35 pages • 1 hour read
Margaret Peterson HaddixRunning Out Of Time
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1995A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 21-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 21 Summary
Jessie waits on the steps of the capitol building for reporters. She feels deflated and hopeless until people near her begin discussing her mysterious news conference. They are reporters trying to figure out who scheduled the conference and what it will reveal about Clifton. When one of the reporters, Bob, gets her attention, Jessies admits she called the conference. She tries explaining the situation at Clifton, but they refuse to believe her because of her age. Eventually, the more Jessie explains, the more they begin to believe and document her story with a camera. They ask her to prove that she’s from Clifton by reciting the presidents and states, which Jessie does. However, as soon as she finishes, she collapses from diphtheria herself.
Chapter 22 Summary
Jessie wakes in the hospital with Katie recovering in the bed next to her. She learns that the people in charge of Clifton have been arrested and that most of the children are also in the hospital recovering. Andrew and Hannah, who now know the truth about Clifton, visit Jessie and reveal that two children died. They tell her about how Clifton was shut down. When the board of health tried to get inside the village, Mr. Smythe and Mr. Seward, the village shopkeeper, panicked and held the schoolchildren hostage with guns. Hannah tripped Mr. Seward, which allowed his son, Chester, to get a hold of a gun and point it at his own father. Chester defended Hannah because he is in love with her. He forced his father to give in to the police when Mr. Smythe ran away. Jesse and Andrew both admire Hannah for being brave, while Jessie admits that she was and is still afraid.
Chapter 23 Summary
At night, Jessie cannot sleep because she still has questions about where Ma and Pa are and why Neeley and the others wanted children to die. She leaves her room looking for a phone. Instead, she finds a television in another room and sees that Miles Clifton and Isaac Neeley—whose real name is Frank Lyle—are being interviewed on the news. Clifton explains that he used his money to fund Lyle’s research, which aimed to create a stronger gene pool among Clifton residents by introducing diseases into the population. Over time, according to Neeley/Lyle, the population would pass on stronger genes to prevent the spread of future supergerms. Clifton claims he did not know what Lyle was doing. Lyle himself believes he has done the right thing by humanity and staunchly defends his experiment. Jessie does not understand the science but is shocked that she once trusted this man. A nurse finds Jessie, scolds her for being out of bed, and ushers her back to her room.
Chapter 24 Summary
When the other children recover before Jessie, they are sent to live in foster homes; the state has not deemed their parents fit to care for them yet. Jessie does not understand and grows frustrated with the doctors, social workers, and nurses who refuse to answer more of her questions. She remembers that Bob, the reporter, sent her flowers and left his information; she calls him and makes a deal to give him an exclusive interview in exchange for answers to her questions. Bob arrives and promises to tell her as much as he knows. He explains that although the parents have not been arrested like the others, the state still holds them responsible for not getting medical attention sooner. The state officials also believe the parents may have been suffering from mass delusion.
Bob tries to explain the science behind the diphtheria experiment to Jessie, how the researchers were planning to introduce more diseases gradually to strengthen the population. When Jessie asks about Neeley/Lyle, Bob informs her that the real Isaac Neeley—who was indeed against the Clifton village like Ma said—died in a car accident years ago, and that Frank Lyle took over his apartment and phone number to wait for Jessie’s call. In exchange for this information, Jessie tells Bob everything she knows and has been feeling since her experience, hoping it will help reunite her family sooner.
Later, Ma visits Jessie and explains that she and Pa will only be allowed visitation rights for a while. They talk until the social worker takes Ma away, but Jessie is still confused.
Chapter 25 Summary
Four months later, Jessie is back in Clifton at the rock that doubled as a trapdoor. Dressed in her old clothes, she accepts that she will have to start a new school the following day and dress more appropriately for 1996. She wonders why her siblings are excited to begin their new life while she remains afraid. We learn that Pa is having trouble adjusting to modern life and is required to see a psychiatrist, who has recommended that the family live in their Clifton cabin to help with his transition.
Jessie shares her fears with Ma, who assures Jessie that she will excel in her new life because she has overcome so much already. Jessie feels better and more hopeful after talking with Ma and looks forward to her future.
Chapters 21-25 Analysis
The final chapters of the novel present the anagnorisis, when the protagonist discovers the reality of their situation or authentic nature of another character. Jessie realizes the true nature of the deadly situation in Clifton and the true identity of Isaac Neeley. She begins to see herself as more independent and entitled to answers. Throughout the novel, she has found herself frustrated and dismayed with her own ignorance, a result of living a lie. She is finally done with the adults not answering her questions and seeks them out herself. The scene where Jessie learns the truth from the television interview of Miles Clifton and Frank Lyle echoes the scene where Jessie sees photographs of herself at the Clifton tourist site. It is a moment of revelation that forces self-reflection: does she belong on the inside or outside? If all these adults lied to her, who can she trust except herself? The anagnorisis settles her determination to cultivate knowledge.
The end of the novel plays with the idea of “time travel.” Jessie repeatedly corrects herself when referring to 1996 as the “future,” which implies that Jessie is literally from the 1840s and has traveled forward in time. Neeley traps Jessie in the apartment and calls her “our little time traveler” (134). When Jessie is recovering in the hospital, time passes while she is in and out of consciousness: “And Jessie did sleep for days it seemed. She didn’t know until later that her hospital room was filled with flowers from people who had read and heard about her” (160). Her illness and recovery allow her to “time travel” a few days into the future where the other children have been rescued and the evil Clifton people have been arrested.
The narrative also travels four months into the future in the final chapter. This plot device helps wrap up the story more quickly. It also gives the characters more time to cope with the novel’s turbulent events. One of the central ironies of the novel is that Jessie is not a traditional time traveler as depicted in traditional time travel novels. However, the reader feels like she could be; she is anachronistically displaced from Clifton into modern society.
The novel is a hero’s quest. At the beginning, Jessie is ignorant, misled by her loved ones about the true nature of her environment. She goes on a journey, a quest to save her town. In spite of her many challenges—lack of knowledge about modern times, aggressive boys, the evil fake Neeley, her young appearance—she beats the odds. This is due to her resilience and determination, traits lauded by the novel.
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By Margaret Peterson Haddix
