David Updike - Summer

Summary

David Updike’s story “Summer” describes one summer holiday of a boy named Homer who is faced with the external conflict on an unrequited love. Homer, the protagonist, is spending the summer at his best friend, Fred’s home near the lake. The summer followed the usual flow of ‘athletic and boyhood fulfillment” (para11) for Homer and Fred. The tennis matches and hiking, alcohol and hanging out late at night and the reckless driving of both the car and the motorboat out on the lake was all there. However, what made it all special to Homer was that he had fallen in love with Fred’s sister, Sandra, the antagonist. Sadly, though, she did not seem to really notice him despite all the times they spent together, and so he suffers the heartache of regret and longing as he faces his conflict of an “unrequited” love.
The climax of the story occurs at the very end of the summer when in a family setting, on the last night, both Homner and Sandra are on the same couch. Homer, in a “moment of breathless abandon” (para 16), settles his hand on the hollow of Sandra’s arch as she lay beside him. The conflict is then resolved when, from her reaction, he realized that she also loved him, but thought the love was in the end returned, that was as far as it would ever go.
Student Response
I think we can all relate to Homer’s situation; finding that one girl we fall in love with at sight but feeling that she does not return the feelings despite becoming close. One may express this as being “friendzoned” or “brotherzoned”. However, in the end the story suggests to me that love comes amidst all else, and though not always in the exact form we wish it, we must learn to accept and move on.

Study Question No. 1
I like how this love story relates to the lesser told side of love. It is very satisfying in the way in which it ends as it was less expected.