51 pages • 1 hour read
Rodman PhilbrickWildfire
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “Day Two”
Part 2, Chapter 7 Summary: “Make a Giant ‘HELP’”
Sam wakes, thinking about his mother. He reveals that she developed an opioid addiction after sustaining a neck injury. One day, Sam came home from school to find her “passed out on the floor, barely breathing” (30). He called an ambulance, and his mom was taken to the hospital. At the hospital, a social worker suggested that Sam go to a summer camp during his mother’s substance abuse rehabilitation to avoid having to go into a foster-care program.
Sam, who is growing hungrier, searches the cabin and finds cans of food. He eats a can of cold beef stew and comes up with a plan to use birch saplings to spell out “HELP” in big letters so that passing planes will be able to see it. He goes to a shed in search of an axe to chop the trees, but he finds something else.
Part 2, Chapter 8 Summary: “The Promise He Made Me”
In the shed, there is an old Jeep, “like from the wars in the last century” (33). This kind of Jeep was Sam’s dad’s favorite car; before he died, he promised Sam that one day, the two of them would fix one up together. In the glove compartment of the Jeep, Sam finds a map, as well as documents identifying the owner of the vehicle: Aldrich Brown, who served in the Korean War.
Suddenly, Sam smells smoke and realizes that the forest fire has reached him. He sees animals fleeing and knows that it is time to run again. He quickly loads the water and canned food into the Jeep, which he does not know how to drive.
Part 2, Chapter 9 Summary: “Between the Fire and Me”
Sam tries to remember what little he knows about driving a standard transmission car. After some trial and error, he manages to get the car started. He drives out of the shed and down to the old logging trail, looking back just in time to see the camp go up in flames. Sam decides that he needs to “head into the wind” (39) so he turns left. As he drives, he thinks about how the Jeep seems to know where it is going, almost like it is alive.
Part 2, Chapter 10 Summary: “The Girl with the Raccoon Eyes”
Sam hears someone calling for help and stops the Jeep. A girl covered in soot limps out of the bushes. She is using a stick as a crutch. Sam helps her into the Jeep, and she explains that the fire almost got her but that she just kept running, even when she injured her ankle. She asks Sam if he is old enough to drive. Sam explains that though he is under 13, the fire is coming and they need to keep moving.
As they drive, the girl introduces herself as Delphy Pappas. She was at a fitness camp called Camp Calusa, which is near Camp Wabanaski. She is tall, strong, and two years older than Sam. Delphy says that she was “out in the woods the night before the fire” because she was texting with someone, and she got lost (43).
Part 2, Chapter 11 Summary: “Dead as a Doornail”
Sam and Delphy drive for over an hour, and the smoke starts to thin out. As they drive, Delphy tells Sam that her family owns a Greek restaurant. Sam thinks to himself that it sounds nice to come from a big family.
They drive some more, and Delphy falls asleep. When she wakes, she asks Sam where they are. Sam tells her that they are heading west, according to the compass in the Jeep. There is nowhere in the car for Delphy to charge her cell phone, so they are without communication. Abruptly, the Jeep’s “engine sputters and dies” (47).
Part 2, Chapter 12 Summary: “Not on This Map”
Sam panics, but then realizes that the Jeep has just run out of gas. There are two fuel cans strapped to the back of the Jeep, which Sam and Delphy use to refill the tank. They decide to take a look at the map in the glove compartment, managing to locate Wabanaski Lake and a marking that they think is probably the logging road. The map does not show whether or not the logging road meets a main road. Sam thinks that if they “stay ahead of the fire, [they’ll] be okay,” as they have food and water (50).
Part 2, Chapter 13 Summary: “Okay for a Boy”
Sam drives and chats with Delphy; they get along well. Delphy does not want to talk about why she was in the woods. In the evening, they reach a summer home called Piney Pond Cabin. Delphy suggests that they go see if anyone is home and check for a phone. The cabin is empty, and Sam points out that there are no power lines or telephone lines nearby. Nonetheless, the cabin’s covered porch will keep them safe from bugs and offer more comfortable sleep than the Jeep.
