57 pages • 1 hour read
Andrew SmithA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Ryan Dean gets ready for rugby practice which takes place during his last class period of the day. He and his teammates, Seanie and JP, walk up the hill to the field, passing by some football players who verbally harass them. There’s a long-standing animosity between the two groups of athletes, and Casey is one of the football players who harangue Ryan Dean and his friends.
The rugby team has a light first day of practice, during which they play an intra-team scrimmage. Ryan Dean is surprised to be picked by Joey, one of the captains, to be on his team for the scrimmage. Afterward, the rugby coach makes the losing players sing an embarrassing song to the football players.
As he walks back toward O-Hall alone after practice, Ryan Dean sees Casey and Nick intercept Joey and begin a fistfight in retaliation for the embarrassing song. Ryan Dean intervenes to try and help Joey since the sports teams look out for their teammates on campus.
After the four boys fight briefly, a football coach breaks up the scuffle. Ryan Dean has a bloody nose, and Joey angrily makes it clear that he didn’t need Ryan Dean’s help in the altercation.
Back at O-Hall, Ryan Dean tries to write a letter to Annie that he ultimately crumpling up. Exhausted from his fraught, hungover first day of school, he goes to bed at five p.m.
Ryan Dean wakes up at 8:15 that night when JP, Seanie, and Joey bring him some food from the cafeteria because he missed dinner. His friends tell him again that Annie is mad at him because of his behavior the night before. Mr. Farrow comes in and gives JP and Seanie a warning for being in O-Hall without permission, and they leave. Ryan Dean is left alone with Joey and feels uncomfortable because Joey is gay, although he immediately rebukes himself for that feeling. Joey is at ease around Ryan Dean, however. After Joey leaves, Ryan Dean goes back to sleep.
When Ryan Dean gets up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, he realizes he feels much better than he did the day before. On the way back to his room, he sees a strange light in the hallway and goes to investigate. He sees Mrs. Singer there, looking ominous in a black robe and head scarf, and hurries back to his room. Convinced that Mrs. Singer put a curse on him during the consequence episode in Chapter 8, Ryan Dean is afraid of her—especially now that he saw her lurking in the dorm in the middle of the night. After his nose starts to bleed again, he convinces himself that Mrs. Singer cursed him twice.
The next morning, Chas commends Ryan Dean for standing up to Casey the day before and asks if Ryan Dean wants him to beat Casey up. Ryan Dean is surprised by the offer, which he interprets as a sign that Chas might actually care about him. He says no and is immediately irritated with Chas again when he refers to Ryan Dean as a little kid.
At breakfast the same morning, Ryan Dean sits with Annie and her friend Isabel to apologize to Annie about getting drunk. Although he feels awkward as he does it, Annie seems to forgive him and agrees to meet with him later that day so they can talk. Ryan Dean decides he’s in love with Annie.
As Ryan Dean, Seanie, and JP lift weights together in conditioning class, Ryan Dean tells them that he made up with Annie.
During their shared literature class, Ryan Dean passes Annie a comic depicting their talk at Stonehenge, in which Annie continues to reassure him that his mistake is forgiven. The comic reinforces Ryan Dean’s attraction to Annie by depicting their cartoon counterparts discussing one of Ryan Dean’s real-life sexual fantasies about her.
While dropping off his books just before he has to meet Annie, Ryan Dean is waylaid by Mr. Farrow, who’s concerned that Ryan Dean is starting the school year off with bad behavior; Mr. Farrow only knows about Ryan Dean’s friends bringing him food, not about the after-hours poker game and drunken pranks. He threatens to put Ryan Dean on room detention, presumably meaning he’d have to stay in O-Hall when not in class or participating in sports. Anxious that he’ll miss his meeting with Annie, Ryan Dean talks Mr. Farrow into relenting by pretending to be so upset that he cries. Jubilant over fooling the chaperone, he rushes out to meet Annie.
At Stonehenge, Annie laughs off Ryan Dean’s comic and calls him “perverted” because of his sexual fantasy. Her own feelings about Ryan Dean are unclear. Annie talks about going home for the weekend to her parents’ house near Seattle and promises to ask her parents if Ryan Dean can come and stay for a weekend. The two hold hands as they head toward the wishing path, and Annie remarks on the physical gesture in a neutral fashion that doesn’t reveal her feelings.
After the two walk the wishing path together, Annie asks Ryan Dean to tell her what he wished for. He draws her a Venn diagram showing her how he’s mostly the same as the other boys at the school except for his young age, represented by the part of one circle that doesn’t overlap with the other. He asks her to stop seeing him only as a younger-than-normal boy. He then asks Annie what she wished for, and she says she wished for him to get his wish. This foreshadows their eventual relationship.
After dinner that night, Ryan Dean and Joey help Megan with their calculus homework. She is friendly and grateful, walking with them back to O-Hall. When they part, she kisses Joey on the cheek goodnight. Then she gives Ryan Dean a passionate kiss on the lips that Joey calls “making out”. Megan says that Ryan Dean is adorable. As they head into the dorm, Joey says he won’t tell Chas that Megan kissed Ryan Dean like that, knowing that Chas would be livid and beat Ryan Dean up.
Rugby plays a central role in Winger, and these chapters depict Pine Mountain’s team for the first time. Ryan Dean clearly looks up to Joey in part because he is one of the team captains, implying athletic excellence as well as leadership. The competitive and sometimes hostile dynamic between the rugby team and other teams—particularly football, which Ryan Dean looks down on as a “sanitized” version of rugby—is illustrated by the insults hurled between the rugby and football squads on the first day of practice. This intense rivalry and camaraderie demonstrate that sports are an important way for the Pine Mountain students—especially boys—to feel a sense of belonging and teamwork. Rugby is one of the main activities through which Ryan Dean connects with his peers, as he tries to earn their respect. Rugby also gives him the opportunity to vent and express feelings that he couldn’t do verbally. For example, in later chapters he will use a rugby drill as an opportunity to express his anger toward JP. Rugby also gives Ryan Dean a sense of satisfaction and self-esteem, emotions that he sometimes lacks in other areas of his life.
Smith also further develops Joey’s character in these chapters. The fight between Ryan Dean, Joey, Casey, and Nick in Chapters 16 and 17 shows that Casey and Nick are bullies who will also take any opportunity to target Joey specifically. Casey and Nick’s animosity toward him foreshadows the culminating events at the end of the book, where they beat Joey to death. Ryan Dean doesn’t yet understand the full extent of the dynamic; Joey will later reveal that Casey is also gay and has been pursuing him. Moreover, Ryan Dean doesn’t yet realize that Joey is being singled out because the fight occurs under the pretense of a sports rivalry. Joey also begins to play the role of Ryan Dean’s conscience, as he witnesses Megan and Ryan Dean kiss for the first time and immediately identifies the sexual attraction that lies beneath the surface of their seemingly friendly and platonic relationship.
By Andrew Smith
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