Chapters 1 and 2 Summary

In Chapter 1, Arnie and Gilbert, who is the narrator, are standing on the road for their annual tradition of watching the carnival roll into town. Arnie is Gilbert's younger brother and Arnie is retarded. Their sister Amy made a picnic lunch, which Arnie has eaten most of before it is even 7 a.m. on the first day of summer. After a long wait, the trucks and trailers for the carnival start rolling in to town.

In Chapter 2, while Gilbert is napping on the couch later the same morning, his little sister, Ellen, painting her nails wakes him up. When Gilbert asks Ellen to paint her toenails elsewhere, Ellen launches into a dramatic monologue about how unfair it is to be a girl and to be her age, and how Gilbert is taking away one of the only joys she has, which...