Part 2, Chapter 14 Summary: “Land of a Thousand Dances”
Sam gets food from the Jeep and removes the spark plug so that no one can steal the Jeep while they sleep. In the cabin, Delphy finds an emergency hand-crank radio. Sam hopes that they can use it to “find out where the fire is headed” (58). He starts up the radio and hears Phat Freddy Bell reporting the movements of the fire. They learn that firefighters have been unable to control the fire but that the area needs rain badly. Delphy thinks they are in trouble.
Part 2, Chapter 15 Summary: “The Fart Heard Round the World”
Sam and Delphy sit on the porch. They have just eaten a dinner of canned beans and sausages. Delphy is glad to be full. Her summer camp was ostensibly about fitness, but many girls were actually trying to lose weight, and she never had enough to eat there. Delphy is deeply insecure about being tall. Sam asks Delphy if she was running away from her camp. She explains that the camp was her dad’s idea, and that he wants her to “use [her] tall” (63) for a sport like volleyball. They talk some more and then Sam lets out a loud fart. Sam and Delphy laugh themselves to sleep.
Part 2 Analysis
The Jeep is an important symbol in Wildfire. It is a crucial resource for Sam and Delphy as they try to outpace the fire. While it is primarily a symbol of hope, the Jeep also represents Sam’s connection to his father. The Jeep’s original owner fought in the Korean War, while Sam’s dad drove oil rigs in Afghanistan. This specific model of Jeep was already a point of connection for Sam and his dad: His father had promised to buy one that they could fix up together. Although Sam’s dad is no longer alive, it is as though he has fulfilled his promise to get his son a Jeep from beyond the grave. This connection is reinforced by Sam’s perception that the Jeep is alive. It is not just a tool that he uses to escape the fires; it is an ally and a friend, as well as a personified object through which Sam copes with and processes his own emotions.
Though Sam starts his second day alone, he finds The Essentiality of Friendship and Connection when he meets Delphy. They come from very different backgrounds, but they get along almost immediately, talking about their lives and families as Sam drives. They can see the best in each other: Delphy is insecure about her height, but Sam tells her that she is “tall and big and strong” (60) as a compliment. Likewise, Delphy admires Sam’s ability to drive the Jeep, as she has no idea how to drive. On his first night alone, Sam was afraid of what might be in the dark. On the porch with Delphy, he laughs himself to sleep, even though the danger of the fire is still very real. Together, they find balance and companionship: Their strengths and weaknesses are complementary, and that combined with their easy camaraderie allows them to support and motivate each other in their fight to survive.
Once again, Sam demonstrates a strong commitment to Survival and Resilience Through Crisis. He figures out how to drive the Jeep with only a minimal understanding of what he is doing, and then he drives for hours along an overgrown, bumpy logging road. He has the foresight to pack the Jeep with food and water before he drives away from the logging camp. Though he initially wanted to spell out “HELP” using trees, he is prepared to change his plans quickly. Delphy is disappointed not to find a phone, but Sam understands how to use the emergency radio to get crucial information. He also knows to remove the car’s spark plug before going to sleep, which is something many adults would not think to do in similar circumstances. Though much of this skill was taught by his father, Sam’s own resilience and survival instincts are very strong, and he is partly motivated by a desire to return home safely to his mother.
The information that Sam and Delphy get from the emergency radio shows them Nature’s Simultaneous Power and Fragility as the fire spreads. Without rain, there is little that can be done to contain the fire, even though firefighters are doing their best. The scale of the disaster is so big that Sam and Delphy cannot rely on adult authority for help, as they might in other circumstances. As Sam escapes the logging camp, he sees the impact of the fire on animals. The disaster is causing wildlife to flee, though many of them will not be able to escape the path of the fire. Forest ecosystems are fragile and are made up of many, many species. In emergency situations, not all living things will have the resources and good fortune to survive, and those that do must reckon with the loss of habitat once the flames have passed. If Sam and Delphy—with a motorized vehicle, food, water, and an emergency radio—are struggling to survive, then animals and other people with fewer resources are likely in even more trouble. Readers again see nature’s fragile equilibrium and vast destructive potential through the likely fatal effect on many animals and the devastation to the landscape.
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