59 pages • 1 hour read
Elvira WoodruffGeorge Washington's Socks
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1991A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 11-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary
As Matt worries about the chances of returning home, he watches men in blue and buff uniforms with a cannon. A colonel tells a Major Crane that the cannons known as 3-pounders will probably arrive soon. Major Crane refers to the officer as Colonel Knox, a name Matt recognizes. Colonel Knox, a bookseller-turned-rebel, took charge of artillery for the army. Knox complains of the delay caused by the storm. General Washington encourages patience and comments how dim daylight conditions might work for them. His demeanor reminds Matt of his own father coaching Matt to have patience while waiting on grilled burgers.
Matt sleeps a bit, but Captain McCowly wakes him to march. Israel has trouble standing. His illness worsens. They march with the other soldiers through terrible sleet, ice, and wind. Matt reflects on the soldiers’ blind determination, and how six dollars seems such a pittance for risking their lives. He wants to be back home with the comforts of modern life and reasserts his responsibility to find a way.
Chapter 12 Summary
With a runny nose and a hurting body, Matt dreams of a warm car ride. Israel suffers through coughing fits that stop and weaken him. Matt and Israel overhear officers discussing the plan to overtake the Hessians by surprise. Israel reveals that Hessians are “giants” (72).
A new character, drummer Henry Schudder, concurs that Hessians are ruthless. Israel bolsters Matt’s spirits, saying they will stick together. Matt asks why Henry’s uniform is red. Israel explains that the different color helps officers to find the drummer in a fight so that the drummer can communicate orders to the men. Israel coughs badly again, but Matt is powerless to help him.
Chapter 13 Summary
As the march continues, Matt’s thoughts turn from worry over Katie to panic over his own inability to work the musket. Israel staggers to a kneeling position and vomits on the ground. He worsens quickly now, and despite Henry’s and Matt’s attempts to help him walk, he soon cannot make any progress. Finally, Israel no longer tries to stand. Henry tells Matt to leave Israel behind in favor of saving himself, but Matt cannot. Henry gives Matt some wool for his fingers before moving on, but Matt uses the fabric to cover Israel when he wets himself. Israel sees Matt’s panic at being left behind by the regiment and tells him to go on, but Matt stays and comforts Israel: “Don’t worry, old goat […] I’m here with you. I’m not going anywhere” (79).
Israel insists that Matt get the glass beads to his sister Abby. Matt repeats back the sister’s name and address and promises to do it. Matt rambles about activities and TV characters from his present, as Israel quiets and dies.
Chapters 11-13 Analysis
Everything about Matt’s experience worsens in these chapters. He is colder, weaker, and more miserable physically due to the storm conditions on the march to Trenton. He feels both panicky due to his own inexperience and trapped in the forward-moving column of soldiers. When he does stop, it is because Israel is rapidly becoming sicker and weaker. When Israel stops for the last time, Matt panics again; the relative safety of the regiment is leaving him behind. Finally, his helplessness increases consistently, both in faltering through this danger zone and in witnessing Israel’s painful and rapid decline.
The author uses juxtaposition in several key moments to highlight Matt’s worsening situation. He is briefly excited to see Colonel Knox and think about the rebel’s heroic actions in commanding an artillery unit successfully to Boston, but the author juxtaposes this short moment against the realization that hundreds of soldiers don’t yet know their objective. Matt thinks how little six dollars, a soldier’s wage for a whole month, would get him at the mall in modern times. Juxtaposition and imagery combine in the last scene of Chapter 13, as Matt speaks about Batman, dirt bikes, and modern technology to Israel, who lies dying in the snow along the road to a Revolutionary War battle he will not get to fight.
The character of Henry Schudder symbolizes the harsh reality of war on the closest and most personal level yet to Matt. Thus far, Matt has seen many things that strike him with fear and wonder, but Henry brings war’s consequences right up into Matt’s face when he roughly clutches and shakes Matt: “And friends die! […] And you’ll die, too, if you stay here with him in this storm. You’re sure to freeze to death. Don’t you see?” (77) Henry’s words and actions force Matt to see that war can be hopeless and tragic for the individual as well as for a nation or army.
