56 pages • 1 hour read
The Smell Of Other People's Houses
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Prologue-Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “Spring”
Prologue Summary: “The Way Things Were Back Then: Ruth, 1958-1963”
Content Warning: This section discusses domestic abuse, sexual abuse, substance use disorder, and mental health conditions.
Ruth lives in Fairbanks, Alaska, and recollects her family before her father’s death. Her father was a hunter, and she recalls him carrying deer home and cutting off the meat. She would touch the animal and feel its heart stopped. Ruth thinks of her parents dancing around the kitchen and recalls her mother’s smell and beauty.
Ruth’s father frequently spoke against Alaska’s statehood and its threat against Alaskans’ hunting and fishing rights. When Ruth was five years old and her mother was pregnant with her sister, Lily, her father traveled to Washington, D.C., to defend Alaska’s independence. Her father’s plane crashed on the way home, and Lily was born a day later. Ruth’s mother experienced a mental health crisis after her husband’s death.
Ruth and Lily were sent to live with their strict, Catholic grandmother. For Ruth, her grandmother’s place smells like “an old person’s house” (4), and she feels homesick. Soon, Alaska achieves statehood, but Ruth only wants to remember the past.
Five years later, on Ruth’s 10th birthday, a devastating flood occurred in Fairbanks. That day, Ruth met Selma, who became her best friend. Things between Ruth and her grandmother remained tense: Ruth felt her heart “all beat out” (7).
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “The Smell of Other People’s Houses: Ruth”
Six years later, 16-year-old Ruth stops hoping for her mother’s return. She meets a boy named Ray and befriends his sister. When Ruth sleeps over, she sneaks into Ray’s bedroom.
Ruth’s grandmother imposes strict Catholic values on her and Lily. She discouraged Ruth from attending dance classes with Alyce, Selma’s cousin, when she was six, believing dance would reinforce her vanity. When Alyce’s mother complimented Ruth’s long blonde hair, her grandmother cut her hair. Ruth thinks a wealthy, popular boyfriend like Ray could make her happier.
One night, Lily returns home with her best friend, Bunny, and Bunny’s sister, Dumpling. Selma is with Ruth. As their grandmother serves dinner, Lily and Bunny argue about whose family is poorer. Bunny claims fish camp provides salmon to her family. Lily asks her grandmother why they don’t have a fish camp, and her grandmother responds that only Indigenous people have fish camps. Bunny is displeased by the generalized term and declares she is Athabascan.
Lily gossips about Dora, whose parents frequent the bar. One night, Dora ran out of her house, chased by her father, Bumpo, who was intoxicated and called her names. Only Bunny’s father confronted Bumpo, but there is a “rule” among the community not to denounce anyone.
Alyce comes to pick up Selma; they live in a more privileged neighborhood. Selma tells Ruth that there is an audition for dancing school in the summer, but Alyce cannot go because of her fishing duties. She says that Alyce’s parents do not get along.
Ruth is only allowed to go out once a month, so she talks with Ray on the phone. Ruth thinks Ray’s house smells better because of a mother’s presence. During their next sleepover, Ray and Ruth have unprotected sex.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “The Ice Classic: Dora”
Dora walks home with Dumpling after school, with Ruth and Selma ahead of them. Dora feels she cannot be friends with Ruth and Selma. Selma often talks about being adopted, which frustrates Dora. Dora thinks Ruth is foolish for dating Ray. She recalls Ray harassing her with racist jokes and sexual suggestions.
Dora stays at Dumpling’s house and wishes they were sisters. Dora is Inupiat, and Dumpling is Athabascan. Dora experiences nightmares due to her father’s past abuse. She is relieved to live in a peaceful household and loves Dumpling’s father. One day, her mother visits her, and they drive to the Salvation Army to buy shoes. Dora is nervous and reserved: Her mother never protected her from her father’s violence. Dora realizes that her mother brought her there to cash their credit and go to the bar. Dora buys herself boots but must return the change to her mother, who is at the bar with her friends.
Dumpling accompanies Dora. Dora swears never to drink after seeing her mother intoxicated. She asks for a few dollars, which her mom’s friend, Paula, gives her. The bartender—one of her mother’s former boyfriends—asks if she and Dumpling want an Ice Classic ticket, a competition with a cash prize. Dora buys one, but Dumpling thinks food was a better idea.
