44 pages • 1 hour read
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy
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Chapters 5-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary: “The Shrublands”
Dex and Mosscap are nearing the Shrublands, the place where Dex’s family lives. Dex attempts to explain the relationships of all the people in their family, but Mosscap is completely confused. Mosscap suddenly panics that it does not have a gift to offer Dex‘s family, and Dex tries to reassure the robot that it is not necessary. However, Dex suggests that they might buy some cherry wine to take with them.
Mosscap reveals that it can identify birds by their call and calls attention to crown shyness, the way the tree branches overhead form a canopy but do not touch one another. Dex feels bothered that they have not noticed these features of the natural world.
As the pair approach Dex’s farm, Dex is discomfited by the oddness of coming home, a place that both stays the same and changes while one is away. From the farmhouse itself, a loud clamor arises, and Mosscap becomes worried. Dex tells the robot that it is just dinner time. When they enter the house, members of Dex’s family surround Dex and Mosscap, as they hug and kiss them and talk all at once.
After the initial welcome, everyone goes back to dinner preparation, except for the children who stay to ask Mosscap many questions. Dex’s mother brings over the baby, Charlotte, to them, and Mosscap gets to hold her. Dex’s mother gathers the rest of the children and takes them into the house so Dex will have a moment of quiet with Mosscap and the baby. Mosscap is astounded that humans do not remember the first years of their life; Charlotte will not remember being held by a robot, although this moment is so important to Mosscap that the robot will never forget it.
The family gathers for dinner. Afterward, Mosscap circulates around the room asking questions. Dex finds their father, Theo, and shares a beer with him. Theo says that although he is happy to meet Mosscap, mostly he is happy to spend time with Dex. Mosscap is amused at the similarities between Dex and their father, noting that “Genetics are such a delight!” (124).
However, when Theo asks Dex how they met Mosscap, they tell Theo a small lie. Dex tells him, “Yeah, just needed to get off the highway for a couple of nights, take a break” (124). This is untrue; in A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Dex went into the wilderness in answer to some indefinable longing and met Mosscap there. Mosscap notes the lie but does not mention it at this time.
When Theo asks what Mosscap will do after it visits the city, it is taken aback because neither it nor Dex has raised the issue. When Dex’s father asks about Dex’s tea service, they say they have not been serving tea; instead, they have spent their time guiding Mosscap. Theo tells Dex he is proud of them, and then he asks an important question of Mosscap: “What do robots need?” (127). Mosscap is dumbfounded because this is not a question it ever considered in its quest to discover what humans need. As the chapter ends, Dex tries to behave as if nothing has changed for them. At the same time, however, they want to be back on the road.
Chapter 6 Summary: “The Detour”
The final chapter of the book finds Dex and Mosscap making their way to the City for the celebrations and parades surrounding Mosscap’s visit. The longer they walk, however, the more neither of them wants to keep going. Finally, Mosscap broaches the silence between them and says that it would like to go to a beach. Dex agrees, and the two take a detour that leads them to a private beach where they set up camp. They comb the beach looking for driftwood for a fire.
The next day, they remain at the beach, swimming and resting. That night, they have another campfire. They end up staying longer, and on the fourth day, they build their last fire. Mosscap finally raises the question of Dex lying to their father. Dex says that they only did so to keep their father from worrying about them. Mosscap suggests that Dex does not share their feelings or open to people easily, although people find it very easy to talk to Dex. Mosscap also suggests that although Dex does not want to provide tea service any longer, Dex feels like they should. The last time they enjoyed tea was when Mosscap made it for them. Dex reveals that while they believe everyone deserves comfort and compassion, Dex does not believe that is true for them. Rather, Dex thinks they must do more. Mosscap rejects this and argues that Dex is not as kind to themselves as they are to others.
Their talk turns to Mosscap’s question of what humans need, admitting that the question is much more complicated than the robot-kind imagined. Mosscap rethinks the question, dividing it into two parts. The first part has to do with physical needs, while the second is more esoteric and has to do with personal satisfaction. In the second case, people may have everything they need to survive, but still feel a lack. Mosscap asks, “Must a need be unmet if it is to satisfy my question?” (145). Dex also raises their unanswerable question: “How am I supposed to tell people they’re good enough as they are when I don’t think I am?” (145).
