42 pages • 1 hour read
Gary D. SchmidtOrbiting Jupiter
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 Summary
Mr. Hurd tells Jack and Joseph they must ride the bus to school every day. The next morning, Joseph reads in his seat at the back of the bus while Jack’s friends shove him into another seat. One friend, John Wall, asks Jack about Joseph’s fall into the river. Jack’s friends ask him why he would spend time with someone dangerous like Joseph. Another friend, Danny, tells Jack that Joseph attacked another eighth-grader who now wants revenge.
Frustrated with his friends, Jack sits with his foster brother in the back of the bus. At school, Joseph has a private talk with Mr. D’Ulney, but in PE class, Coach Swieteck reprimands him. Jack notices that Coach asks the other eighth grade boys—including Jay, the boy Joseph attacked—to help him put the gym equipment away in order to protect Joseph from the other boys. During their Office Duty period, Mr. Canton demands that Joseph stop reading his book in case a message that needs delivering. When Mr. Canton reaches for Joseph, “immediately his back was against the wall and his hands up” (59). This movement reminds Jack of Joseph’s first day on the farm when he first noticed Joseph’s trauma.
Mrs. Halloway, the Language Arts teacher, notices Joseph reading The Astonishing Life of Octavia Nothing and asks him to discuss it with her privately. On the bus ride home, Joseph looks out for the old First Congregational church as they pass the building by, but he gives no clear answer to Jack as to why he is looking at the church.
As they prepare to milk the cows that afternoon, Jack confronts Joseph about the other boys at school who want to hurt him. Joseph explains that he is confident that he can beat them if they pick a fight.
The weather continues to get colder. One evening, Mr. Hurd asks Jack to help him shovel snow off the frozen farm pond. They start a fire and find skates. The family skates on the pond, including Joseph, who needs time to find his balance. Joseph skates longer than anyone else; when he’s done, he sits with the Hurds around the fire, and “Joseph told us everything” (68).
Chapter 3 Analysis
Mr. Hurd’s insistence that Joseph and Jack ride the bus to school every day provides the first test of the boys’ developing friendship. After Mr. Haskell antagonizes Joseph again, Jack chooses to leave his friends and sit with Joseph. This decision represents Jack’s development as a character; by stepping away from his old friends to sit next to his new friend, one who has a lot to teach him about the world, Jack demonstrates that he is transforming under Joseph’s influence.
The character of Joseph also changes in this chapter. He takes different kinds of risks than before; when he reads his book during his office duty period, this act of defiance impresses Mrs. Halloway though it provokes a rebuke from Mr. Canton. Jack sees that even when Joseph tries to better himself, his reputation will always evoke judgment from some.
The author continues to incorporate the theme of faith into the events of this chapter. The only time Joseph looks away from his book on the bus ride home is when the bus passes the old First Congregational church. He is intrigued and comforted by the church, which is the setting of his first positive interaction with Jack. Faith, like love and family, is a foreign concept to Joseph, and he approaches such topics as if experiencing them for the first time.
Jack’s perceptions of the intensifying winter weather parallel his deepening understanding of Joseph’s trauma. When Joseph and the Hurd family ice-skate together, Joseph experiences a moment of catharsis. The activity reminds him of Maddie, and the Hurds allow him to remember her without judgment or interruption. On the contrary, their interaction allows Joseph to display an emotionally aware side of himself. After he bonds with the Hurd family, Joseph is free to ask for help and to unburden himself by telling the Hurds more about his tragic past from his own point of view.
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By Gary D. Schmidt
