester. One Saturday morning in May, while his parents are busy, Will puts on the wristwatch. Wanting to impress his cousin and best friend, Jack Leeper, Will makes his way toward a secret den located among the ruins of an old power plant, though the boys do not recognize it as such since they have no knowledge of electricity.
As Will approaches the den, he is pursued and confronted by Henry Parker, another one of his cousins; Will and Henry dislike each other. As they begin to fight, Henry takes the wristwatch from Will. Jack appears, separates the two fighting boys, and gives the watch back to Will. He calls Will a “fool” for taking out the wristwatch and helps him return it before his parents notice it is missing.
Back at the den, Jack cooks a rabbit over a fire. After some small talk, Jack tells Will that the den will belong to him once Jack is Capped. Jack speculates that he might be happier as a Vagrant than as a regular Capped worker. Vagrants wander from town to town and receive food and shelter through charity. Jack also comments on the advancement of human civilization before the Tripods arrived. Will responds, “People are happy now” (15).
Soon Capping Day, a holiday, arrives. After a church service on the duties of adulthood, a Tripod that is “several times as high as the church” enters the village (17). Sir Geoffrey, the lord of the village, bows to the Tripod. A tentacle emerges from the Tripod and lifts Jack into the hemisphere-shaped metal cabin at the top of its three legs. The Tripod leaves the village and returns several hours later to drop off Jack, who is now Capped, just in time for a celebratory feast.
The next day, on his way to the den, Will passes Jack, who is returning from a day of labor in the fields. To Will’s disappointment, Jack explains that Capping is “for our good” (20). He also dismisses his earlier comments about human ingenuity as “nonsense.”
Chapter 2 Summary: “My Name Is Ozymandias”
Following Jack’s Capping, Will spends lots of time in the den, feeling lonely. Once, Henry approaches, but Will fights him off.
Will also becomes increasingly interested in the village’s three current Vagrants: one spends his time collecting stones, another speaks lots of nonsense, and the third is sad and quiet. One day, a new Vagrant arrives, singing and speaking poetically. He introduces himself as Ozymandias, king of the land. When Will admits that he lost his best friend due to Capping, Ozymandias shows interest. However, when Ozymandias spots someone watching them, he begins singing and dancing flamboyantly.
That night, Will’s father scolds him for associating with the Vagrants and forbids him from doing so. For a few days, Will obeys his father, but when he runs into Ozymandias on his way home from school, he arranges to meet him at the den later.
At the den, Ozymandias asks Will’s opinion about the Tripods and Capping. When Will admits his concerns, Ozymandias reveals that his own Cap is a fake, worn as a disguise. He also explains that, according to legend, the Tripods originated either as man-made machines, or else they came from another world. When the Tripods took over, cities were destroyed, and millions of people died. Caps were used to control those who survived, while those whose minds were too weak or too strong became Vagrants. While the Tripods’ motives are not fully understood, they use people in various ways, including as miners and as prey for hunting.
Ozymandias also reveals that a colony of free people lives outside the Tripods’ control, in a faraway region known as the White Mountains. Ozymandias travels in disguise as a Vagrant in order to recruit people, like Will, to join them. Offering him a compass and a map leading to the White Mountains, Ozymandias invites Will to make the journey if he wishes. Will accepts and plans to leave in a week.
Feeling more certain than ever that he does not want to be Capped, Will begins to store supplies for his journey in the den.
Chapter 3 Summary: “The Road to the Sea”
Will delays his journey a few days to wait for enough moonlight to travel by night. In the meantime, his aunt, Henry’s mother, dies. As a result, Henry comes to live with Will, sharing his bedroom. When Will’s mother informs him that Henry will be staying indefinitely, Will complains, and she scolds him for lacking compassion.
A few days later, Will sneaks out of his house at night and makes his way to the den, where he lights a candle and packs his bag. Just as he is about to leave, Henry appears, having followed him. Will attacks Henry, but Henry overpowers him and explains that he wants to come with him. Will accepts but plans to abandon Henry when he gets a chance to do so.
Will and Henry walk through the night and into the next day, pausing only once to eat. Around noon, they come to a village in a valley. Henry spots a group of horsemen enter the village, possibly searching for them. He suggests that they stay on the ridge and move past the village, but Will decides to sleep in the woods and wait for nightfall.
Will wakes several hours later to find that Henry tied the pack to his wrist so that Will could not leave him. Together, they pass the village and continue through the wilderness. When they pass an abandoned hut, Henry suggests they wait inside for the cloud cover to pass, but Will refuses.
