The Turning: Long, Clear View Summary & Analysis

Vic Lang (narrated in the second person in the chapter) lays awake listening to his parents. His family has just moved to Angelus, and he is struggling to fit in to a town full of invisible divides. Vic misses the suburbs but keeps silent, despite the fact that everywhere he goes in Angelus he feels observed and judged. From the Lang family house, which sits on the crest of a hill, one can see the whole town. At home, Vic frequently takes out his father Bob’s rifle; while he is well aware of the gun safety his father taught him and the need to be careful with it, holding the rifle and looking out at the town through the gunsight comforts him.

Vic tries to fit in but cannot, and in his depression stays home and watches the town from the window. He continues to hold the gun, though Vic’s father always keeps the bolt—necessary for it to fire—in a separate place. Vic plays basketball with blackfellas and falls in love with an older girl, Strawberry Alison, but still feels alienated. On weekends off, Vic’s father takes the family—Vic, Vic’s parents, and Vic’s infant sister—on camping trips. On one of these trips, Vic alone witnesses his sister’s first steps. Back in town, however, things are not going well. The school is burned down, and everyone blames a strange boy who wears a sheepskin coat; Vic often sees him around town. The boy is released without charges. Vic’s father does not tell him what he knows, as a policeman, and though Vic is curious, he does not ask, respecting his father’s silence.

Vic feels no better about the school social, which begins awkwardly and descends into disaster. After several pranks, a girl overdoses in the bathroom. Vic’s father arrives with detectives, and Vic goes home dejected. The next day, someone else has died, too. Crimes and tragedies continue, and people keep asking Vic about them, incorrectly assuming he has information about the investigations from his father. Vic continues to struggle to sleep, overhearing his parents discuss all the awful events that occupy his father’s time at work.

Vic becomes disengaged from school and sports, riding his bicycle around town alone. One day, at the wharf, he almost interrupts a drug deal; he is threatened but leaves without being harmed. The boy with the sheepskin coat is found with his legs broken. People continue to look at Vic strangely; cars follow him on his walk home from school. Vic and his family even feel alienated at the police picnic; none of them feel like they belong in Angelus.

Vic’s father is given a temporary transfer to a posting 100 miles away. Vic is aggrieved, but his father explains that he needs him to be responsible. Vic does his best to help Carol keep house and care for Vic’s sister. Other policemen bring prisoners on work duty to chop wood for their stove. Vic is uncomfortable having the prisoners work for them; even more so, he does not like the way the policemen look at him and his mother. He and his mother agree to have them stop bringing prisoners, even if it means more work for them.

Vic’s bike is stolen off of their porch overnight, but he and Carol do not call the police. One night, Vic hears a crash and runs outside; someone has thrown a beer bottle at their house. Vic’s mother, terrified, berates him, telling him never to run out at night like that again. Vic continues to study, do housework, and stay home, still taking out the rifle to hold it sometimes. He and his mother anxiously await Vic’s father’s return. One day, Vic finds their dog acting strangely; her mother takes it to the vet, who says it is just constipation. That night, however, the dog dies. Vic buries the dog and refuses to go to school that day, which his mother accepts without protest.

A police van arrives an hour later, and Vic’s mother gets in to “sort this out.” Vic is left at home to watch his sister (Kerry); it is unclear how long their mother will be gone. Vic checks on his sister and locks the windows and doors. He takes out the rifle and inserts the bolt; then he loads it with ammunition and watches the town through the gunsight. Feeling besieged, Vic waits by the window. He tells himself that he is safe here, with “a long, clear view,” and can wait until everyone is home safe, as long as it takes.