Chapter 31 Summary

"About Beauty and the Beast"

This chapter, at 14 pages in length, describes the life of Dick Crick, as contrasted with that of Tom and Mary Metcalfe, from Dick's birth to the events of the summer of 1943.

In the opening sentence, Dick is described as "Not a savior of the world. A potato head. Not a hope for the future. A numb skull with the dull, vacant stare of a fish..." He leaves school and goes to work on a silt dredger, the Rosa II (which will play a role in the conclusion to the story). Dick purchases a motorcycle, which becomes the love of his life. In contrast, Tom is a star pupil, destined for academic success.

From the day in 1940, when Freddie Parr put the eel down Mary Metcalfe's underwear, Dick begins to hang around Mary, from a distance, even when Tom...