The+Wish


 * The Big Questions: How does this chapter fit the novel as a whole / Why is it important / What should a good reader take away from this chapter?**

Its about growing up; Jess has his first coffee and his first wine. Also its about moving on; they took the trip to take their minds off Johnson, but the father can't hold it in at the end of the chapter. (Jordan and Tate)


 * Important Quotes (and commentary)**

Pg 165: Then my father closed his eyes. He hit the steering wheel with the heel of his open hand four times. “Oh Jesus Jesus,” he said. “I wish Johnson Gibbs hadn’t got killed.” • They're still sad about Johnsons death; no matter how hard they try, they still think about him (Jordan and Tate)

Pg 150: I sat up and swung my legs over. I almost spoke to the bed across from mine, to say, Johnson, wake up, time to go, but then realized, as sleep washed out of me, that the bed was empty, abandoned forever. • Jess is getting accustomed to changes, which is something that you need to do in order to grow up. (Jordan and Tate)

Pg 150: "To go fishing with your father: that is an ancient and elemental proposition, and if it is not as overwhelming as sex or death or the secret lives of animals, still there are legendary shadows about it entrancing to a boy twelve years old. And this would be the first time in a long time that my father and I had been much alone together." • This is showing that it Jess hasn't spent much alone time with his father as father and son and that this is one of his only bonding experiences with his dad. (Andrew, Jason, and Rankin)

Pg 150: "To go fishing with your father: that is an ancient and elemental proposition, and if it is not as overwhelming as sex or death or the secret lives of animals, still there are legendary shadows about it entrancing to a boy twelve years old. And this would be the first time in a long time that my father and I had been much alone together." • This is showing that it Jess hasn't spent much alone time with his father as father and son and that this is one of his only bonding experiences with his dad. (Andrew, Jason, and Rankin)

Pg 155: "'Look here,' he said, 'I found a bottle of wine Uncle Luden left behind. You ever had any wine?' 'No sir.' He opened the corkscrew of his pocket knife and worried the cork out. 'You can have some of this if you don't tell your mama.'" • This shows that Jess and his dad are sharing alone time and doing something that Jess has never done before. (Andrew, Jason, and Rankin)


 * Moments of astonishingly good writing**

Pg 152: "We stood by the car for a moment, gazing out. From the edge of the water a long flimsy plank way led to the door of a rickety little shack which sat stilted over the lake. From the tiny tin chimney spiraled a thread of dark smoke, so that the building looked like a great water spider with a single unruly hair growing from its body. We trudged up the plank way, carefully sliding one foot before the other. When I looked down at the cold water, imagining falling in, gooseflesh came over me."

• This writing is very descriptive with a great simile describing the shack. (Andrew, Jason, Rankin) Pg 153: "His voice was low and raspy, sounded like rusty metal bending. The pupils of his eyes were dark brown, the whites yellowish. His body was bunched forward and he stared up at my father like someone peering out of a cave."
 * The way that he described John Clinchley was in such a way that you could envision clearly what he looked and sounded like. (Andrew, Jason, Rankin)