77 pages • 2 hours read
April HenryGirl, Stolen
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2010A 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 5-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary: “Here Be Dragons”
As Cheyenne cries silently, she remembers all the times she has cried over the past three years. Her mother, who died in the accident that left Cheyenne blind, was the one who had really known her and taken care of her because her father travelled so much. In the hospital after the accident, Cheyenne would sometimes wake up to her father crying.
Now, Cheyenne’s chest aches, and she wishes that her guide dog Phantom was with her. She believes none of this would have happened if he had been with her in the car. Cheyenne begins to think about how she can turn her blindness into an advantage; she knows she notices things with her other senses. She falls asleep. Waking up when they arrive at Roy and Griffin’s home, she hears Duke, a half-pit bull guard dog, barking. Roy then approaches the car, and Griffin explains what has happened. Roy slaps Griffin, asking why he has brought Cheyenne to their home. Griffin reassures him that she cannot describe them because she is blind.
Chapter 6 Summary: “In Case the Law Comes Looking”
TJ and Jimbo, Roy’s friends, emerge from the barn and admire the stolen Escalade. Roy orders TJ and Jimbo back to the shopping center to pick up the Honda that Griffin has left behind. Griffin unties Cheyenne and leads her into the house. She whispers for him to give back her cane and let her go, but he refuses. As she leaves the car, Duke barks aggressively, but when Cheyenne reacts to his barking by being still and listening, rather than with fear or abuse, the dog calms down and is quiet.
Griffin is glad that Cheyenne cannot see the squalor of where he lives. Roy used to have a job as a mechanic, but he lost his job and now he, TJ, and Jimbo steal cars and break them down for parts.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Turning Secrets into Weapons”
Cheyenne notices that the house smells like a mix of cigarettes, grease, and mold and deliberately shuffles her feet because the echo tells her how small the rooms are. She determines to hold onto any secret knowledge, such as Griffin and Roy’s names, hoping to use them later. She remembers hearing the diagnosis from her hospital bed after the accident: “Occipital lobe injury [...] Damage to the visual cortex” (37). Most of her vision is gone, but she is still able to see a 10-degree slice on the left edge of her field of vision. If she wants to see anything, she now must look away from it, which “seemed like a metaphor, but Cheyenne didn’t know for what” (38).
Griffin takes her to his bedroom and ties her to the bed. Pretending she doesn’t know his name by calling him mister, she asks him for water and has a coughing fit. He returns with the water and then leaves. Cheyenne finds the water glass on the top of the desk and slams it on the edge of the dresser.
Chapter 8 Summary: “This Might Change Things”
Griffin notes that he has never had a girl in his room before. He walks out to the barn, smoking the cigarette he had not had earlier. Roy has driven the Escalade into the barn, and they discuss what they will do with it, speculating that it is too risky to break down for parts or sell. Cheyenne’s kidnapping is announced on the radio, revealing that her father, Nick Wilder, is Nike’s president. Over the radio, Nick Wilder pleads for his daughter’s release, stating that she is both blind and very ill. Roy looks thoughtful, commenting that this new information “might change things” (46).
Chapter 9 Summary: “Stealing a Girl”
After breaking the water glass on her third try, Cheyenne takes a shard and starts to use it to cut the shoestring around her wrists. She visualizes the shoestring as white, using the visualization techniques she has developed since becoming blind. This technique has helped her to navigate the world. She hears a noise from the other end of the house and quickly sweeps the other shards of glass under the dresser with her foot. She puts the shard in her pocket.
The door opens, and it is Griffin and Roy asking her why she had not told him she was the daughter of Nike’s president. When Roy asks her how sick she is, she tells him she has pneumonia and that’s why she was at the shopping center. When Griffin states that her mother had left her in the car, Cheyenne jumps it to clarify that it was her stepmom, Danielle, not her mom. Roy demands telephone numbers for her father and stepmom and Cheyenne realizes that she has been stolen along with the car.
Chapter 10 Summary: “The Etiquette of Kidnapping”
Cheyenne says most of her numbers are programmed into the phone that Griffin had thrown away for fear of being tracked. She does remember her home phone number, however, and gives it to Roy.
Griffin notices that Cheyenne is not looking well, and she has another coughing fit. The glass of water is not where he thought he left it, and he goes into the kitchen to get another one. There isn’t a clean glass for the water, so he rinses one out before giving the water to Cheyenne. Roy leaves with the numbers, telling Griffin to watch over Cheyenne. She demands he untie her hands so that she can drink more easily, and he does. Her stomach growls loudly, and Griffin offers to make her some food.
Chapters 5-10 Analysis
Seeing, particularly seeing from a different perspective, emerges as a theme in these chapters. Cheyenne can only see at the periphery of her vision, and only by looking away from the periphery. This works as a metaphor for how Cheyenne is developing an escape plan in secret (she must not be seen) and for how Griffin is learning to see through another’s eyes. For the first time, Griffin notices how dirty his house is and feels embarrassed. Griffin, however, is not as skilled as Cheyenne at “seeing,” and there are several details that he doesn’t catch, like the missing water glass and the frayed strings where Cheyenne has been cutting.
Chapter 5’s title, “Here Be Dragons,” refers to how explorers from centuries ago would mark unknown territory on their maps. This alludes to Cheyenne being in unknown territory, both literally (since she does not know where she is) and figuratively (since her situation is unknown territory and feels as surreal as the idea of dragons).
The relationship between Cheyenne and Griffin continues to build. He notes that her eyes are beautiful, which further reinforces that “seeing” is a vital element in their connection. He is also starting to assume a caretaker role, making sure Cheyenne has water and offering to make her food. As the story develops, the reader gets to know Griffin and learns about his past, which establishes that Griffin is also a victim of Roy’s violence. The novel alludes to his maturation into adulthood and his ability to develop beyond his father when Griffin notices that he is now as tall as Roy: “How long had he been nose to nose, eye to eye, with his dad?” (28). The phrase “eye to eye” is ironic because, in a figurative sense, Griffin is clearly not in agreement with his father. Thus, the question signals an impending break from Roy’s influence.
Dogs play an important role in Girl, Stolen. The Wilder family dog, Spencer, died in the accident that killed Cheyenne’s mother. Phantom, the guide dog, enables Cheyenne to navigate the world more freely, and she believes that if Phantom had been with her at the time of the kidnapping, he would have been able to stop it. The name “Phantom” suggests something unseen, which is significant in a novel with a blind protagonist and further develops the theme of sight and perspective.
The other dog, Duke, will help Cheyenne in her eventual escape, and his rehabilitation at the end of the novel speaks to a larger theme about rehabilitation through kindness. Duke stops barking when he sees that Cheyenne is neither threatening nor afraid of him. Both Duke and Griffin are victims of Roy’s abuse, and Duke’s transformation parallels Griffin’s own development arc, as Griffin becomes aware of his agency and begins to defy Roy, thanks to Cheyenne’s influence.
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