Riddley Walker

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1980

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-15

Chapters 16-18

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary

A young boy named Riddley Walker lives in Inland, the name given to the south of England 2,000 years after a nuclear war destroyed human society. Riddley and his community speak in a broken, phonetic version of English in a society which rarely writes anything down. On his 12th birthday, Riddley kills the last boar in the area. He feels odd about the hunt and spots a pack of wild dogs following his group, led by a large black-and-red spotted dog. He helps carry the boar home, passing the charcoal burners who gather wood to melt down the metal objects which are found in post-apocalyptic England. The charcoal burners are considered odd and separate from the rest of the rudimentary society.

Riddley tells a story titled “Hart of the Wood” (10). After the nuclear war, now known as the “Bad Time” (10), a man and his family wander through the woods without weapons or tools. The starving family meet a strange man who knows how to make a fire. In exchange, he demands that they share whatever they cook. The man and woman realize that the only thing to cook is their young child. They agree to the demand, reasoning that two lives saved is better than three lost. The stranger eats the child’s heart and prophesizes the charcoal burners will one day melt metal in the “hart of the wood” (11), and that their charcoal stacks will be in the shape of the child’s heart. After the stranger departs, the man and woman make the fire as big as possible. During the night, the fire burns them to death, and they become charcoal. As Riddley passes the charcoal burners, he thinks about the “Hart of the Wood” and worries that one of the charcoal burners might take him away, just like the stranger in the story.

Riddley returns to the village. The boar’s head is placed on a spike and Riddley shares the meat with a wise elderly woman named Lorna. She sings to him and then they lay down together, looking at the dark sky and talking about the unknowable nature of their souls. Lorna warns Riddley about a mysterious and powerful force inside people which she cannot identify. The idea stays with Riddley, prompting him to become the narrator of the story.A young boy named Riddley Walker lives in Inland, the name given to the south of England 2,000 years after a nuclear war destroyed human society. Riddley and his community speak in a broken, phonetic version of English in a society which rarely writes anything down. On his 12th birthday, Riddley kills the last boar in the area. He feels odd about the hunt and spots a pack of wild dogs following his group, led by a large black-and-red spotted dog. He helps carry the boar home, passing the charcoal burners who gather wood to melt down the metal objects which are found in post-apocalyptic England. The charcoal burners are considered odd and separate from the rest of the rudimentary society.

Chapter 2 Summary

Riddley’s father, Brooder, is killed three days later. Along with a team of fellow workmen, Riddley and his father struggled to salvage a metal machine which had been dug up by foragers. As they tried to lift the machine out of the hole, the basic crane collapsed. The machine fell on top of Riddley’s father and crushed him. They recover the body and Riddley climbs over the giant metal machine, desperate to see whether the machine has a name. When he finds nothing, he breaks down in hysterical laughter at the idea that his father has been killed by “some thing I dont even know the name of” (17). He blames himself for losing his footing and causing the collapse of the crane, though other people tell Riddley that his father’s death was not his fault. The foreman agrees to pay compensation to Riddley’s family. At the same time that Riddley’s father dies, a baby is stillborn. The more superstitious villagers worry that the dead baby is an ominous sign, linked to Brooder Walker’s death.

Later, Riddley notices that the pack of wild dogs is following him. When the red-and-black leader of the pack attacks, Riddley kills it. The other men consider the killing of the dog to be auspicious. They remind Riddley that he is a man now and he must shoulder his new responsibilities. Riddley thinks about the local legends of dog people who live in the dead towns nearby, the towns where people are not allowed to go. His father did not believe the legends, claiming that the forbidden towns and the stories were political inventions. Riddley is now an orphan.

Chapter 3 Summary

The dead dog’s head is mounted on a pole at the village gate. A young villager worries that the dead dog will summon the dog people, but Lorna tells him not to worry. As Riddley stands in the rain and the cold, inspecting the dog’s head, Lorna tells him a story titled “Why the Dog Wont Show Its Eyes” (20).

