A prominent citizen of the village, Mr. Summers owns the
coal company, one of the main businesses of the area. Since he is married to "a scold"
and has no children, Mr. Summers is probably not socially active in the community.
Thus, as a businessman who represents cold capitalism and is alienated from the social
life by both his economic status and personal situation, Mr. Summers easily can be
distant and officious in performing his civic
duty.
Dispassionate and businesslike, Mr. Summers concerns
himself with the immediate by following procedures. For example, he has suggested that
a new black box should replace the old, worn one. He has been successful, however, in
replacing the wood chips for slips of paper. He compiles lists of families, heads of
families and the members in each family. In short, Mr.
Summers
was
very good at all this; in his clean white shirt and blue jeans, with one hand resting
carelessly on the black box, he seemed very proper and important as he talked
interminably to Mr. Graves and the
Martins.
Yet, by the fact
that he talks incessantly, there is a hint that Mr. Summers may be somewhat ill at
ease about his duties. Nevertheless, he conducts business: "...guess we better get
started, get this over with, so's we can go back to work. Anybody ain't here?" He
waits with "polite interest" when Mrs. Dunbar says that her husband is missing, and
makes a note on his list.
When Tessie Hutchinson's name is
drawn, Mr. Summers's voice is hushed and he says, "Let's finish quickly." This man
without imagination, education, or courage knows only the perfunctory proceedings of
business in which he has enveloped himself, so he desires an end to the proceedings to
which he has been assigned.
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