PAY IT FORWARDA novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde

PROLOGUE 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

THE START OF AN EXTRAORDINARY FRIENDSHIP

CHAPTER 1 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

THE ONE THING I DID RIGHT IN MY LIFE

CHAPTER 2 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

AD TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?

CHAPTER 3 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

BOY BEFRIENDS MAN DOWN ON HIS LUCK

CHAPTER 4 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

MAN ENDANGERS HIS SOBRIETY

CHAPTER 5 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

THEMES Hope

Salvation

Human goodness