Chapter 22 Summary

The Monday after the game, Ogden Loring, Ben's English teacher, stopped in front of his desk and cleaned his glasses with his tie. He started berating Ben for thinking that he's now glorious just because he led the team to victory. He went on and on despite the fact that the rest of the class were defending Ben and citing reasons as to why Loring was disliked by a lot of people in their town.

Notes: A chapter wherein it talks about a teacher who is out to give Ben a hard time for suddenly becoming a jock at school.

Chapter 23 Summary

The day before their Catechism class, Ben overheard an argument between Father Pinckney and Sister Loretta after the evening mass. It was about teaching sex education to the class. During their class, Sister Loretta sent the girls upstairs to speak with a registered nurse from the naval hospital to teach them something of great importance. She opened the topic up and reminded them that they were all mature, young men. Ben was cringing during the whole discussion, feeling a slight tint of hatred towards Sister Loretta for discussing sex as if it's the most distasteful thing in the world.

Notes: Catholicism is still iffy when it comes to the topic of sex, despite the setting of the novel. It shows Ben's doubts about his own sexual curiosity.

Chapter 24 Summary

On Christmas Eve, the Meecham family prepared to attend the midnight mass, fully dressed and waiting for Bull to get out of the bathroom. Mary Anne shared with their younger siblings the story when Ben accidentally forgot to remove a carton of milk full of his urine inside the refrigerator just because Bull took a while to come out of the bathroom. They took glory in the fact that their father couldn't get mad at them during Christmas Eve and they were savoring the moment. They walked to the church and listened to Father Pinckney conduct mass. Ben started daydreaming about Ansley Matthews during the mass, giving him thoughts about how masturbation isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The children were sent up to their bedrooms the moment they returned home from the midnight mass. Lillian told Ben to not expect much during Christmas, as they had so many unexpected expenses. Every year during Christmas, Bull would climb up to the roof of wherever they're staying at and made noises akin to Santa and the reindeers coming. At 5 in the morning, Ben was woken up by Mary Anne, too excited to sleep through the night. She told him that Matt and Karen were waiting for him by the tree to open up the presents. Ben grudgingly went downstairs when Mary Anne started citing the presents that they got for him. The siblings started arguing after Mary Anne said something selfish. The children, realizing that it was Christmas, agreed to disagree and ran upstairs to wake their parents up. Bull told them that he'll see them by the tree at 0535 hours. Lillian planted a long kiss on each of her children and wished them a Merry Christmas. Bull teased his children by slowly drinking his cup of coffee, until he started giving out the gifts, much to the children's joy.

Notes: Another rare instance of Bull showing restraint because of the importance of his family to him. It was revealed in the chapter that both Bull and Lillian were children during the Great Depression; that's why they make it a point to shower their kids with gifts during Christmas despite being on a tight budget.