Be Not Far from Me

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2020

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2, Days 1-3

Part 2, Days 4-7

Part 2, Days 8-15

Part 3

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1 Summary: “Before I Was Lost”

Ashley Hawkins and her friends Meredith and Kavita hike along a section of the Appalachian Trail to meet up with boys from their high school for a party. It’s the beginning of summer vacation for Ashley and her friends, all of whom will be seniors when school begins again. Ashley, an experienced hiker who is at home in the forest, leads the way and finds a deer skull along the way that fascinates her. She gets frustrated with Meredith’s complaints and lack of survival knowledge, but they soon make it to the party site. The boys arrived the day before and were supposed to set up camp, but when Ashley and her friends arrive, they find that the boys skipped fishing and setting up tents in favor of drinking beer and smoking pot. Ashley talks to her boyfriend, Duke, and learns that his ex-girlfriend, Natalie, is coming to the party with her friend Stephanie. Ashley is annoyed, she but knows that Duke’s reaction to Natalie’s presence will matter more than hers.

Ashley and Duke have been dating for three months, but they’ve known each other for years. They share a love for the outdoors and, among their friends, know the most about nature. In her conversation with Duke, Ashley reveals that she’s menstruating, and Duke expresses disappointment that they won’t be fooling around later. Natalie and Stephanie arrive two hours later, and Ashley recognizes how attractive Natalie is. Ashley also notices Natalie flirting with Duke, and she senses the sexual tension between them. Everyone sits around the fire that Ashley starts and drinks beer. One of the boys asks Kavita where she’s from, assuming from her skin color that she isn’t from Tennessee like the rest of them. Another boy, Jason, who has a crush on Kavita, comes to Kavita’s defense. Tension rises as the hours pass and more beer is consumed, and Ashley tries to distract herself from the looks passing between Duke and Natalie. Cory, one of the guys, brings up Davey Beet, a young man who disappeared on the Appalachian Trail two years ago and was never found. Ashley immediately tells Cory to shut up and leaves to lie down in her tent while Duke explains that Ashley knew Davey.

Ashley wakes up later in her tent and goes out to relieve herself. She takes off her shoes and socks to avoid getting urine on them in her drunken state. After she urinates, she hears the unmistakable sound of Duke groaning in pleasure, and she follows the sound to find he and Natalie getting dressed after having sex. Ashley is dumbfounded and angry, and she punches Duke, breaking his nose. They stare at each other and both cry for a long moment until Ashley turns and runs blindly into the woods. She’s still barefoot, and she falls, causing a boulder to roll over her foot and crush it. The pain is overwhelming. Ashley thinks about calling for help, but she is too proud to explain to her friends why she ran off in the first place. She wraps her foot with her shirt and falls asleep, planning to find her friends in the morning.

Part 1 Analysis

As the novel opens, the first paragraph confronts the reader with the bold thematic statement “The world is not tame” followed by an explanation of the wildness of nature that people often forget (3). McGinnis uses the opening paragraphs to establish one of the novel’s themes, Nature’s Wildness. She uses poetic language full of imagery, simile, and metaphor to describe the way the death of one living thing is the cost of the survival of another. The opening statement and subsequent paragraphs also serve as an example of McGinnis’s style that she uses to structure many sections of the novel. She starts with a single dramatic statement and then explains the meaning or backstory behind the statement in several subsequent paragraphs.

Ashley Hawkins is both the protagonist and the novel’s first-person narrator. Her point of view reveals that she understands and appreciates nature more than her friends and that she often struggles to find common ground with her lifelong friend Meredith. McGinnis suggests from the novel’s beginning that Ashley and Meredith’s friendship is imperfect and full of clashes as their contrasting personalities create tension. Ashley’s narration is witty and honest. She is sarcastic and doesn’t hide her feelings. The narration style helps the reader feel close to Ashley’s character from the novel’s beginning as the reader gets access to Ashley’s unfiltered thoughts, like reading her diary.

Although McGinnis does not provide many direct details about the setting, the reader can infer that Ashley and her friends are from a small rural town in Tennessee. They are hiking in the Smoky Mountains on a leg of the Appalachian Trail, a section that Ashley is familiar with from previous hikes. The natural setting allows McGinnis to highlight Ashley’s love for nature and her wilderness skills. Out of everyone in the group of high school seniors, Ashley and Duke are the most knowledgeable and experienced hikers. They have common ground in that they both grew up without much money and made nature their playground when other activities were unaffordable. Ashley, in particular, is known in the group as the wilderness expert, which sets up her character in the reader’s mind for the many challenges she will take on later in the novel.

When Natalie, Duke’s ex-girlfriend, arrives, her presence creates tension between Ashley and Duke and sets the scene for the novel’s main conflict. Ashley’s discovery of Duke cheating on her with Natalie is the inciting incident that pushes Ashley to run barefoot into the woods after punching Duke. This leads to the conflict of her foot injury and separation from her friends. McGinnis also uses the issue of underage drinking to set up this conflict. She shows the way the teens’ judgment is impaired by alcohol and the poor choices that result (Duke cheating on Ashley with Natalie). Nothing positive comes from the night of partying in the woods.