70 pages • 2 hours read
Lynda RutledgeWest with Giraffes
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2021A 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.
Chapter 11-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary: “Across Oklahoma”
Driving through Oklahoma reminds Woodrow of the Dust Bowl. In April of 1935, a black cloud “blew three hundred million tons of topsoil off Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. When it hit, it blackened the skies so bad that your hand in front of your face went unseen, the static in the air so bad that the slightest touch of anyone or anything turned sparks into black magic flames. And it kept blowing” (242). Almost immediately upon entering Oklahoma, strong winds push against the rig. The men Woodrow meets at service stations warn him that worse weather will hit them soon.
At one of his stops, Woodrow sees Red, who steals an apple. The rain starts, and a group of religious singers praise the rain. When the singers see the giraffes, they celebrate the animals as a good omen. The dust makes Woodrow and Riley cough. Woodrow applies Vaseline to the giraffes’ nostrils to keep some dust out—an old trick he learned from his mother.
The land becomes more desolate as they drive on, but Riley and Woodrow are stunned when an enormous flock of birds flies alongside their rig. Woodrow wonders where they’re all going together, and why. Riley calls it animal instinct, a sixth sense that humans have their own versions of. They stop in a camping site for the night, where Red again joins Woodrow at night. He asks her about her husband, and she tells him that she married him because he was a successful reporter with a secure life, and she needed protection. Woodrow tells Red about his family. He blames his mother’s death on pneumonia induced by the bad air; his family stayed during the Dust Bowl because of the religious attitude that the Dust Bowl was a biblical curse that required endurance. He doesn’t tell Red about the rifle in his own hands when his father died. Red and Woodrow kiss, then Red becomes sick to her stomach.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Across the Texas Panhandle”
In the morning, Woodrow and Riley can hear Red vomiting from her camp site. Riley points out she might be pregnant. Riley accuses Red of turning Woodrow’s head. He also accuses her of not working for Life Magazine. She admits that she doesn’t yet work for Life but hopes that her photo-essay will get her published with them. As they drive off, Riley shows Woodrow the telegraph from Mrs. Benchley that informs him that Life Magazine will cover their arrival in California.
They enter Texas, and Riley notices Woodrow fidgeting. They are stopped by highway patrolmen who have closed the highway for threat of flash flooding. They stop at a camp site for the night, and Riley says he wants to go to the nearby gas station for provisions. Woodrow knows that gas station because they are around Woodrow’s former family farm. Woodrow accompanies Riley to the gas station but refuses to enter. A man there recognizes him. As they leave, Riley has Woodrow pull over again and asks him about his former home. Riley doesn’t want to stay at the camp site and asks about the trees around Woodrow’s old farm. Red pulls up, saving Woodrow from responding. Woodrow drives towards the Nickel Family Farm, where the giraffes find a tree to eat from. Riley is aghast to see the state of the Nickel Family Farm. There are shallow graves, broken bones, and signs of charred furniture. Riley asks him what happened there, but Woodrow sees the signs of the incoming flash flood.
The water floods their engine, and Red moves her car to help block the rig from the surge of the flood. When the flood recedes, Red remembers that her camera and film are in her car. Everything Red had, including her car and her photographs, are destroyed. Woodrow finds Red’s list, which now includes paying Woodrow back. They restart the rig and set off with Red, who asks to be dropped off at the nearest train station. However, when they return to the camping site for towels, Red, who is still vomiting, joins the camping Okies. After visiting with the giraffes, Red rejoins the Okies, and one of the women points at Red’s stomach, confirming the idea that Red could be pregnant.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Into New Mexico”
The leave early the next morning without Red, who is nowhere to be found. They leave Texas and cross into New Mexico. With Texas behind them, Riley asks Woodrow to tell him the story of his family.
When Woodrow’s mother died, he and his father wanted to bury her by Woodrow’s dead baby sister. He looked for his father to help and found him near their horse, the last animal alive on the farm. Woodrow’s father handed him the rifle and ordered him to shoot the horse to teach him a lesson about death. Woodrow didn’t want to shoot the horse he grew up with, the horse he loved second only to his mother. Woodrow’s father yelled at him until he shot and killed the horse. Woodrow’s father said they’d skin the horse and eat what meat they could. Woodrow realized that his father would never leave the Panhandle, no matter how wretched their life has become. Woodrow yelled at his father for keeping the family in danger and his father pointed his pistol at him. Woodrow decided to leave the farm, but his father shot at him. Woodrow shot back and hit him in the shoulder. Then his father shot himself in the head with his pistol. Then, Woodrow set fire to the farm and buried his family and his horse.
