36 pages • 1 hour read
Barbara ParkMick Harte Was Here
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1995A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
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BetaChapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Mick”
The protagonist, Phoebe, explains that her brother, Mick, died eight weeks earlier. He was riding his bike and lost control when his wheel hit a rock, causing him to skid into the back of a passing truck. He died of a traumatic brain injury.
Mick was 12. He is 10 months younger than Phoebe, who is 13. Though they often had dramatic fights, such as on the morning of Mick’s accident when they wrestled on the floor over who would get the temporary tattoo from a cereal box, the siblings were very close. Phoebe regrets this fight; she especially regrets that she called Mick a very rude curse word.
Phoebe remembers that she could translate for Mick when he was learning to talk. She also remembers his amazing ability to imitate different voices. Years ago, when Mick was learning to write, they printed “fart” into the wet cement of the freshly poured driveway next to their house; Phoebe remembers seeing the word on her way to school the morning of the accident.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Sirens”
On the morning of the accident, Mick rides his bike straight past Phoebe as she walks to school with her friend Zoe; he is clearly still angry about Phoebe calling him a rude word over breakfast. She is relieved when he approaches her in the cafeteria later—he has obviously forgiven her—to ask whether she can ride his bike home so that he can go to a friend’s place across town. She declines; she has soccer practice after school. Mick complains that he will have to ride his bike across town; Phoebe casually tells him, “you’ll be fine” (18).
Phoebe recalls Mick’s evolving fashion sense after he learned that he had been dressed in a frilly baptism gown as a baby. Disgusted by this, Mick only wears “macho” clothes for years, including a black t-shirt emblazoned with a motorbike and cargo pants. Later, Mick insists on only wearing “trendy” clothing.
At soccer practice, Phoebe hears an ambulance’s loud siren. It continues to approach, and becomes so loud that she covers her ears. Phoebe feels a sense of foreboding that the ambulance has come for someone she knows. The school secretary runs out to Phoebe’s soccer coach, Coach Brodie, who comes over to Phoebe and puts her arms around her. Coach Brodie says: “Phoebe, honey. It’s Mick” (19). To Phoebe’s surprise, she replies: “I know” (19).
Phoebe is taken to her principal’s office; everything feels surreal and strange. She does not cry. The events of Mick’s accident feel unreal until she sees Mick’s bike in the gutter outside of the school. She is taken home with Zoe by Zoe’s mother, Mrs. Santos. Phoebe makes “an awful noise that didn’t sound like me” when she sees the bike (21).
At Zoe’s house, Phoebe begs Mrs. Santos to take her to the hospital where Mick is, but Mrs. Santos continues to refuse. Mrs. Santos brings in masses of food for Zoe and Phoebe, neither of whom are hungry. The food unexpectedly reminds Phoebe of the famously glutinous Henry VIII, who Mick dressed up as one Halloween. This reminds her of Mick’s most recent Halloween costume; he dressed as Thomas Crapper (the inventor of the modern toilet). She reminds Zoe of this; they laugh.
Chapter 3 Summary: “The Serengeti Sucks”
Finally, Phoebe hears the doorbell. She rushes from Zoe’s room to the front door, where her father is standing. Phoebe’s father holds her and says, “he’s gone.” At home, Phoebe’s father tries to close Mick’s door, but Phoebe angrily insists that it be left open. Phoebe’s father sobs. Phoebe feels as though a hole has been punched through her middle.
Phoebe’s mother takes strong sleeping pills in the aftermath of the accident and sleeps most of the time. The family struggles to settle on anything in the days after Mick’s death; Phoebe and her father watch the Discovery Channel for a while, but the content on animals killing other animals feels too distressing. Relatives and friends call; Phoebe feels angry when anyone suggests that Mick’s death was God’s plan. She suffers through long nights, crying uncontrollably. Neighbors and friends drop food off, but Phoebe and her parents are not hungry.
Chapters 1-3 Analysis
Chapter 1 reveals Mick’s death through Phoebe’s first-person narration: “I just want to tell you about Mick. But I thought you should know right up front that he’s not here anymore” (4). Phoebe condemns stories which leverage the death of a main character for shock value: “I can’t think of anything worse than using my brother’s accident as the tear-jerking climax” (4). Phoebe breaks the fourth wall, addressing readers. She acknowledges that she is telling her story and comments directly on her manner of doing so. Barbara Park may have Phoebe do this to make the reader feel more closely connected to Phoebe and Mick’s death.
The opening chapters characterize Mick as roguishly likable, which emphasizes the tragedy of his death. Phoebe recounts anecdotes which highlight Mick’s cheeky nature. After writing “fart” into the setting concrete of the driveway, Mick tells his parents that “a monkey did it” (13). Additionally, on the morning of his accident, Mick tries to stick a temporary tattoo on his father’s arm, quipping—in an imitation of a stereotypical senior who condemns modern life—”Boy, they sure don’t make tattoos like they did when you were a young lad, do they, Pop?” (10). These anecdotes humanize Mick. They characterize him as a 12-year-old with a great sense of humor; his passing is more tragic in light of these details.
Phoebe foreshadows her presentation to the school. She describes Mick’s very particular dress sense: He is a “sharp dresser“, and his bicycle helmet is one of the many things which Mick refuses to wear (16). During the assembly later in the book, she will address the tragic consequences of Mick’s refusal to wear his helmet.
Park creates tension through Phoebe’s response to the ambulance siren: “My stomach starts to churn. I don’t like having the ambulance turn there” (18). Phoebe senses that the ambulance is coming for someone she knows, which is evident by her physical sense of foreboding; this foreshadows Mick’s imminent death.
Park introduces a key theme, Guilt Over the Death of a Loved One. On the day of Mick’s accident, Phoebe wrestles with and curses at him. Her regret is evident—“it kills me when I remember that” (11). She is devastated by the hostility of their interaction, as it does not typify her and Mick’s ordinarily close and loving relationship—“my brother and I actually liked each other. A lot” (11). Later, Phoebe wonders if she could have prevented his death by taking his bike home instead of saying “you’ll be fine” (18). In her grief, she obsesses over everyday comments. The abruptness and horror of Mick’s death is magnified by how everything preceding it was wholly regular and unremarkable.
Park explores another key theme, The Impact of Grief. Phoebe’s father, mother, and Phoebe cry inconsolably in the days following the accident—“my father broke down then. Heaving these terrible sobs” (27). The family’s distress and love for Mick are made clear by their floods of tears. Park further characterizes the family’s despair by their inability to watch television or to talk to one another—“nothing seemed important enough to say” (32). Park depicts how grief can be isolating, even when shared by loved ones.
Phoebe’s angry reactions to expressions of sympathy illustrate the rawness of her grief. For example, she hangs up on friends who suggest that Mick’s death was “God’s plan.” Later, Park will explore a third theme, Learning to Live With Loss. Phoebe will find her own spiritual beliefs about Mick’s passing, which will help her to live with his absence.