In the final pages, Dex and Mosscap decide they can address these questions later. For now, simply being and simply being together is enough. Together, they experience beauty and race into the water to play in the waves.
Chapters 5-6 Analysis
The journey Chambers has constructed over the previous four chapters appears to be coming to an end. Dex and Mosscap have traveled many miles together while simultaneously traversing the difficult emotional and psychological terrain of The Search for Existential Purpose. In addition, The Role of Mutual Exchange and Reciprocity remains thematically important. Although Prayer for the Crown-Shy has not exhibited irony as a literary device up until this point, in the final two chapters, Chambers employs a gentle ironic touch to underscore the themes of her book.
Irony can take many forms, but at its simplest, irony exists when the expectations of readers and/or characters do not meet with actual events. Irony can take the form of surprising outcomes or scenes, designed to illustrate larger issues. In Chapter 5, Dex and Mosscap arrive at the Shrublands. This is familiar territory for Dex, as it is the place where they grew up and where their family lives. A reasonable expectation is that Dex will be able to tell Mosscap all about this area. However, Mosscap shows more understanding and knowledge of the natural world of the Shrublands than Dex does, such as how one can identify an individual bird by the sound of its call. In a more striking example, Mosscap points out the crown-shy canopy of the forest to Dex. Dex had never heard of this term, and they had never noticed the way the trees grew overhead. Dex says they have never noticed it before, and they are troubled by this. They reflect, “The pattern of the trees was spectacularly obvious, now that they were observing it, but it had always been the backdrop to Dex” (110). The observation demonstrates how blind people can be to their surroundings, and how little notice people sometimes give to nature. The irony lies in Mosscap, a mechanical being, noticing more about a landscape than Dex, a native biological creature.
Dex also experiences irony as they enter the farmyard. Dex thinks,
[I]t was always a strange thing, coming home. Coming home means that you had, at one point, left it and, in doing so, irreversibly changed. How odd, then, to be able to return to a place that would always be anchored in your notion of the past. How could this place still be there, if the you that once lived there no longer existed? (110-11).
The irony lies in the disparity between what one knew in the past and what one does not know in the present. A person knows their home better than any place on earth. At the same time, when someone leaves home, the changes that occur in the person and in the home they left diverge. Thus, coming home is always ironic in that home is never as one expects it to be.
In addition, Dex’s vocation as a tea monk is in itself ironic. It is their job to provide service, comfort, and compassion to those people for whom they provide tea. While Dex demonstrates their own ability to provide this service in an excellent fashion, Dex seems unable to accept comfort and service from others without feeling guilt. Somehow, Dex expects from themself more than they would ever expect from others. This disparity creates an ironic tension in Dex, who longs to figure out their essential reason for being and finally realizes that their own lack of self-acceptance hinders their search.
Finally, Chambers creates irony in the structure of the book and the title of the final chapter, something not evident until a reader has finished the book. Journey stories typically include a beginning in which the characters start their journey, a middle part in which the sojourners learn something, and a final chapter in which the travelers complete the journey. In A Prayer for the Crown Shy, the journey does not end, despite the expectation that the pair will head to the City. Rather, they take a detour and go to the beach where they interact with the natural world and talk about their relationship. What the novel implies, however, extends back to the first chapter of the previous book. In general, a detour takes someone away from the road they want to travel and places them on an alternate byway. Usually, detours are unwanted inconveniences. In the Monk & Robot series, however, Dex‘s choice to leave the road of gardening and take up an alternate path of tea service represents a kind of detour. Next, when Dex leaves the highway and enters the wilderness in A Psalm for the Wild-Built, they cannot anticipate that they will run into a robot. Had they not taken this “detour,” they would have missed the chance to know Mosscap. Finally, at the end of the book as Mosscap and Dex are supposed to be heading to the city, they choose instead to visit a quiet beach. Although it might seem like this is a detour—a deviation from their stated goals and paths—the time at the beach becomes the reason for the book itself. Ironically, what seemed to be a detour is really the next step for the characters in The Search for Existential Purpose, something they never expected to happen.
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By Becky Chambers
