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Part II, The Old Lady and the Eye—The Fight

Summary: Part II, The Old Lady and the Eye

While at Auburn University, Edward’s landlady tells him that her glass eye has been stolen. Edward agrees to find it. He learns that some fraternity brothers took the eye, and knowing its magic, use it in a ritual night after night. Edward joins the fraternity to partake in the ritual and retrieve the eye. He meets the boys in a barn and they tell him that he may have the eye for a night, but if he loses it, he must give one of his own in its place. Edward agrees and takes the eye. The next night, Edward returns and tells the boys that the eye is “here” with him, although it’s not in its box. Suddenly, the old landlady appears with her glass eye and frightens the boys away. Readers learn that the fraternity’s leader has the face of the man Edward’s mother, Sandra, almost married. 

Summary: Part II, My Father’s Death: Take 2 

As Edward rests in his home while dying, he and Will talk about the possibility of heaven and hell, and they share a joke about Jesus mistaking his father for Pinocchio’s. To Will’s frustration, every time they start to talk about something serious, Edward cracks a joke. Will presses him for an answer, but Edward only talks about doubt. They agree that Edward is a good dad, and just when Will thinks Edward might share a last crumb of wisdom, Edward returns to the joke about Pinocchio. 

Summary: Part II, His First Great Love

This chapter describes Edward’s great love for Sandra, a beautiful girl whom many boys fall in love with. These other suitors write songs about her, fight over her, and even race cars for her. Yet Edward does none of this. He just watches her to be near her glow.  

Summary: Part II, His Legendary Legs

Edward is well known for his running prowess. Edward doesn’t ever invite others to race, but many convince him to see who can run faster. Every time, Edward runs barefoot and beats every opponent before the counterpart even has a chance to leave the starting line. 

Summary: Part II, In Which He Makes His Move 

Despite seeing Sandra kiss the fraternity brother from the barn, Don Price, Edward approaches Sandra a few days later and asks her for a date that Friday night. Although Don asked Sandra to marry him earlier that day, a proposition which she never answered, Sandra says yes to Edward’s invitation. 

Summary: Part II, The Fight

Edward and Sandra have been dating for three weeks, and Sandra might be falling in love. One night while driving, Edward realizes that a drunk Don is following them. When they stop, Don confronts Edward and says that Sandra is his. Edward responds that it is Sandra’s choice. They fight until both are bleeding, and Don falls. Edward drives to Sandra’s dorm with Don in the backseat. When Edward asks Sandra if she wants to marry Don, her answer is their first kiss. 

Analysis: Part II, The Old Lady and the Eye—The Fight

These chapters tell more of the story of Edward’s life in college in Auburn, Alabama. He is a straight-A student who falls in love with a beautiful and popular girl named Sandra. The story of the old landlady and the glass eye sets up Edward’s conflict with Don Price, the leader of the fraternity boys who meet in the barn and pass around the landlady’s eye. Don has a premonition that Edward will be his nemesis, which ends up being true. Although Don has proposed marriage to Sandra, it is Edward who wins her heart. After Edward wins a fistfight with the drunken Don, Sandra kisses him, a move that declares he has won her, an event adding to his legendary prowess. 

The anecdote of the old landlady and her glass eye is a prime example of fantasy meeting reality. The old woman and her glass eye are real, but the college fraternity brothers steal her eye and use it in an offbeat ritual of initiation. The eye is said to have magical powers to see the future and the truth. Also, legend declares that if you look at the eye directly, the old woman who owns the eye will hunt you down and cause you great harm. Edward breaks through the ritual’s mystery because he knows the woman who owns the eye. This aggravates the boys, especially their leader, Don Price, who becomes Edward’s antagonist in these chapters. Later it’s revealed that Don is Edward’s love rival, and they fight hard until they both bleed in the presence of their shared love interest. Don Price is one of the novel’s only characters who come into a direct physical confrontation with Edward. After the fight, Sandra chooses Edward. The entire episode between these two young people, Edward and Sandra, avoids the mythical, exaggerated, overblown details of previous chapters. Their love is real, not fantastic, and it remains steadfast throughout their lives.

“Take 2” of Will’s father’s death offers a deeper dive into the narrative than what is revealed in “Take 1.” This chapter shares some details with “Take 1” but offers more insight into the relationship and conversation between father and son. In this take, Edward still resorts to joking to avoid difficult subjects, but this time, he allows himself to go a little farther into his own beliefs. Edward admits that he holds doubts about an afterlife and that his feelings change daily. He and Will are digging deeper, unearthing layer after layer of what Will calls his father’s “emotional carapace,” his shield against meaningful discourse. Will remains frustrated by his father’s avoidance of serious subjects, but he also remains by his father’s side in the face of his imminent death.

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