Chapter 56: Sunnyside – 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
Three days after Laura was expected, Iris drives to Union Station but finds no sign of her. Reenie reports that Laura boarded the train as instructed, but only her trunk arrived. Richard grows paranoid, linking the disappearance to political enemies or business rivals, and mentions the July march on Ottawa and the Regina riots—a protest he helped derail through a backroom stratagem. After two days the police are alerted, and the story reaches the newspapers, which hunger for scandal. Richard presents Iris as fragile (implying pregnancy) to discourage reporters, and offers a reward. An anonymous tip leads them to Sunnyside Amusement Park, where Laura is working in a waffle booth.
Richard and Iris drive to Sunnyside. The park is crowded and vulgar—roller coasters, shooting galleries, sticky food. Richard negotiates with the waffle booth owner, a large man who claims Laura said she was nineteen; he cashes her in for a reward (less than he anticipated). Laura does not resist. At home, Richard scolds her. Laura tells Iris privately that Richard killed their father, and that she attempted to join the Star of the Sea Convent but was turned away for lacking a true vocation. Laura sobs that she has no life and asks how they can escape “before it’s too late.” Iris comforts her with platitudes, failing to recognise the true danger.
Key Events
- Laura fails to arrive at Union Station; only her trunk is delivered.
- Richard suspects Reds, business rivals, and a conspiracy linked to the July march on Ottawa and the Regina riots.
- A reward is offered; an anonymous caller reveals Laura is at Sunnyside.
- Richard and Iris retrieve Laura from a waffle booth; the owner is paid a reduced reward.
- At home, Richard lectures Laura on responsibility; Laura refuses to apologise.
- Laura confesses her belief that Richard murdered their father.
- She describes her rejected attempt to join a convent.
- Iris dismisses Laura’s despair as “adolescent melodrama” and offers warm milk.
Character Development
- Iris Chase: Shows herself as complicit in Richard’s world—she holds Laura’s elbow during the retrieval, feels like a traitor yet offers shallow comfort. Her internal reflections reveal a capacity for self-deception: she thinks she can “live like a mouse in the castle of the tigers” but later admits she did not see the danger.
- Laura Chase: Demonstrates desperation and moral clarity. She runs away not for adventure but to escape Richard’s house, which she considers corrupt. Her attempt to join a convent indicates a desire for spiritual service, but she is denied. Her crying shows vulnerability and a prophetic awareness of entrapment.
- Richard Griffen: Emerges as controlling and paranoid, linking Laura’s disappearance to his political enemies. He manipulates the press, negotiates the reward shrewdly, and asserts authority in the family. His reference to the Regina riots shows his involvement in oppressive tactics.
- Winifred Griffen: Though not present at Sunnyside, her off-stage voice prioritises reputation: she insists Laura must be sedated and the story suppressed to protect Richard’s political future.
- Waffle booth owner: Represents working-class pragmatism; he turns Laura in for money but shows a shred of sympathy.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
- The roller coaster as a symbol of dangerous escape: The narrator recounts a story that girls would ride the roller coaster hoping to induce abortion. Iris imagines “red streamers” like skywriting—a vivid metaphor for blocked female futures. Laura’s own escape attempt (running away) is similarly desperate and futile.
- Class and “other people”: Sunnyside is a world of “vulgar diversions” where money is counted in dimes. Laura longs to join “other people” in “real life,” but Iris recognises she never can. This motif echoes earlier scenes like the soup kitchen in Port Ticonderoga.
- Reputation and surveillance: Richard and Winifred treat the affair as a public-relations crisis. The press, the reward, and the anonymous caller all show how a girl’s disappearance is immediately politicised.
- The “tigers” metaphor: Iris later reflects that she did not know Richard and Winifred were tigers, and that she herself might become one. This prefigures her own transformation into a complicit or even predatory figure.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 56 crystallises Laura’s entrapment and Iris’s willful blindness. It is the first time Laura explicitly accuses Richard of murder (of their father, Norval Chase). The chapter also connects the personal to the political: Richard’s role in the Regina riots (a historical event) underscores his ruthlessness. The Sunnyside setting contrasts public, plebeian life with the Griffens’ controlled respectability. Finally, Iris’s failure to comfort Laura effectively—offering warm milk and “look on the bright side”—marks a missed turning point that will haunt the novel’s later revelations.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Laura run away to Sunnyside, and what does her choice of workplace reveal about her character?
Laura runs away because she cannot live in Richard’s house after believing he killed their father. Working in a waffle booth at a public amusement park allows her to serve ordinary people—something she has longed to do since the soup kitchen incident. It reveals her desire to escape her social class and find a life of genuine, humble service.
2. How does Richard’s handling of the disappearance show his political ambitions and control?
Richard immediately frames the situation as a conspiracy involving Reds or business rivals, linking it to his role in derailing the July march on Ottawa. He manages the press by portraying Iris as fragile (and pregnant), thereby gaining sympathy while suppressing scandal. He negotiates the reward downward, demonstrating his business instinct. All these actions serve to protect his political future.
3. What does the roller-coaster story (about girls trying to induce abortion) add to the chapter?
The anecdote—told by Winifred—introduces the theme of female desperation and bodily harm hidden beneath pleasure. Iris’s imaginative response (red streamers like skywriting) connects abortion to writing and to unspoken female stories. It foreshadows later themes of silence, pregnancy, and the price of transgression, while also echoing Laura’s own desperate attempt to escape her circumstances.