Chapter 3 Summary

Every Sunday morning, the Ragnarsons' go to church. It is known as "the kirk" in the local dialect. Thorfinn accompanies his family and often nods off to sleep during the sermon, waking up every so often when his sisters pass around a bag of candies. One Sunday, Thorfinn is moved by a sermon in which Reverend Hector Drummond quotes a passage from the Old Testament in the Bible. The reading (p. 48) is about the work humans are to carry out in the world and God's will working in the lives of men.

As they leave the church, Thorfinn's father hears that old Jacob, the fisherman has died. On his way home from school the next day, Thorfinn walks by the graveyard where Jacob's grave is being dug. The next part of the narrative, as the chapter heading indicates, follows Jacob Olafson's life through...