Chapter Eight, Exile Summary

Jack goes inside the hotel to eat dinner. He reflects on his relationship with his daughter, Clara. She had always been Ruth's daughter; he had merely been there to provide money for her. He had sacrificed a lot for her so she could go to college and live up to the ambitions that Ruth had never fulfilled for herself but transferred to her daughter. After going to college, Clara never felt at home in Port William again. She visited her friends who were scattered around the country and wound up marrying a man named Glad Pettit, a young man who was already quite wealthy and had a promising future in banking. Clara and Glad would visit Jack and Ruth frequently, but he never developed more than a superficial relationship with Glad; he knew Glad really had no interest in...