"Summer" by David Updike

Journal Entry #1
“Summer” by David Updike
440 Words

Summary
David Updike’s story “Summer” describes one summer holiday of a boy named Homer. He 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, for the most, followed the usual flow of ‘athletic and boyhood fulfillment” (para 11) for Homer and Fred. There were the tennis matches and hiking, the alcohol and hanging out late at night and the reckless driving of both the car and the motorboat out on the lake. However, what made this summer 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 suffered the heartache of regret and longing as he faced his conflict of an “unrequited” love.
The story progressed describing Homers affliction, showing him trying, but failing, to discard his feelings for Sandra. The climax of the story occurs at the very end of the summer when in a family setting, on the last night, both Homer 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 in slang terms as being “friendzoned” or “brotherzoned”. However, in the end the story suggests to me that love comes amidst all else, and though we may not always be able to clearly see it, we must not give up hope that it may be there, for it just might be.
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. If, in turn, it had spun around and allowed Homer and Sandra to openly acknowledge their feelings and kiss, I do not think the story would have been as effective. It would have simply followed the clichéd “happily ever after” ending, which is overused and unappealing to the reader, leaving a taste of dissatisfaction. The sense of silent satisfaction of a secretly acknowledged love is much more touching and real.