73 pages 2 hours read

Eleanor H. Porter

Pollyanna

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1913

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapters 23-32Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 23 Summary: “An Accident”

Pollyanna goes to Dr. Chilton to collect Mrs. Snow’s pills. Dr. Chilton seems embarrassed by Pollyanna’s visiting his home and tells her that it is not really a home to him. She supplies Mr. Pendleton’s excuse that women and children are what make a home and asks Dr. Chilton why he does not get married or adopt Jimmy Bean. She then rushes to tell him that it was not Aunt Polly that Mr. Pendleton was pursuing. When Pollyanna tells Dr. Chilton that lots of women would be glad to marry him, he laughs and tells her that has not been the case. However, he mentions that there is one woman in the world that he should very much like to marry.

A few days later, Pollyanna is hurrying home from school and is knocked unconscious by an automobile.

Both Aunt Polly and Nancy are bereft. Aunt Polly summons Dr. Warren who is uncertain of whether Pollyanna has suffered internal damage. When Pollyanna regains consciousness, she sees that Aunt Polly has put her under the charge of a nurse, Miss Hunt, who gives her white pills that send her to sleep.