Picnic at Hanging Rock Novel
Picnic at Hanging Rock Novel
Picnic at Hanging Rock Novel
This part will examine each chapter of the book, noting the major events and, at times, I'll add a comment in on what
happened.
Chapter 1
Irma is 17.
Mrs. Appleyard warns students about poisonous snakes and ants at the Hanging Rock area.
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Irma wants to support charities when she gets older. (She's will be ultra-rich.)
They get to a circular rock platform and can see the people below.
The girls take off their stockings and shoes. (This is very strange considering there are supposed to be poisonous snakes
and ants.)
Edith yells fo them to come back. She screams and runs down towards the plain.
Chapter 4
(The part of the book from the start to the disappearance and return of the survivors constitutes only about a quarter of
the book.)
Chapter 5
She talks of seeing a 'red cloud.' (One interpretation: the red cloud consisted of dust particles coming up out of the grand
when the three girls fell into a hole or it could be from a landslide.)
She says she saw Mrs. Mc Craw but she didn't have a skirt on (a very major breech of decorum.)
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
(This could indicate she tried to crawl up out of a hole which would fit with the 'red cloud' theory.)
The doctor notes she should have been dead days before. (8 days without food or water.)
Michael sees a swan at the end of his bed. (The swan comes up several times in the story.)
Chapter 9
The French governess says she will be getting married and leave the school.
Chapter 10
Mike thinks he sees Miranda who turns into a swan. (The second mention of swan.)
Chapter 11
Major thunderstorm.
Chapter 12
Irma visits the gym class but the other girls seem to turn on her.
Irma leaves.
Chapter 13
Dora leaves.
Chapter 14
He gives his job to Tom who will no longer be working for the school.
Chapter 15
Mrs. Appleyard says she expects Sara's guardian to show up that evening.
Diana and a maid check Sara's room and find almost nothing missing.
A gardener is working.
A letter from Sara's guardian says he's coming there to clear up any problems.
Chapter 16
The policeman Bumpher gets a personal letter from Dianna (the French teacher.)
The letter raises doubts about Mrs. Appleyard's claims Sara had left the school.
Bumpher learns from his wife that Mrs. Appleyard is known for flying into rages.
(This raises a question: did Sara fall from a window far enough to cause so much damage to her head or was she,
perhaps, killed and then thrown out the window?)
Chapter 17
This is a newspaper article from 13 years later. The school burned down the following year.
Someone from the Society for Psychical Research had talked to her.