A Summary of "A Summer's Reading"

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Fill in the blanks to complete the summary of Part 1 of the story George who was nearly 20, had quit high school on an impulse at age 16. He had thought about going to Summer school, but the kids in the class would be too young. He had thought about going to night school but he felt the teachers had not respected him and he didn’t like to be told what to do . He lived in a 5 room railroad flat above a store in a poor neighborhood with his father and his sister Sophie, who resembled him in appearance . His father worked in a fish market and Sophie worked in a cafeteria in the Bronx, they were poor.In the morning he had nothing special to do, so he sometimes mopped the floors or listened to the ball games on the radio and read old newspapers that Sophie had brought home. But made-up stories got his nerves.In the evening , George walked to a park outside his neighborhood. There he enjoyed the feeling of , privacy. He was unhappy with his life but when sitting on a bench in the park, he could dream of a better life for himself. Surrounded by flowers and trees, he dreamed of a private house with a porch, some dough in his pockets and a girl to go with. He wanted many things, but most of all he wanted people to respect him. Fill in the blanks to complete the summary of Part 2 of the story Mr. Cattanzara was a man who worked in an change booth at an IRT station. Though sometimes drunk, Mr. Cattanzara looked sober except for his stiff walk and his wet eyes. Mr. Cattanzara was different from the other neighbors. He read the New York Times every evening from the begining to its end. When Mr. Cattanzara asked George how he spent his summer, George wanted to earn Mr. Cattanzara's respect. George told him that he had decided to pick up his education and that he had begun to read books. Mr. Cattanzara whistled through his teeth when George said that he had decided to read about one hundred books that summer to pick up his education. Mr Cattanzara suggested that they might talk about the about the books one of these days. As time went on, George realized that Mr Cattanzara had spread the rumor of his reading because many people in the neighborhood smiled kindly at him. His sister Sophie was so proud that she gave him a dollar a week allowance. George enjoyed walking around the neighborhood as he could tell that the shopkeepers had begun to regard him highly. Fill in the blanks to complete the summary ofpart 3 of the story. George made up his mind to stay away from the change maker until he had got some of his softback books read, but when he started them and saw they were mostly story books, he lost his interest and didn't try to finish them. He lost his interest in reading other things too. Sophie's magazines and newspapers went unread. She saw them pile up on a chair in his room and asked why he was no longer looking at them, and George told her it was because of all the other reading he had to do. Sophie said she had guessed that was it. So for most of the day, George had the radio on, turning to music when he was sick of the human voice. He kept the house faily neat, and Sophie said nothing on the days when he neglected it. She was still kind and gave him his extra buck, though things weren't so good for him as they had been before. But they were good enough, considering. Also his night walks invariably picked him up, no matter how bad the day was. Then one night George saw Mr. Cattanzara coming down the street towards him. George was about to turn and run but he recognized from Mr. Cattanzara's walk that he was drunk, and if so, probably he would not even notice him. So George kept on walking straight ahead until he came abreast of Mr. Cattanzara and though he felt wound up enough to pop into the sky, he was not surprised when Mr. Cattanzara passed him without a word, walking slowly, his face and body still. George drew a breath in relief at his narrow escape, when he heard his name called, and there stood Mr. Cattanzara at his elbow, smelling like the inside of a beer barrel. His eyes were sad as he gazed at George, and George felt so uncomfortable he was tempted to shove the drunk aside and continue on his walk. Fill in the blanks for the last part of the story. George closed his eyes but when he opened them he could still hear Mr Cattanzara's words. He said George "Don't do what I did". From this George understood that Mr Cattanzara was an intelligent man, but he lived in a poor neighborhood and had a low paying job. Mr Cattanzara was trying to tell George that if he does not take action and read the books then he will never leave the poor neighborhood and he will never achieve his dreams. After talking to Mr Cattanzara George locks himself in his rom for a week. Sophie tries to talk to him and his father cries. After a week, George burts into the street "a shadow of himself". He discovers that Mr Cattanzara has not told the truth to the neighbors. Everyone thinks that George is reading 100 books. In the fall, George goes to the library, counts out 100 books. He sits down at the table to read.