Full of Beans

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2016

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-15

Chapters 16-20

Chapters 21-24 and Author’s Note

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 11-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 11 Summary: “Party Line”

Beans and Kermit hang out on the covered front porch in the hottest part of the day; the “haint blue” (79) paint color of the porch’s ceiling is a cool blue shade meant to keep ghosts from haunting. Kermit says he has a sore throat just as Pork Chop yells for Beans to take a call from Poppy. Poppy says to tell Ma he is in the same situation and that Beans should remember that he (Beans) is the “man of the house” (80). On the party line, Beans hears Dot listening in and laughing.

Ma gets a job offer to sew a custom dress for Mrs. Higgs for nine dollars. She wants Beans to go to Nana Philly to ask for a loan of 25 dollars for a second-hand sewing machine. Beans takes Kermit with him, not expecting success. He reveals that Nana Philly lives in a house filled with oil paintings, heavy furniture, silks and silver, and other procurements from Beans’s grandfather’s days as a wrecker (someone who salvages the goods from wrecked ships). Nana Philly says no to the loan in no uncertain terms, telling Beans that his father will never get a job up north; she told Ma not to marry a Curry. She seems to warm for a moment when Beans mentions how well Ma can sew; Nana Philly says she taught Ma. Then she returns to being mean and forces Kermit to drink a horseradish remedy for his sore throat. Back home, Ma commits to sewing the dress by hand; Kermit’s throat is better that night.

Chapter 12 Summary: “Dueling with Dot”

Beans begins an ongoing battle with Dot. Knowing a pineapple shipment is due soon from Cuba (which means fresh pineapple cores discarded behind Key West’s pineapple processing factory for local children to take), Beans looks forward to the treat. Pork Chop tells Beans that Mr. Stone, now known as the Kingfish of Key West for his bossiness, wants his (Pork Chop’s) mother to stop the bolita lottery game because it does not project a wholesome image for tourists. Pork Chop also tells Beans the pineapple is not there yet. Around lunchtime that same day, a flurry of kids on bikes goes by, including Dot. Beans asks her if the pineapple is in, and she says no; she claims a marble tournament is taking place. She asks if Beans will play her, but he refuses. The next morning, Beans discovers that the pineapple came in around noon the day before; Beans missed the treat because Dot lied to him.

Beans retaliates swiftly; Ma brings home free pink paint for the house, but Beans uses some to paint “Queen Dot’s throne” on various outhouses around the neighborhood, including her own. Dot accuses Beans of the deed, but he denies it. Next, a pigtailed girl tells Beans one afternoon that his mother is hollering for Beans to go buy turtle meat for dinner on credit. He runs to take care of the task, worried Ma will be angry for his slow action. As he waits near the turtle kraals for Mr. Thompson to butcher the meat, Dot sneaks up behind and pushes him. He falls into the water with turtles bobbing and pushing on all sides. Dot laughs and says he looks “like a turned turtle” (95).

Chapter 13 Summary: “Dog Days”

Beans sees Avery painting another house portrait; this time, the house is pink in both the painting and real life. Beans asks if Avery thinks tourists will really visit; Avery says he thinks they will if they believe the storyline about Key West being a “hidden gem” (97) with great weather and interesting buildings. Beans wants to know about Hollywood; Avery tells him it is just another place to work. Beans asks Avery to get him a screen test.

Dogcatchers begin rounding up and carting off Key West’s strays, making Beans concerned for Termite. He tells Ma dramatically that he misses Poppy so much he wants to keep Termite in the house. Ma gives in: “What’s one more pest in this house?” (99). Next Mr. Stone decides kids playing in the streets—even innocent games like marbles—is against his vision of a tourist’s dream destination. He ushers Beans and the gang to a swampy vacant lot with an old seesaw and tells them they must play in this “playground” now. Beans is disgruntled, knowing Mr. Stone thinks kids will tarnish the image he wants to build.

