Chapter summaries King Sorrow Joe Hill

King Sorrow by Joe Hill – Chapter 7 (“Six”) Summary & 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

Arthur, Van, Donna, and Allie drive to The Briars, the walled estate of Colin Wren’s grandfather. Colin greets them and explains that his grandfather wrote a textbook on brainwashing for the military. Inside, they meet the housekeeper’s daughter, Gwen Underfoot. Colin’s library contains a Cabinet of Curiosities filled with haunted objects, including a Russian helmet and a ball-peen hammer used in a famous murder. Donna pretends to perform a Nazi salute with the helmet before learning it belonged to Stalin’s seer. Colin reveals that his parents died when his father deliberately drove off a cliff. The group attempts Zener card tests for ESP. Donna and Van initially cheat using mirrored sunglasses, but then Arthur and Gwen try. Gwen correctly guesses several cards, especially after Arthur briefly pictures an undeveloped Polaroid of his mother with a knife held under her eye. Gwen calls nine of the next twelve correctly, proving an eerie connection.

Key Events

  • The group arrives at The Briars and meets Gwen Underfoot, who is doing a crossword in pen.
  • Colin shows the Cabinet of Curiosities, including a helmet and hammer from a famous murder.
  • Donna pretends to perform a Nazi salute with the helmet, not realizing it’s Russian.
  • Colin casually reveals his parents’ death: his father drove off a cliff intentionally.
  • Van and Donna fail to demonstrate ESP; Arthur points out they were cheating via Donna’s sunglasses.
  • Arthur and Gwen try the Zener deck; Arthur is attracted to her but feels guilt about his mother.
  • Arthur’s brief mental image of a Polaroid photo triggers a correct guess from Gwen.
  • Gwen gets six in a row and then nine of the next twelve, establishing she can read Arthur’s mind.

Character Development

Arthur Oakes is painfully aware of his lower social standing among his wealthy friends, yet he finds himself drawn to Gwen. His guilt about the Polaroid photo of his mother (a memory introduced here) shows that his grief and trauma remain raw. He resents his own happiness.

Gwen Underfoot is sharp, witty, and self-deprecating about her family’s role as servants to the Wrens. She demonstrates genuine psychic sensitivity, especially toward Arthur, suggesting she may be more than a minor character.

Colin Wren is revealed to have a tragic backstory (parents’ murder-suicide) and an unflappable, eccentric demeanor. His grandfather’s background in military psychology and paranormal research adds layers to Colin’s own interests.

Donna and Van McBride remain the comic relief, but their cheating and sibling banter underscore the tension between scientific rigor and genuine psychic phenomena.

Allie Shiner is mathematically gifted, using statistics to undermine the need for psychic powers, representing rational skepticism.

Themes, Symbols, and Motifs

  • Psychic Phenomena vs. Skepticism: The Zener card experiment is framed by both statistical probability (Allie) and genuine connection (Arthur and Gwen). The chapter leaves open the possibility that ESP is real, but also shows how easily it can be faked.
  • Trauma and Guilt: Arthur’s involuntary flashback to a Polaroid of his mother with a knife under her eye suggests a repressed memory or a traumatic event that the story will explore. His guilt over feeling pleasure while his mother suffers is a key emotional conflict.
  • Class and Inheritance: Colin’s grandfather’s wealth and the “Underfoot” family’s servitude highlight class structures. Arthur’s awareness of being the “brokest person in the room” reinforces his outsider status.
  • The Cabinet of Curiosities: Colin’s collection of haunted objects symbolizes the intersection of the mundane and the supernatural, foreshadowing the story’s deeper mysteries. The player piano that plays on its own and the “Corporal Hondo” film hint at constructed spirits.
  • The Polaroid Image: This undeveloped mental picture serves as a conduit for psychic connection. It ties Arthur’s painful past to the present experiment, suggesting that unresolved trauma may unlock paranormal abilities.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 7 serves as both a social gathering and a laboratory for testing the novel’s central question: Can the mind communicate beyond normal senses? Arthur and Gwen’s success with the Zener deck establishes a romantic subplot and a psychic partnership that likely will have consequences later. Colin’s backstory—his parents’ death and his grandfather’s research—provides a foundation for the paranormal elements. Arthur’s Polaroid memory introduces a major plot thread that will demand resolution, tying his personal trauma to the larger supernatural narrative. The chapter also deepens the theme of belief versus evidence, setting up conflicts between rational science and inexplicable experience.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the chapter question the reliability of the Zener card experiments?
The experiments are shown to be easily cheated: Donna uses mirrored sunglasses to see Van’s card, and Arthur points out the trick. Allie Shiner argues that statistics can replicate psychic predictions. Yet when Arthur and Gwen connect emotionally, Gwen guesses correctly far beyond chance, suggesting that true psychic connection may require emotional openness rather than mere parlor tricks.

2. What does Arthur’s Polaroid memory reveal about his psychological state?
The image of a knife held under his mother’s eye in a photograph indicates that Arthur has witnessed or imagines a violent threat to his mother. His guilt over feeling happy while that image lurks shows he is carrying unresolved trauma and perhaps a repressed memory of abuse or danger. This memory will likely drive his actions and his connection to Gwen.

3. How does Colin’s family background inform the story’s exploration of control and the mind?
Colin’s grandfather wrote the textbook on how to “obliterate someone psychologically” for the military. Colin’s own parents died in a murder-suicide orchestrated by his father, a psychiatrist. This legacy suggests that the story is concerned with how power over minds can be used destructively. Colin’s fascination with ESP and paranormal objects may be an attempt to understand or reverse that control.

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