The story takes place in the past, when a man and a woman sit by a fire on a cold night. A dog approaches and sits by their fire. Gradually, the humans and the dog develop a mutual understanding. The dog becomes domesticated and works with the humans. The humans begin to domesticate other animals, such as goats, and build farms. In doing so, they lose the understanding of the wilderness that they developed with the dog. They become obsessed by numbers and counting, developing machines to exercise a greater control over their farm. They invent planes and computers, machines which have since been lost. But for all their technological innovation, the humans cannot get any rest. They forget about the nature of the night and want to make everything into daytime. They use their knowledge to invent the nuclear bomb and the flash illuminates the whole world. As the world plunges into nuclear war, however, everything turns to black. Plagues kill humans and nothing grows on the farms. When the day and the night finally return to normal, society has broken down. The dog continues to howl at night, but the humans are scared of the darkness. They are no longer allies. Every full moon, dogs become “mad” (22) and attack humans.

Lorna and Riddley reflect on the meaning of the story, as well as the nature of storytelling. The only story that is written down in their world is the story of Eusa. All other stories evolve as they are passed down by word of mouth. Riddley wonders whether the moment he stared the leader of the dog pack in the eye might have given him a special understanding, just like in the story.

Chapters 1-3 Analysis

Riddley Walker is not like the other people in his society. His role as the narrator of the novel is a key way in which he is distinguished from his peers. While most people are illiterate and speak in the same form of twisted English, Riddley tries to write his thoughts down. The narrative of the novel is the narrative of Riddley separating himself from the rest of society. He creates a lasting legacy in a world which is temporary, dangerous, and largely illiterate. Riddley’s friend Lorna helps to consecrate this idea, telling Riddley that the act of writing helps to make something distinct and different. The sentiment is true of stories as well as the story tellers. The stories that are written down are those which are important enough to pass down to the next generation. Likewise, the people who write down the stories generate their own level of importance based on their ability to communicate across space and time. By writing down his experiences, Riddley Walker speaks to a larger audience than any of his peers. He separates himself from everyone else by creating and sharing a document which will outlast him.

The uniqueness of Riddley is conveyed through the superstitions of the other characters. Riddley is a normal 12-year-old boy in the context of his society. He has been raised to follow in his father’s footsteps and he is a key member of his community, helping to excavate the ancient machines which are buried under the ground of Inland. However, Riddley’s life soon begins to diverge from normality. He kills a boar and a dog. At the same time, his father is killed in a tragic accident and a baby is stillborn. This string of deaths is treated with caution by the community. Riddley is tainted by his association with strange, unexplainable events. Riddley might have been a normal boy, and he wishes to be considered normal, but his difference is imposed on him by others. The community already lives in the ruins of a dead society, so they are constantly reminded of the importance of social cohesion. Riddley’s unique association with death and strange events threatens this social cohesion. The community cannot express its unease in scientific terms, so they turn to superstition. They perform rituals, cast signs, and reiterate their beliefs in an attempt to ward off Riddley and his association with the unknown and the violent. Riddley’s intelligence and his literary talents make him unique, but this uniqueness is reinforced when the society begins to view him as a dangerous, mysterious figure.

As a unique character in the small community, Riddley is forced to grow up fast. He is 12 years old at the beginning of the story, but he experiences a great deal of pain and suffering before he is even a teenager. His mother is already dead, his father dies shortly after his birthday, and the community he grew up in begins to turn on him. As a young man, Riddley only wanted to fulfill his role in society. When the society turns on him, however, and when tragedy strikes, he is forced to reconsider this role. Riddley looks to the past, to the stories he was told as a child, to try and make sense of the changing world. Not only are events conspiring against him, but Riddley’s age means that his body is physically changing. The physical changes of adolescence, the rapidly changing events, the prevalence of death, and the rejection by his community force Riddley to mature quickly. As established in the opening chapters, Riddley is not permitted a childhood. Instead, he is thrust immediately into a cruel, brutal world. Riddley must grow up quickly so that he can survive, navigating his journey into adulthood in a physical and mental fashion.