Summer provides the reader with a social commentary regarding the division of society along the lines of economic class and gender, among other topics. How is Charity’s fate different from what it might have been had she not been adopted by the Royalls? Is there any way in which her life might have been more authentic had she remained in her original mountain community?

Charity exploits her sexual attractiveness to Lawyer Royall in order to manipulate his behavior in the early sections of the book. Is this behavior that she has come to realize to be effective as the result of her experience, or is she merely responding to his obvious attraction to her? Royall attempts to engage Charity in a sexual liaison, but never forces her to do so. Which character displays the less ethical behavior in this relationship?

Consider the description of the inhabitants of the Mountain, who are the descendants of railway workers who drank or engaged in criminal activities and established what is reputed to be a lawless colony in the woods. Charity is both repulsed by and interested in her family roots in the area, while