Good Dirt Chapter 24: Broken – Summary and Analysis
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary (complete and chronological)
The morning after receiving Ebby's phone call, Ed takes his usual sunrise walk down the slope from his house. The smell of the cove triggers a recurring thought: If only the jar hadn't been broken. Ed immediately feels guilty for thinking of the jar when his son's death is the greater tragedy. Yet Baz saw the jar lying broken on the ground in his final minutes, and Baz had loved that jar. For the children, Old Mo felt like an ancient relative who shared lessons of resilience. Ed and his wife Soh had used the jar to reassure their children that good could come from bad and that the past could guide the future.
Ed recalls a conversation with Baz about a month before he died. After another unjustified killing of an unarmed Black man, Baz expressed frustration that things would never change. Ed replied that while some bad things repeat, change does happen and citizens can help move things in the right direction. Ed pointed to Old Mo as an example—simply by being made, carried, and kept by the family, the jar helped change lives. Ed saw Baz nod slowly, and felt his shoulders relax.
Like his own father, Ed had shared stories about the jar with his children, but his versions were more invented. He added a good dose of invention to the historical and anecdotal family information. The children loved asking for tales about Old Mo and the creek, or Old Mo and the ship. These stories inspired Baz, ever the joker, to sketch cartoon scenes for his sister Ebby and tack them on her bulletin board. One cartoon showed Old Mo tumbling down a hill toward the creek. Another showed Old Mo as a fugitive in disguise. Ed's favorite showed Old Mo whispering in the ear of a woman in a fringed dress, referencing an ancestor who found shelter in a Wampanoag community on the Massachusetts coast.
The thought of the jar's story is knotted up in Ed's grief. Ebby, traumatized the day her brother died, kept repeating Baz's last words: They broke Old Mo. Ed wishes he had been home. His son is gone, and Ed now sees Ebby as his great unfinished work—his hope for the future. During therapy after the tragedy, the therapist reminded Ed and Soh that other children who witnessed violent loss had grown up to have healthy lives. But back then, Ed only wanted the therapist to undo everything. He stopped going years ago.
His wife still goes to therapy. Ed considers returning, suspecting the therapist would understand his recent obsession with the jar. He imagines telling her about the jar and what he is afraid to say to his wife. Then he remembers how both his children used to sprawl on the sofa in his study to listen to his jar stories. Their favorite story was the one where Old Mo helped Ed and Soh fall in love.
Key Events
- Ed reflects on the broken jar while walking at sunrise, feeling guilty for focusing on the jar instead of his son's death.
- He recalls a painful conversation with Baz about racial injustice and the jar's symbolic role in teaching hope.
- Baz's cartoon drawings of Old Mo, created for his sister Ebby, are remembered as a joyful outlet.
- Ed remembers Ebby's traumatized repetition of "They broke Old Mo" after the tragedy.
- Ed considers returning to therapy to discuss the jar and his unspoken feelings.
- He thinks about the children's favorite jar story: how Old Mo helped Ed and Soh fall in love.
Character Development
Ed is consumed by grief and guilt. His thoughts reveal how deeply the jar's breaking is tied to the loss of his son. He sees Ebby as his "great unfinished work," indicating his sense of responsibility and hope for her recovery. His consideration of returning to therapy shows a slow shift from wanting to erase the past to acknowledging he needs to process it.
Baz (in memory) is portrayed as a sensitive boy on the cusp of adulthood, aware of racial injustice but still open to hope through family stories and humor, shown by his cartoons.
Ebby (through memory) is remembered as a child traumatized by witnessing her brother's death, clinging to Baz's last words about the broken jar.
Soh (mentioned) continues therapy, contrasting with Ed's resistance.
Old Mo (the jar) acts as a symbolic character, representing family legacy, hope, and the connection between generations.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Grief and Guilt: Ed's guilt over focusing on the jar rather than his son illustrates the complex nature of grief, where small losses can become entangled with larger ones.
Legacy and Storytelling: The jar stories are a deliberate tool Ed uses to pass down resilience. Baz's cartoons extend this tradition into a new generation, showing how stories evolve.
Hope and Despair: Ed's conversation with Baz about change contrasts Baz's frustration with Ed's cautious optimism. The jar itself symbolizes the possibility of good emerging from bad—a hope Ed struggles to maintain after Baz's death.
Therapy and Healing: The chapter contrasts Ed's past rejection of therapy with his current openness to revisiting it, highlighting a potential path forward.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter deepens the emotional stakes of the novel by revealing Ed's interior world, which until now has been secondary to Ebby's perspective. It connects the jar's symbolic importance directly to the family's trauma and Ed's role as a parent trying to hold his children together. By showing the jar as a catalyst for Ed and Soh's love story, the chapter adds a new layer of meaning to Old Mo as a unifying force across generations. Ed's consideration of returning to therapy signals a possible turning point in his own healing, setting up future developments in his relationship with Ebby and the family's legacy.
Study Questions and Answers
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Why does Ed think about the broken jar instead of only his son's death?
Answer: Ed feels guilty, but the jar is inseparable from Baz's final moments because Baz saw it broken and loved it. The jar had been a tool for teaching hope, and its destruction symbolizes Ed's struggle to believe that good can come from tragedy. -
How did Baz express his connection to Old Mo through art?
Answer: Baz drew cartoon scenes of Old Mo with stick-figure legs wearing sneakers, or as a fugitive in disguise, and even one whispering to an ancestor in a fringed dress. He tacked them on Ebby's bulletin board, blending humor with family history. -
What does Ed consider doing at the end of the chapter, and why does he hesitate?
Answer: Ed considers returning to therapy to talk about the jar and what he cannot say to his wife. He hesitates because he previously stopped attending, preferring to have the past undone rather than processed.