We Were Liars

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2014

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Part 4, Chapters 64-67Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 4: "Look, a Fire"

Part 4, Chapter 64 Summary

Still in summer fifteen, Gat tells Cady that he feels a victim of racism on Granddad's part. Harris never calls Gat by his name. Gat tells Cady that Carrie refused Ed's offer of marriage because she feared losing her inheritance. Cady and Gat lie on a rock and forget about "every horrid detail of the beautiful Sinclair family" (166).

Part 4, Chapter 65 Summary

This chapter offers a new version of Cady's fairy tale. A wealthy merchant has three daughters. The two younger ones are spoiled and spend their days before mirrors. The eldest alone loves her father. He asks what they want; the two youngest want jewels, the eldest a rose. He steals a rose from a dark house and is caught. The owner, a hideous creature, makes him pay for the rose with a promise. He must give the owner the first of his possessions he sees when he returns home. He sees his eldest daughter. Cady says we all know the beast is "really good and beautiful" (168). But the father never loses his repugnance.

Part 4, Chapter 66 Summary

Still in summer fifteen, Gat and Cady raid Clairmont for chocolate at night, but they overhear arguments among the aunts over who looks after Granddad. Bess feels she has to do more than Penny or Carrie and therefore deserves the Boston house. She also complains that Cuddledown is too small and wants Penny's house, Windemere. Bess says to Carrie that it is wrong for Ed to bring Gat to the island because he is "not one of us" (171).

Part 4, Chapter 67 Summary

Still in summer fifteen, the aunts try to use their children to influence Granddad, but they all refuse. As revenge, the Liars smash the ivory collectibles that Tipper and Harris bought in China.

Part 4, Chapters 64-67 Analysis

The particular social class depicted in the novel has often been associated with problematic racial attitudes. The wealthy WASP elite of New England have long been depicted as racist and anti-Semitic. The novel chooses to depict this demographic’s racism using the character of Gat. He is rejected by the family, and while a large part of Cady's motivation in burning down Clairmont is her dislike for her family's greed, an equally large part is her desire to punish them for hurting the person she most loves. It is interesting to note that as Cady gets closer and closer to seeing accurately what happened and taking full responsibility for her part in it, her fairy tales sound less like fairy tales and become more realistic. She now tells one, for example, about a king who loses his favorite daughter, the only one who loved him truly, to a beast who marries her. Cady, in telling the fairy tale, points out that fairy tales want us to believe that people overcome prejudices easily and learn to love ugly beasts who are good on the inside. However, she notes that reality is different. In reality, the king still feels repugnance. What this version of the fairy tale suggests is that Cady has come to realize that her family's attitudes are so ingrained that they can never change. She is wrong, of course. Ultimately, Granddad Harris does indeed change, but the change comes too late.