37 pages • 1 hour read
Anne TylerDinner At The Homesick Restaurant
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1982A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 3-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 3 Summary: “Destroyed by Love”
Aged 17, Jenny appeared “skinny and severe and studious-looking” (60). Cody attends college, and Ezra must take a pause from his work in a restaurant as he has been drafted to fight in Korea. This means that Jenny is the only child at home. Her mother takes time to rent out Ezra’s room because “it still has his smell” (62). Alone, Jenny is “overwhelmed by so much empty space” (62). She studies hard, hoping to become a doctor. She makes small talk with her mother, conscious of Pearl’s violent temper. The boys write curt, infrequent letters. Jenny worries about Ezra.
As promised, Jenny checks on Mrs. Scarlatti, the owner of the restaurant where Ezra works. She glimpses the woman through a busy kitchen but does not go inside. She also checks on Josiah Payson, an extremely tall friend of Ezra’s with learning difficulties. She finds Josiah easier to talk to than she had expected. To her surprise, Josiah reveals that Ezra hopes to open a restaurant “where people come just like to a family dinner” (67). On her third visit to Josiah, he complains of being bullied at work and then invites Jenny for supper. She agrees and meets Josiah’s mother, learning that Ezra had helped their family a great deal when Josiah’s father died. Afterward, Josiah walks her home. He kisses her, and she feels bad at first. She then “kissed him back” (71). Pearl bursts out, breaks apart the scene, and accuses Jenny of being a “tramp” (71) for kissing “a crazy! A dummy!” (71). Josiah runs away, and Jenny never sees him again. Ezra arrives home. He has been discharged for sleepwalking. Jenny wonders whether he is “changed forever” (73), but he seems to be the same.
By the time she reaches college, Jenny has become “the beauty that everyone predicted” (73). While she studies hard to become a doctor, Cody becomes a successful businessman, and Ezra returns to work for Mrs. Scarlatti, running the kitchen. Jenny does not miss her family. All of the children see their mother’s influence in their interactions with each other. Jenny falls in love with Harley Baines, a “genius” (75). Jenny is heading to the same medical school as Harley, and her sudden interest in him surprises Jenny’s friends. They kiss awkwardly, and Jenny cannot help but laugh; Harley leaves quickly. She does not see him again for the entire summer. Then, a letter arrives: Harley proposes to Jenny in a formal manner. Jenny accepts.
She travels home the next day and finds her entire family there; Ezra has coincidentally arranged a formal supper at Scarlatti’s. On the drive over, Cody talks about his success. He has visited the Tanner Corporation—Beck’s employers—and wonders whether he could “have them in [his] power” (82). Pearl takes offense to it being labeled a “nickel-and-dime” (82) organization. Cody plans to “strip it to the bones” (82). Ezra reveals that he has become a full partner of Scarlatti’s. Mrs. Scarlatti appears and compliments Ezra. Pearl struggles to grasp the situation. She stands up and marches out. Ezra chases after her, and Cody and Jenny leave shortly after. On the walk home, Jenny reflects on Harley. She decides to stop in a fortune-teller’s store. The woman tells Jenny that—if she does not get married—she will be “destroyed by love” (85). Jenny marries Harley, and they move to Paulham together.
The next year, Jenny visits home without Harley. Ezra meets her at the station. Mrs. Scarlatti has been sick with cancer. Jenny complains about Harley, whose genius prompts him to criticize “every last thing” (88). She sits in the house and talks with her mother, sharing a light supper. Later, Jenny stares at Harley’s photo as “she planned to think Harley over” (90). Their relationship is complicated. Afterward, she visits Ezra at the restaurant. Josiah is working in the kitchen; his mother has died, he reveals, and now Josiah lives alone. Jenny returns home
Jenny wanders the town the next day. She arrives at Josiah’s house and tells him that she “should have gone on kissing you” (94). Then she leaves.
The family gathers together for a dinner. Cody subtly asks Jenny if she thinks that “Ezra ever slept with Mrs. Scarlatti” (95). She is shocked. Jenny sees Josiah in the kitchen; before they can talk, Pearl catches them and tries to drag Jenny away. Pearl believes Jenny and Josiah are having an affair. Pearl announces that she is leaving. Jenny chases after and confronts her mother. They walk together past the fortune-telling store, and Jenny realizes that she should have understood that she was “not capable of being destroyed by love” (98).