Riley understands Woodrow’s feelings for his horse and assures Woodrow that his father’s suicide wasn’t his fault. The giraffes push against the rig, so Woodrow and Riley stop at a gas station to check on them. They are immediately aware of the danger of the gas station; there’s no gas, and there are desert animals in cages like a makeshift zoo. The owner, Cooter, comes out and takes away their guns. He points his own gun at them and demands a giraffe. He shoots one of his own racoons to prove that he is capable of shooting one of the giraffes. He points his gun at the rig, and a woman’s voice cries out not to shoot. Red has been in the rig with the giraffes. Red comes out of the rig and Cooter circles her body with his gun. Riley opens the rig to show Cooter Wild Girl’s injury, hoping that Wild Girl will kick him. When she doesn’t, Woodrow grabs for Cooter’s gun and the two men scuffle in the rig. Red joins the fight for the gun, and her screams panic Wild Boy, who kicks Cooter in the skull. As Woodrow grabs the gun, it goes off and hits the water tank, which is now leaking.
Riley frees the caged animals, and they move Cooter’s body into the empty bear’s cage. They drive on with Red, until she begs them to pause, and she gets out to cry.
Chapter 14 Summary: “To Arizona”
Suddenly, Woodrow feels his harbored anger dissipate. When they stop at gas stations, Red goes in to call her husband, who doesn’t answer. Later, she confesses to Woodrow that she didn’t try calling. She wants to ride with them until Phoenix, giving her enough time to muster her courage to call her husband. When they stop for the night, Riley pays for Red’s motel room. Red visits Woodrow in the rig and tells him the thing she likes most about photographs is that they stop time; he recognizes this as Red’s way of saying goodbye.
The next day, Red finally calls her husband and tells Woodrow and Riley that her husband will wire money to the Phoenix train station for her ticket home. When they reach the train station, Woodrow worries about Red staying there all night for the next train. He insists on giving her his $20-coin. Red kisses him goodbye.
As they continue their drive, Riley tells Woodrow his life story. Riley grew up in a big family and fell in love with circus animals at an early age. He trained to become a tight-rope walker, but one of his brothers prevented his joining the circus. Riley went out West, where he rode as a cowboy for five years. He joined another circus, but left when he got into a fight with a man who was mistreating the animals. Riley found the San Diego Zoo, where they treated animals well.
Riley stops his story when they see the odd sight of a man walking with his dog and an elephant. Riley recognizes the man as Maroney, who travels with his elephant and sells elephant rides to children. For their last night on the road, they stay at a fancy motel, but Woodrow sleeps with the giraffes.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Into California”
Before entering California, they see a large group of Okies held up by highway patrol. Riley figures that if they can’t prove they have jobs waiting for them in California, the California highway patrol won’t let them enter. On the outskirts of San Diego, they are joined by a police escort. As they pull into the media circus outside the zoo, Woodrow hears the incoming train to Phoenix. He tells Riley he needs to leave, and Riley gives him enough money for a round-trip ticket. Woodrow misses the train, so he steals a motorcycle. Woodrow is stopped by a highway patrol officer who assumes he’s an Okie—he gives him the option to join the army or go to prison. It would be another seven years before Woodrow found out what happened to Red, and longer than that before he returned to San Diego.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Home”
Woodrow is 25 years old when he returns to America from World War II. In his service, Woodrow was assigned to build graves and bury the dead American soldiers in Europe. Whereas other men held on to the hopes of returning to their loved ones, Woodrow held on to the hope of seeing the giraffes again.
Upon his return, Woodrow looks up Red’s husband, who tells him that Red died from heart complications shortly after giving birth to her daughter. It is revealed that the intended audience for his story is Red’s daughter Augie. Woodrow travels to the San Diego Zoo, where he is reunited with Wild Girl and Wild Boy. A zookeeper notices Woodrow and asks him if his name is Woody Nickel. Riley told everyone to be on the lookout for him for years. Riley also died earlier that year. Riley arranged for Woodrow to receive his back pay for driving and left him hundreds of tokens to enter the zoo. Woodrow assumes Riley died of consumption because of his story with animals, but the other zookeeper tells him Riley made up his entire story. No one knows Riley’s real story. Woodrow meets Belle Benchley. He takes a job at a cemetery, which frees up his days to visit the giraffes. Though he has lost Red and Riley, he feels they’ll always be with him as long as he’s near the giraffes. Woodrow goes on to marry three women (all redheads), all of whom he outlives. He never had his own children but had a stepdaughter.
Woodrow lives a long life while everyone around him dies, including the giraffes. At age 80, Woodrow lives in an elder care facility. He watches a TV program about giraffes becoming extinct. He dreams he’s back on the rig, and sees Red tell the story of their journey to her daughter. He wakes up resolved to write the story of Augie’s mother’s adventure.
Epilogue Summary
The Veterans Affairs liaison, finished with Woodrow’s story, asks the hospital director to help her find Augie. Augie is now 86 years old, but she receives Woodrow’s locker and reads the story.
