Scar Island

Inside the reformatory, the Admiral orders Jonathan to kneel on a hard wooden structure, which he refers to as “the Sinner’s Sorrow” (11). The Admiral has eyebrows “like two monstrous, bushy cockroaches” and a voice “deep and breathy. Like a dragon’s” (9). The Admiral reads Jonathan’s file and says he has committed “a terrible crime” (10), but he does not reveal the offense. He orders Jonathan to write a letter to his parents.

In his letter, Jonathan writes, “This place is just as terrible as I deserve” (13). The Admiral disapproves of his letter because it speaks poorly of the institution. He orders Jonathan to rewrite it. After Jonathan finally writes a letter that meets with the Admiral’s approval, he sends Jonathan to bed with no dinner because he wasted paper rewriting his letter. He also tells his assistant not to give Jonathan a pillow.

On the way to his cell, Jonathan hears “a slurping growl” (19) emanating from a dark staircase. The Admiral’s assistant, Mr. Warwick, tells Jonathan that a hungry monster lurks behind the door at the bottom of the staircase.

Mr. Warwick takes Jonathan to a narrow cell with a “thin, lumpy mattress” (21), a ragged blanket, and a rusty bucket for a toilet. The cell has “no window. No chair. No desk. No sink” (21). Jonathan, who has not eaten since the morning, asks the boy in the cell next to him if he has any food. The boy warns Jonathan to talk in a whisper. Mr. Mongley, an acting warden for the boys, hears Jonathan and throws a bucket of water on him. Feeling cold and ravenously hungry, Jonathan retreats to the thin mattress and shivers.

The next morning, Mongley marches Jonathan and the other boys to the kitchen, where they prepare breakfast. As he chops onions, Jonathan inhales the savory smells of the bacon, eggs, potatoes, and pancakes. Feeling famished, he is looking forward to the meal. However, he soon learns that the food the boys are preparing is not for them; it is for the adults who run the reformatory. Walter, the boy who sleeps in the cell next to his, tells Jonathan that the boys are usually fed only oatmeal for breakfast.

In the kitchen, Jonathan meets Colin Kerrigan, a small boy who talks with a lisp. Since Colin is small and shy, Jonathan wonders why he ended up in the reformatory and asks him what he did. Colin explains that he is “a kleptomaniac” (37).

The boys must clean up the kitchen before they can eat themselves. One of the boys asks Jonathan to add more wood to the stove, but he declines, saying that he doesn’t like fire.

When Jonathan thinks that he is finally going to get something to eat, Sebastian Mortimer, the school’s resident bully, declares, “No breakfast for the new kid. He didn’t do a thing to help cleanup” (38). Colin comes to his rescue, slipping Jonathan his bowl of oatmeal. Colin reveals that he has a biscuit and sausage hidden in his lap under the table. He eats them instead of the oatmeal.

The weather is cloudy and rainy when the boys gather in a courtyard with the eight adults for Morning Muster. The boys are forced to stand on small stone blocks in a courtyard. If a boy loses his balance and falls off the stone, he must kneel on the Sinner’s Sorrow. When one of the men calls roll, each boy must respond, “Here, sir. Content and well cared for, sir” (42).

The Admiral introduces Jonathan and refers to the “magnitude” (44) of his crime. He then refers to the boys as “bloody, disgusting little scabs” (44). He blames society, which he says is “too tolerant. Too soft” (45). “Society picks you off like the little scabs that you are and flicks you out here to my island. To try to turn you into something better” (45).

As the Admiral rants about working the weakness out of the boys, he waves his sword in the air to add a flourish to his speech. As he is brandishing the weapon, a bolt of lightning strikes the sword, and the electricity snakes down and ignites the puddle where the eight adults are standing, turning it into a “hissing white burst” (47). The eight men all collapse in a pile.

The frightened boys gather around the pile of fallen adults. Colin suggests they check for a pulse to see if the men are dead. Sebastian tells Colin to do it. Colin feels the neck of the Admiral and declares, “He’th dead. […] Dead ath a doornail” (49).