Chapter 14 Summary: “Lessons”

In September, Key West’s children return to school. Beans’s teacher is Miss Sugarapple. He is not very motivated to learn and dislikes Miss Sugarapple’s many quizzes and tests. One day during a geography quiz, Miss Sugarapple leaves the room to meet with the principal, and Beans takes the chance to find the answer sheet on her desk. He tries to put it down his pants, but she walks in; he is caught and must write on the board 200 times, “I will not steal” (105). Termite comes to the school and barks for Beans; even when he walks Termite home and puts him in the house, Termite comes right back to bark more: “Termite was an even worse student than me” (106).

One morning, Beans thinks Kermit is playing sick to get out of going to school, but when he pulls the blanket off his brother, he discovers that sweat soaks Kermit from a high fever. Kermit stays in bed all day and says his ankles hurt. The doctor, who diagnoses rheumatic fever (which puts great stress on the heart), bluntly tells Ma that Kermit could die.

Chapter 15 Summary: “Arithmetic”

Kermit lives but must stay in bed for at least six months. He pesters Beans constantly for water and to read to him. Ma eventually moves the baby’s crib to her room and gives Buddy’s room to Kermit, giving Beans his own room. Beans becomes frustrated with Kermit’s constant needs, especially the assigned task of emptying his chamber pot (as Kermit is not allowed to walk to the outhouse).

As soon as Beans arrives home from school each day, Kermit wants Beans to visit the bedroom, talk, and play cards because he is so bored. One day, Ma convinces Beans to sit with Kermit so that she can attend to chores; Beans also knows she needs a break from Kermit. He had a terrible score on an arithmetic paper that day, but he goes to sit with Kermit. Termite barks when the postman brings a letter. It is for Ma from Poppy, but Beans opens and reads it. Poppy has not found work and is not coming home. Rather than give Ma this upsetting news, Beans decides to keep the letter from her. He uses it as wiping material in the outhouse instead of a page from the Sears and Roebuck catalog.

Chapters 11-15 Analysis

Beans’s existing conflicts escalate in this section of chapters while new conflicts add to his daily struggles. Regarding the development of an existing conflict, for example, Beans has not looked very favorably upon Mr. Stone since the day he arrived in town, but in this series of scenes, the opposition between the two becomes more notable and refined. Beans begins to understand on a deeper level what Mr. Stone is trying to achieve for tourists to flock to Key West, and in both internal and external reactionary ways, he shows his discontent. To the idea of garbage cans on street corners, Beans likens the idea to the necessity of “gold and diamonds on outhouses” (103). He worries for Termite after Mr. Stone sends dogcatchers after the town’s strays: “I didn’t know when Termite had become my dog, but he had. Or maybe I’d become his person. Either way, I needed to keep him safe” (99) Though Ma says Termite can live in the house with them, Beans finds himself dealing with Termite’s barking, both when the dog comes to the school and when the postman arrives. In a detail foreshadowing future trouble for Termite, the postman tells Beans, “The dog is a menace” (111).

Beans feels direct conflict with Mr. Stone again when Mr. Stone tells Beans’s gang to use the vacant, swampy lot for playing, not the streets; Beans feels as though Mr. Stone is hiding them somewhere so that tourists do not associate Key West with “a bunch of children running wild in the street” (101). Astute for his age, Beans sees how the vision Mr. Stone maintains for the refurbishment of the town clouds his wisdom.

New conflicts include a stepped-up battle of wits and deceit between Dot and Beans. After their “duel,” the development in their relationship leaves off for now when Dot pushes Beans into the turtle kraals. Another new conflict regards Kermit, whose sore throat hinted at upcoming illness and returns full force with the diagnosis of rheumatic fever. Initially, Beans feels scared and guilty for teasing his brother; he tells Termite, “Maybe he’s dead and we’ll finally have the room to ourselves” (106) in an unfortunate ironic statement just before discovering Kermit’s real sickness. Once it is evident that Kermit will survive, Beans cannot help but feel frustrated at Kermit’s neediness. Finally, Beans rationalizes more dishonest behavior when he decides his mother should not see the letter from Poppy. The last time Beans delivered a message from Poppy to Ma, not only did Dot eavesdrop and share the news around town, but Beans watched as the news physically upset Ma. It is to avoid a similar or worse reaction when he opts to keep the news from Ma and ruin the letter intentionally as toilet tissue.