42 pages • 1 hour read
Orbiting Jupiter
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 Summary
Joseph tells the Hurds the story of his relationship with Madeleine Joyce, or Maddie. Their relationship begins when Joseph’s father works as a plumber for her wealthy family. Maddie spends most of her time home alone with her nanny because both of her parents are busy lawyers. After meeting her while helping his dad, Joseph returns to her house to spend time with her. They spend the entirety of a summer together, meeting up whenever her parents are away. She respects his trauma and “never ask[s] him why his face look[s] so beat up” (71).
When Maddie leaves to go to school in another town, Joseph starts to write to her every day. When Maddie comes back for Thanksgiving, Joseph tries to see her, but Maddie’s nanny refuses to let him into the house. He is unable to see her again until she comes home for Christmas. They spend time together again that winter, and Joseph falls in love with Maddie. One night, while Maddie pretends to skate on a frozen river in her boots, she and Joseph spot Jupiter in the night sky. Joseph tells her it is his favorite planet.
On his final visit of the winter, Joseph and Maddie talk about his mother. His only memories of his mother are of time they spent together eating cold maple syrup off of fresh snow. Maddie and Joseph decide to do the same thing, and they share their first kiss; after they kiss, they go back to Maddie’s house and have sex. The nanny finds them together, and she tells Maddie’s parents. Maddie’s parents send her to a new school and put into place legal prohibitions to prevent Joseph from contacting her.
Joseph learns from Mrs. Stroud that Maddie is pregnant at the age of 13. Joseph must move to a juvenile home, and he could face criminal charges. After one night in the home, Joseph breaks out and visits Maddie’s parents. Her mother calls the police, who take Joseph back to the group home. He leaves again; this time, he is found hitchhiking to Pennsylvania, where he knows Maddie is attending school. Joseph is then sent to a higher-security home called Lake Adams Juvenile.
Mrs. Stroud visits Joseph again with papers for him to sign. His daughter has been born, and Maddie has named her Jupiter. Mrs. Stroud shows Joseph a photo of his daughter. She asks him to sign the papers, which will allow for Jupiter’s adoption. If he doesn’t sign, Maddie’s parents will file charges against him. Joseph learns that Maddie has died in childbirth; he signs the papers and runs to the school bathroom. Seeing that Joseph is upset, another boy offers him two pills, and Joseph takes them. When he is caught by a teacher, Joseph attacks him, leading to another move to another juvenile center, Stone Mountain. When trying to escape Stone Mountain, Joseph falls over razor wire and gets the scar on his side. At Stone Mountain, Joseph stops speaking. Mrs. Stroud suggests the Hurds as a possible foster family for Joseph.
After Joseph tells his story to the Hurds, Joseph goes to see Rosie and be alone. Jack asks his parents why Joseph can’t see Jupiter. That night, Joseph walks into the bedroom he shares with Jack and looks out the window. The bright moon blocks his view of the planet Jupiter. Joseph and Jack go to bed, but Jack wakes up later to see Joseph looking out the window again. On the school bus the next day, Jack sits with a friend named Ernie Hupfer. The bus skids near the river, but Mr. Haskell corrects its course. Ernie asks Jack to stop spending time with Joseph, but he won’t tell Jack why.
Chapter 4 Analysis
The fourth chapter offers the reader background on Joseph’s past. Joseph’s story gives Jack an emotional push toward action while it also provides the reader with a clearer view of Joseph’s trauma. This trauma explains Joseph’s emotional distance and defiance. Despite the emotional abuse that Joseph suffers at the hands of his father, he is innocent; he descends into violence only later, after he has been hurt and abandoned.
The character of Maddie is important to Joseph because she fills the void of family and friendship in his life. When they have sex, it is not a consequence of lust but of genuine feelings of togetherness. Throughout Orbiting Jupiter, Joseph grows close to people who fulfill the familial roles left open by his parents. Maddie is the first person to do this for Joseph, and their relationship results in the creation of a new family. Though this family is important to Joseph, it fails to give Joseph stability.
Several of the novel’s themes are present in Joseph’s backstory. Though their love affair begins in summer, the culmination of Joseph and Maddie’s relationship occurs in winter, linking Joseph’s past to his present. For example, Maddie’s love of ice skating informs many of Joseph’s choices, including his decision to walk onto the frozen Alliance River. Winter also reminds Joseph of his deceased mother. Joseph and Maddie reenact a ritual that Joseph and his mother once performed in which they throw boiling maple syrup onto snow to cool it down. In this way, Maddie performs the role of Joseph’s mother. This ritual can only happen in winter, which provides a link to Joseph’s time with the Hurds. Though winter is a season that is often associated with emptiness and death, Joseph twice finds surrogate families in winter.
Joseph’s backstory also touches on themes of birth and death. Jupiter’s birth causes Maddie’s death just as Joseph’s eventual death provides the impetus for Jupiter’s adoption by the Hurds. Death allows for new life, which is a tenet of the Christian faith: Jesus died in order to provide his followers with eternal life. The deaths of Maddie and Joseph ensure that Jupiter will experience a stable life with a family.
Though Mr. and Mrs. Hurd are unwilling to help Joseph find Jupiter, their reluctance gives Jack an opportunity to support Joseph in his journey, placing Jack one step closer to independent action. As the boys talk before bed, Joseph scans the night sky for the planet Jupiter, but moonlight obscures it. When Joseph says, “I can’t see Jupiter […] I don’t know where she is” (86), he refers to both the planet and his daughter. The moon is an object of light in the dark sky, just as the Hurds provide Joseph with stability and warmth.
Unlock all 42 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
Related Titles
By Gary D. Schmidt
