63 pages • 2 hours read
David Adams RichardsMercy Among the Children
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2000A 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 1, Chapters 10-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “Mercy”
Part 1, Chapters 10-16 Summary
Sydney and Elly set out to see McVicer, although Elly knows she can say nothing about the incident. McVicer fires Elly, and Sydney must pay back the money through his work on the bridge.
Two months pregnant, Elly goes to church to pray. She remembers how Sydney had corrected David Scone about a piece of poetry, but Scone refuted this some months earlier. Connie Devlin is fired for incompetence, and Sydney is meant to arbitrate on his behalf. Sydney does, but no one thanks him. Porier, jealous of Sydney, decides against giving him a raise.
After assaulting Elly, Rudy went to Mat Pit’s house, where he blamed Elly for what happened. Mat Pit had actually stolen McVicer’s $500, and Rudy implored him to give it back, but Mat refused. Mat is also planning to sabotage the bridge, and Rudy is having an affair with Cynthia Pit.
Connie Devlin publicly ridicules Sydney after news of Elly’s burglary spreads. The children at school taunt the Hendersons. Autumn does well at school, but Lyle does not. Trenton Pit regularly visits the bridge, and Sydney goes to talk to his mother, Alvina, about the Pit family’s bullying. The following day is Sydney’s last on the site.
