Chapters 15 & 16 Summary and Analysis

In The Swallow, on a visit to California, Mom tells Ruth that if all she is going to do is cook, she might as well open a restaurant. Mom suggests that her hippie daughter go to France for cooking lessons. Ruth knows that Mom hopes she will return thin and chic. Instead, Ruth joins The Swallow, a collectively owned restaurant. Every employee is an owner and none of them can agree on anything. Each day, every employee cooks whatever he or she feels like making that day. At first they do not want to accept Ruth into the collective, because she is from New York, is married and has a master's degree. However, when they learn that she lives in a commune, they agree to an unpaid trial.

Ruth works hard under chaotic conditions, but loves it. After the trial period...