Prologue-Part 1 Analysis
The story unfolds through the perspective of four narrators—Ruth, Dora, Alyce, and Hank. They are all protagonists narrating in the first person. Their intertwined histories are bound by the setting and historical context of rural Alaska and their struggles as young adults Coping With The Trauma of Familial Disruption. Ruth emerges as a primary voice as her narration bookends the story. Ruth considers Alaska’s statehood a turning point in her life, recalling her family “the way it used to be, before all this statehood nonsense” (4). Ruth describes a loving family and a simple, self-sufficient household in Fairbanks, as her father provided food through hunting. The memories of her parents dancing in the kitchen vividly portray the loving relationship between her parents. However, Ruth is devastated following her father’s death and her mother’s mental health crisis, which permanently separates them. Her sister, Lily, does not share Ruth’s happy memories, as she was born the day after their father died. This creates distance between Lily and Ruth, furthering Ruth’s sense of isolation. The memory of her mother’s smell, a motif that permeates the novel, demonstrates Ruth’s emotional, nostalgic interior world.
The struggle of Coming of Age in Times of Change is established as Ruth confronts a new life at only five years old. For Ruth, her conservative Catholic grandmother’s house is a strange place, smelling of “an old person’s house” and making her feel “homesick and suspicious” (4). Ruth connects the change of place with the shift in her emotions; she feels no safety or warmth with her grandmother, and the physical losses of both her mother and father overwhelm her. Tension builds as Ruth’s strict grandmother restricts her freedoms, pushing Ruth to rebel in order to understand herself during so much change. Her grandmother instills in Ruth the ideas of “guilt” and “sin,” which influence Ruth’s ability to safely explore herself or build her self-esteem. Ruth’s identity was reduced when her grandmother stopped her dancing classes and cut her hair because she feared they would further her “vanity.” Ruth’s hopelessness and isolation are overpowering as she adjusts to life with her grandmother.
Ruth’s meeting with Selma after the devastating Fairbanks flood highlights the importance of Finding Hope Through Friendship and Community: “Lily has Bunny and I have Selma. And that’s why we haven’t gone totally batshit crazy yet, living with Gran” (18). Selma, who is adopted, contrasts with Ruth, as she is “in love with her life” (19). In this sense, both Selma and Ruth have been given new family structures. Ruth’s former connection with Alyce, Selma’s cousin, during dance class also hints at the connection between the narrators, gradually developing the story’s structure and allowing the past to inform the present. Additionally, the meeting between Lily and Bunny at Ruth’s house foreshadows the connection between Alyce, Selma, Dumpling, and Bunny. The scene introduces Alyce’s character before she appears as a narrator, indicating that she is a dancer and her parents are divorced.
At 16, Ruth experiences her first heartbreak which, due to her isolated social environment and unsatisfying home life, becomes another significant turning point and obstacle in her life. Ruth’s relationship with Ray, a handsome boy from a wealthy Republican family, is a source of escapism and hope for her. Ruth seeks a sense of belonging through her relationship with Ray, thinking that a “rich” and “popular” boyfriend would transform her restricted life. While Ruth aimed for Finding Hope Through Friendship and Community, Ray was not the steady and reliable partner she hoped he would be, and their sexual relationship ultimately launches her into a difficult journey of self-discovery as she spends her pregnancy in an abbey.
Part 1 introduces Dora, an Indigenous narrator. Like Ruth, Dora’s family structure has also been disrupted, and her struggles are fairly public, as Ruth narrates the incident of domestic abuse at Dora’s home. Dora’s parents had substance use disorders, and her father, Bumpo, committed domestic abuse and sexual assault against Dora. While the cultural crisis following the shifting role of Alaska is part of each protagonist’s story, Dora also experiences racism and abuse, making her distrustful of people as “a matter of survival” (27). Dora’s struggles reflect the long impact of colonization on Indigenous nations whose rights are even more impacted by issues like statehood, which exacerbate the struggles in her coming-of-age journey.
Despite her inner crisis, Dora relies on the Indigenous community for her well-being. Dumpling’s family provides shelter for her after her father’s arrest. Even though she still meets with her mother, her substance use disorder prevents her from forming a meaningful relationship with her daughter at this point in the narrative. Though Dora is Inupiat and Dumpling Athabascan, they act like sisters. Dumpling’s father contrasts Bumpo’s violent character and becomes a “father” for Dora. Dumpling’s home offers Dora the peaceful and loving family she desires. This powerful communal bond and Dora’s ability to connect with Dumpling’s family despite her experiences highlight the resilience and survival of the Indigenous community against trauma. However, this sudden peace is something Dora will protect fiercely, foreshadowing future tensions with others who are close to Dumpling, as Dora perceives this as a threat to her own safety and security.
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