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A novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Pay It Forward. The story that we are about to read has already taken place, and we are about to learn what happened Chris Chandler, a reporter at the time, and since a novelist, is the person who has interviewed people involved to compile the story we will here
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A novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde Pay It Forward
The story that we are about to read has already taken place, and we are about to learn what happened Chris Chandler, a reporter at the time, and since a novelist, is the person who has interviewed people involved to compile the story we will here Extraordinary things have happened that make it newsworthy Prologue
Chris indicates that there have been random acts of generosity and kindness It all started when his teacher, Reuben St. Clair gave out a project, not expecting anything extra ordinary, just changing the world in smaller ways Prologue
Reuben seems to have experienced a lot of judgement in the past and has seen basically the same reaction to his appearance over and over It suggests that children get passed it and are more accepting than perhaps adults Trevor seems curious, questioning, and genuinely interested Reuben seems jaded and has had to harden his heart and soul; he doesn’t expect much from people Chapter 1
Arlene, Trevor’s mom, hasn’t had very much success with men She is a struggling alcoholic who has two jobs to pay for bills, including a truck she co-signed with Trevor’s father, Ricky Ricky was in an accident in this truck and has not been found since – is he alive or dead? Will he show up later in the book when least expected or wanted? He leaves behind an ex-wife blames Arlene for their breakup Chapter 2
Jerry is obviously down on his luck, but he realizes he has only himself to blame It seems that he once believed in God, but even that belief is diminishing. He is faced with a day to day meaningless existence, though he hopes for things to turn around He has put hopes in to answering an ad in the paper, though when he gets there as many as 50 people end up also seeing the ad Chapter 3
Trevor doesn’t expect this many people, though some leave when they see it was only a kid who put the ad in Others leave when Trevor comes up with the idea of writing why they deserve money to get a hand up Jerry is the only one left at the end showing that he really believes in Trevor’s intentions and that he really does have hope Chapter 3
Arlene confused to find Jerry in her house and wonders why Trevor would befriend this man She becomes angry enough to visit his teacher when she finds out from Jerry it is a school project about “Paying Forward” She is startled to find that Reuben is a big, disfigured black man, though she says she isn’t prejudiced She leaves feeling ashamed because she doesn’t feel as smart or educated as Reuben Chapter 4
Arlene returns home from work at 3 a.m. to find Jerry dismantling her car She drives him back to the garage where he is working Jerry tells Arlene about “Paying it Forward” Once he receives his pay, Jerry proceeds to blow his money and his sobriety at a bar he frequented Chapter 5
Jerry alternates in his outlook between being hopeless and wishing for things to work out He’s seen and done a lot that would cause this pessimism and yet he looks for signs (the ad, the comets) that would give him hope The fact that Jerry goes down the wrong path makes one wonder if Trevor’s circle has stopped there Chapter 5
Hope Salvation Human goodness themes
