62 pages • 2 hours read
The Blackthorn Key
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Chapters 5-7 Chapter Summaries & Analyses
“Friday, May 29, 1665: Oak Apple Day”
Chapter 5 Summary
Christopher wakes up to Tom urgently knocking on the shop's front door. Tom tries to tell Christopher about the latest murder, but Christopher explains that he already knows. Tom believes local gossip that the murderer is part of a cult participating in human sacrifices and worries that the weather is a bad omen.
Tom has brought Christopher an apple pie from his father's bakery for his birthday. After they eat it, Christopher shows Tom the antimony cube. He explains that the circles on the top show the universe. Tom is surprised to find that the Sun is at the center and shows him the book that accompanied the cube—Systema Cosmicum by Galileo Galilei—to prove it. Christopher shows him that each symbol on the sides represents a planet, but Mercury is missing. Where it should be, there is a black hole. Christopher believes that this is the keyhole and that the missing symbol will help them find the key. He looks in the quicksilver jar for the key, because quicksilver's true name is mercury, but sees nothing. Tom points out that the keyhole is round and that round keys do not exist. Christopher realizes that they must pour the quicksilver into the hole; when they do, the cube opens.
Chapter 6 Summary
Inside the antimony cube, the boys find a new shilling. They can also see how the lock works, as the quicksilver presses down on a lever that allows the latch to open. Christopher starts thinking about how Master Benedict only gave him the present after he refused to go and realizes the cube is a test. Christopher goes up to Master Benedict's room and leaves him a slice of apple pie and the open cube.
The boys debate how to spend the shilling. Tom wants to buy ice cream, while Christopher reminds him that they need to save a penny for eggs. They go out into the streets on the festive public holiday. Christopher feels rich, having never had spending money before. They buy ice cream, then rotten eggs to throw at people who fail to wear a sprig of oak in celebration of the king. However, most people wear them, and Christopher is disappointed. Then, the boys see Stubb, whose oak sprig is about to fall off of his collar. Christopher tries to get Tom to knock it off, explaining that Stubb will know him. Tom refuses, as do two boys playing nearby.
A girl, Sally, overhears them and recognizes Christopher from Cripplegate, where he used to help the cook. This pastime eventually led him to being selected as an apothecary's apprentice when members of the Apothecaries' Guild Council visited. One of the members, Oswyn, noticed his talent for cooking and proposed he be apprenticed to the Guild. Christopher remembers Sally and tells her what he is doing now. In a few months, she will be too old for the orphanage, and Christopher knows that she will most likely be out on the streets then. He gives her his last penny. She asks what Stubb did. Christopher tells her that he threatened his master, and she offers to take his oak sprig off. Once it falls, Christopher throws eggs at Stubb.
Uncertain what to do next, Christopher realizes they are near Hugh's house and wants to go ask about Master Benedict's attack. Before they can go, a raving man calls out to them about traitors, telling them "the Cult of the Archangel hunts" (85), that change is coming, and to protect themselves. Tom pulls Christopher into the crowd, but the words have shaken Christopher. Two soldiers come through the crowd, making way for Lord Ashcombe, who is going to a private garden where men with a shovel and a dog are waiting. Pushing his way to the gate, Christopher watches the men digging in front of a stone angel. Lord Ashcombe pulls a man's arm out of the ground.
Chapter 7 Summary
Tom and Christopher go back to the shop to tell Master Benedict about the murder, but Master Benedict is cleaning up shattered jars. Boar's blood is everywhere, and Christopher starts to clean it up. When Tom offers to get sand to clean it, Christopher tells him to use sawdust. This intrigues Master Benedict, and Christopher explains that they used sawdust to clean messes at the orphanage because it rids the area of the smell. Master Benedict looks out the window, then suddenly throws on his coat and leaves the shop without his sash.
Chapters 5-7 Analysis
Tom’s worry about the weather as a bad omen at the beginning of this section foreshadows the trouble in store for Christopher. This trouble arrives shortly thereafter, in the middle of Christopher and Tom’s holiday celebrations. As Lord Ashcombe and his men dig up the arm, it becomes clear that the murderer has struck again. The rising action in this section draws Christopher closer to danger, as the break-in in Chapter 7 shows. Someone wishing Master Benedict ill has gone through the shop, indicating that they are getting closer to affecting Christopher’s life. Though Christopher does not know it yet, the body Lord Ashcombe found is Hugh’s. Master Benedict had to bury him after he was killed in an accident with the Archangel’s Fire. The boar’s blood that Master Benedict is cleaning up when the boys arrive back at the shop serves as a symbol showing that he is in part responsible for Hugh’s death. Furthermore, it indicates that the danger is getting closer to Christopher.
Throughout the novel, Sands uses physical objects both as symbols and as keys to understanding the story. The theme of their multiple meanings becomes clear in this section as Christopher and Tom explore the puzzle cube. Having Tom present with Christopher allows Christopher to explain elements of the puzzle aloud, letting the reader catch up at the same time Tom does. By pinpointing Mercury as the missing planet—and thus the missing element—in the cube, Christopher again shows how he applies his knowledge to practical problems. Similarly, his examination of the puzzle cube illustrates the rich language apothecaries use, referencing everything from planets and the solar system to more mundane, everyday materials.
The importance of these materials is equally present elsewhere in this section. Notably, the sawdust Christopher suggests for cleaning up the blood has a special significance. He proposes using it only for practical reasons: He has seen it used at the orphanage to get rid of bad smells. However, this leads Master Benedict to consider using sawdust for another purpose. Though neither Christopher nor the reader knows it yet, this purpose is taming the Archangel’s Fire to make it usable. Master Benedict sees possibilities in this apparently ordinary item that can change the world. This parallels his faith in Christopher, as well—an apparently ordinary boy who has extraordinary gifts. Likewise, Master Benedict leaves the shop without taking his sash. This is an everyday item he always wears. After his death, Christopher will take it, showing that he will take his master’s place in the hunt for the truth. Notably, the basic materials in this sash will save Christopher from multiple dangerous situations he encounters later in the book.
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