A while later, they hear footsteps following behind them. Panicking, they run, but Will soon falls, injuring his ankle. As Henry pauses to help Will, they realize that their pursuers are only sheep. As rain falls, Will blames Henry for what happened but accepts his suggestion that they go back to the hut so that Will can rest until his ankle feels better. Lifting Will across his back, Henry carries him back to the hut, pausing to rest several times on the way. Inside, they sleep on a pile of hay.
The next day, Will wakes to find Henry gone and the pack nowhere in sight. Assuming that Henry left him, he begins to feel sorry for himself, but Henry appears a little while later with food that he stole from a nearby farmhouse.
Will and Henry spend three days in the hut as Will recovers. Realizing that he is as much to blame for his predicament as Henry, Will tells Henry everything he learned from Ozymandias. Henry admits that he, too, is wary of being Capped.
Preface-Chapter 3 Analysis
These opening chapters establish several key stylistic characteristics that continue throughout the novel. Written in first person, the novel follows Will’s perspective throughout. Tonally, the text is written in a somewhat old-fashioned style, as in this passage:
Our alliance had isolated me from other boys of roughly my age in and around the village. I suppose it would have been possible to overcome this—Joe Beith, the carpenter’s son, made overtures of friendship, for one—but in the mood I was in I preferred to be alone (22).
Nothing about Will’s writing and speech gives away the novel’s futuristic setting. In fact, it seems deliberately old-fashioned, conveying the sense that Will’s society has been figuratively sent back in time. The implication is that the Tripods’ dominance over humanity has caused human society to regress to an earlier, less advanced state, with Christopher’s stylistic choices helping to immerse readers in Will’s world.
These chapters also establish Will’s characteristics at the beginning of his developmental arc. As the novel opens, Will shows curiosity and openness to breaking rules and questioning societal norms, as when he takes his father’s watch without permission. However, Will veers between submission and rebellion. For instance, he responds to Jack’s provocative talk about Capping with a general insistence that it is for the common good; he also initially submits to his father’s request that he avoid the Vagrants. His decision to run away is an early turning point for his character, as it shows that his goals and plans for his life are in flux now that he recognizes Capping as a threat to his autonomy.
Indeed, Capping itself emerges as a symbol of the mechanisms by which those in power exercise control over others. Will’s friend Jack clearly demonstrates a difference in character before and after his Capping, showing a dramatic loss of individuality. Capping thus represents any of the means a totalitarian or similar power may use to produce conformity and compliance among those in lower social classes. The key feature of Capping is that it changes the very thoughts of those who are Capped, such that they conclude that Capping is for their own good, leaving them satisfied and unwilling to rebel against the controlling Tripods.
Christopher also employs several allusions to other works in this section, specifically related to the character of Ozymandias. The name Ozymandias is taken from a poem by English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Ozymandias quotes part of the poem. In the poem, Ozymandias is the name of a king whose sculpture is found in the desert, centuries after the collapse of the civilization over which he ruled. Like the character in the poem, Ozymandias is linked to a prior, now fallen civilization, though in the novel, there is a chance and hope for the fallen civilization to be restored. In addition to this reference, Ozymandias’s language is filled with religious imagery and allusions, setting him up as a kind of prophetic figure who invites Will to follow him.
Christopher begins to explore the theme of Freedom Versus Security in this section, particularly with regard to the Vagrants, those for whom, for whatever reason, Capping does not yield the desired result, leaving them to live as wanderers. Jack and Will both entertain the notion that it might be preferable to live as Vagrants than as regular Capped workers. The Vagrants’ freedom and individuality contrast with the safe, stable, tedious lives of the workers, though it often comes at a heavy cost, as a failed Capping typically involves destabilizing mental trauma. Overall, the implication is that some degree of risk and freedom is important to human fulfillment.
A second theme of Bonding Through Adversity also develops in this section. Early on, Will and Henry are established as rivals. At this point, they are motivated primarily by self-interest rather than concern for others, and their interactions often devolve into physical fights, as when Henry takes the watch from Will. Will, meanwhile, shows little sympathy for Henry even after the death of the latter’s mother; he also pridefully rejects most of Henry’s suggestions during this early part of their journey together, as he insists on establishing his own leadership. However, when Will’s injury forces him to rely on Henry’s care and assistance, he gradually begins to trust his former opponent, as his decision to share the truth about Ozymandias and his journey demonstrates. The implication is that those who are separated by prejudice or bitterness can overcome such feelings when they are united in pursuing a common goal, however difficult.