Chapter 11-Epilogue Analysis
The final chapters in West with Giraffes are full of plot twists and character development. The first symbols of hope are the flying birds in Chapter 11. In the desolate landscape of Oklahoma, where countless people’s lives were ruined, the flock of birds is a miraculous sight. Their presence in the novel is a symbol of instinct, freedom, self-preservation, and survival. This symbol foreshadows the long and windy road to Woodrow’s own survival and freedom.
Rutledge reveals the story of Woodrow’s dark past. His guilt over his father’s suicide is finally released in his telling of the story, emphasizing Rutledge’s point that stories are important to tell, share, and process. Central to this story is the conflict between Woodrow and his father. He blames his father for the death of his family, because his father refused to leave the Dust Bowl. Woodrow attributes this resistance to his father’s religiosity. There have been many scholarly theories written about the connection between religious fervor and the Dust Bowl. Woodrow’s father interprets the Dust Bowl as a biblical event that his family is doomed to endure. In the Christian Bible, many tragic events are attributed to God’s wrath against sinners. In this context, religious people might have interpreted the Dust Bowl as punishment from God for being unfaithful or sinful.
On the one hand, religion can help people process the cataclysmic natural events that are too tragic to understand. On the other hand, religion can hold people back from advocating for their futures, particularly if they believe that they are destined to suffer. This conflict emphasizes another important element of the American ethos. Unlike most other Western countries, the United States doesn’t technically have an official religion, and thousands of different religions and branches of those religions provide Americans with a lot of choices in finding a religious community. Historically, some of these branches have held major political power, while other branches of religion have become obsolete due to the very events of the Dust Bowl: suffering, migration, and loss of faith. Woodrow’s father represents an old-school, hard-line perspective on religion, while Woodrow represents a progressive agnostic view of religion and individualism.
These chapters also reveal major development between Red and Woodrow. Woodrow is in love with Red, but Red has no choice but to return to her husband. While Woodrow is free to explore the country and find new avenues, as a woman Red is indebted to her husband and cannot forge her own path. When Red joins the Okie family in Texas, Rutledge symbolizes Red’s downfall. Red is impressed by Hoovervilles and Black communities, implying that she hasn’t traveled much or been exposed to different types of people. In Texas, with Red’s photographs and car destroyed, she relegates herself to her own rock bottom. Red now knows what it feels like to lose everything she holds dear, and she is forced to give up her dreams, just like the Okies. The crucial difference here is that Red has a home to return to, even if that home is imperfect or unhappy.
The revelation of Red’s pregnancy heightens the urgency to care for Red. As a woman, she cannot fully escape from her husband and have her own adventure because she is now bound by her changing body and the responsibility to her unborn child. A major symbol of Woodrow’s changing characterizations and affection for Red is developed when he insists that Red take his $20-coin. Woodrow nearly sacrificed his relationship with the giraffes and Riley for this coin, and its presence in his pocket was life changing because he never had access to such money before. Woodrow’s deepest fear is to become wretchedly poor again, making this coin his safety net. Yet, he gives up his safety net to build one for Red. This demonstrates his love for Red and his newfound ability to forgo material security in favor of emotional fulfillment.
Woodrow’s life is long and characterized by sadness and joy. He loses everyone he comes to love, including his giraffes, but comes to appreciate that love, even if it comes at the cost of loss. For someone who had a turbulent family life and often rejected the term “family,” it is notable that Woodrow tries repeatedly to build family. This emphasizes Woodrow’s natural capacity for love and empathy. Woodrow becomes a professional grave digger, both during his service with the army and in his post-war life. This is a symbolic job for a few reasons. First, it means that Woodrow is constantly dealing with the traumas of corpses. Secondly, it means that Woodrow is the conduit between death and whatever afterlife there might be, just like he was a conduit for the giraffes on their cross-country voyage. Lastly, his role as a grave digger keeps Woodrow forever fixated on questions of life and death, which emphasizes the depth of his emotional intelligence and existential wonderings.
The last notable revelation in these chapters is the mystery of Riley. Riley always said he detested liars, yet it turns out that he lied about his past. However, Rutledge characterizes Riley not as a liar but as a storyteller. She argues that ultimately, it doesn’t matter what happened in Riley’s past, what matters is the man he became. Riley was a constant moral guide to Woodrow, raising him in ways Woodrow’s own father never had. Thus, Woodrow leaves Riley in the context of his empathetic and generous behavior throughout the giraffe journey, rather than behind the lens of deeper psychological understanding. This proves Rutledge’s point that it doesn’t always matter what you know about a person, what matters is how you come to know that person and how that person makes you feel. This echoes Woodrow’s own character development, because Woodrow also learns how to let go of his past to embrace his present-day actions and behaviors.
