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How It All Goes Down Chapter Summary

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How It All Goes Down
The novel opens, and we're given the initial setup. It's 1942. We're on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, and World War II is under way. The island is being stalked by German submarines that arrived during the nighttime and are targeting the area's oil refineries and tankers.

We're also introduced to the protagonist, Phillip, a young schoolboy who has never seen war before. He's "not frightened, just terribly excited" (1.5). Don't worry; that will change. We also meet Phillip's father, who works for one of the oil refineries and is the reason the family relocated from Virginia to Curaçao. Phillip and his dad have always been close – unlike his relationship with his mom. She's a bit of a nervous type and (as we will find …show more content…

The oil tankers are in danger and many of the sailors refuse to get on board for fear of being torpedoed and sunk. Phillip's mother wants to go back to Virginia with her son, which creates tension with Phillip's father. Once the German submarines blow up the S.S. Empire Tern, a big British tanker, she decides to leave once and for all and is determined to take Phillip with her. Phillip wants to stay on the island with his dad, but his mom books passage for him to sail with her on a ship called the S.S. …show more content…

Phillip realizes that Timothy can't spell, which causes Phillip to feel all high and mighty. Timothy, meanwhile, pushes Phillip to do tasks that he doesn't want to do (like weave sleeping mats). Eventually the situation blows up. Phillip calls Timothy ugly and stupid and Timothy smacks the bratty Phillip in the face. For some reason, this act of violence seems to knock some sense into Phillip. He realizes that Timothy is only trying to help them both survive on the island. Phillip decides he wants to be Timothy's friend and asks Timothy to call him Phillip instead of "young bahss"

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