Chapter 4 Summary: “Heart Rumors”
Ezra visits Mrs. Scarlatti in the hospital. He brings her a jar of her favorite soup and wants to tell her how much he misses her presence at the restaurant. He reflects on Mrs. Scarlatti’s life: a bad husband and a son lost in the Korean war. Ezra is grateful to her for “rescuing him from an aimless, careless existence” (100), and he is set to inherent the restaurant. Pearl visits Mrs. Scarlatti once, as do men from the restaurant. Ezra feels lonely in the hospital.
Ezra handles the restaurant’s produce deliveries. He tells the deliveryman Mr. Purdy about how he would rather run the restaurant, offering only one or two carefully selected meals each day. He begins to serve Mrs. Scarlatti’s favorite soup in the restaurant and hires female waiting staff. He even starts a specials board but mentions none of this to Mrs. Scarlatti. He does confess to her that, while sleepwalking in the army, he had been at least partially conscious, but he never mentioned it to the medical staff as he had “wanted to leave that army” (106). As the months pass, Ezra becomes familiar with the family of “the foreigner” (106) who shares a ward with Mrs. Scarlatti. He continues to hire female waiting staff and alter the restaurant menu; he thinks of selling food that reminds people of their home and renaming the business the Homesick Restaurant. Jenny visits, again without Harley. She has changed addresses, and Pearl believes that Jenny has left her husband. Pearl pressures Ezra to find out more, and he admits that he struggles to talk to people.
Ezra tries to make restaurant renovations himself, but his efforts result in a closed restaurant and a large cost. He redecorates. When visiting Mrs. Scarlatti, she reveals that she is being allowed home. Though he is hopeful, he worries what she will think about all the changes he has made. Ezra pays her bill, awkwardly thanks the doctor, and then follows the ambulance that brings Mrs. Scarlatti home. She sees into the restaurant and is horrified, telling Ezra that he could have at least waited until she died. She will not listen to his protests. Their relationship is broken, losing its warmth and becoming formal. He visits her every day in the apartment above the restaurant. Eventually, she dies on “a bitter, icy afternoon” (112), and her final words are, “Tell Ezra to change the sign” (113), as the restaurant is no longer Scarlatti’s. Feeling hurt and angry, Ezra organizes the funeral. Afterward, he returns to the restaurant.
Chapters 3-4 Analysis
The fourth chapter shows the audience the story from Ezra’s perspective. Most notably, it highlights the difference between Ezra and the other members of his family. While Pearl, Beck, Cody, and Jenny are—to some extent—self-centered and keen to lash out at others, Ezra routinely blames himself, even for events that were not his fault. The best example of this is the story of the bow and arrow. This is mentioned numerous times in the opening chapters of the book. The audience is shown the accident from three different perspectives. Pearl recounts the tale, using the accident to blame Beck and ratify her low opinion of her husband. Cody recalls the story and—though his description suggests that he is at fault—is keen to blame his daydreaming brother for what happens, part of a wider pattern of bullying by the big brother toward his younger sibling. When Ezra recalls the story, however, he suggests that the accident was unequivocally his fault. Whereas Pearl and Cody blame other people, projecting their own failings on to Beck and Ezra respectively, Ezra blames himself. Indeed, he is actively annoyed that his mother does not accept his admission of guilt (and thus does not accept his apology). Unlike the other family members, Ezra is always introverted and keenly examining his own faults.
This issue comes to a head in the final stages of the fourth chapter. After Ezra becomes a partner at Scarlatti’s restaurant, Mrs. Scarlatti becomes sick and is forced into the hospital for an extended period of time. Ezra begins to make small changes, altering the menu and hiring new staff. He tells Mrs. Scarlatti nothing about these changes. Then, he quite unconsciously begins to make more sweeping changes. He knocks down walls and rips up the carpet, permanently altering the restaurant where Mrs. Scarlatti had spent most of her life. By the time she is released from the hospital, Ezra realizes that this is a huge issue: He has betrayed Mrs. Scarlatti without even thinking about it.
When she discovers what he has done, she comments that he could have at least waited until she died. When she does die, her final request is that he change the name as he has betrayed her idea of what Scarlatti’s restaurant should be. Unlike the accident with the arrow, Ezra is at fault in this scenario. He correctly blames himself. Like the accident with the arrow, he has no one to whom he can apologize. Mrs. Scarlatti will not talk to him about the issue, and the guilt that burns inside of Ezra festers and metastasizes. He begins to make more changes, almost out of spite. Without being able to apologize to people, Ezra finds himself lost. A dreamy, introverted person, he needs the ability to externalize and admit his own self-loathing and self-blame. When this is not possible, he carries the guilt with him for a long time.
Related Titles
By Anne Tyler
