# The Uncalled — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for The Uncalled by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

- [I](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/i.md): In the early morning in the impoverished section of Dexter, Ohio, a group of women gather at the home of the recently deceased Margaret Brent. After much bickering about who should stay to prepare the body, Miss Hester P
- [II](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/ii.md): Margaret Brent's funeral is held in a cold, fireless room. The community gathers, mostly women, and engages in gossip and judgment about her life and backsliding. The Rev. Mr. Simpson preaches a noisy, inconsequential se
- [III](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/iii.md): The women of Dexter gather at Mrs. Davis's home the day after Margaret Brent's funeral to decide the fate of her orphaned son, Fred. After discussing various options and rejecting the orphan asylum, Miss Hester Prime une
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/iv.md): Miss Prime takes in five-year-old Freddie Brent after his mother's funeral. The chapter describes her prim cottage, her rigid personality, and her struggle to care for the child. Eliphalet Hodges visits, and they discuss
- [V](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/v.md): After Margaret Brent's death, the community gossips about the fate of her son Freddie. Miss Hester Prime reveals to Mrs. Sallie Martin that she intends to raise the child herself, while Eliphalet Hodges also shows intere
- [VI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/vi.md): This chapter explores the repressive upbringing of Frederick Brent under Miss Hester Prime, who crushes his natural impulses through strict religious and moral training. An incident at church where Fred laughs at Daniel 
- [VII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/vii.md): At a school picnic, Fred Brent heroically saves Elizabeth Simpson from drowning in a swollen stream, an act that awakens him to his own feelings of love. He flees the crowd in confusion and returns home, where Miss Prime
- [VIII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/viii.md): Fred visits Eliphalet Hodges, who reveals that his horse Old Bess has died. The conversation shifts to Fred's growing feelings for Elizabeth, and Eliphalet shares his own past romantic history with Miss Hester Prime. Mis
- [IX](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/ix.md): Three months after the previous events, Dexter has modernized with paved streets, electric cars, and factories. Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Martin, unchanged gossips, meet for tea and discuss Miss Prime's plan to make Fred a pre
- [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/x.md): Fred Brent continues his studies at the seminary, gaining recognition for his oratorical skills despite the community's prejudice against his parents. He falls in love with Elizabeth Simpson after hearing her sing a love
- [XI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/xi.md): Fred Brent is compelled to preach his first sermon at the Dexter church, facing the congregation that has known him since childhood. Despite his dread, he delivers a powerful sermon on judgment and hypocrisy, confronting
- [XII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/xii.md): Fred Brent is ordained as a minister against his will, faints during the ceremony, and afterward refuses to participate in the celebratory dinner, asserting his newfound independence from Mrs. Hodges' control.
- [XIII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/xiii.md): Fred Brent struggles with the burdens of his pastoral role in Dexter, finding solace in study and work. He becomes engaged to Elizabeth Simpson, and the couple plans to marry at the end of his first pastoral year. Howeve
- [XIV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/xiv.md): After his confrontation with the congregation, Fred Brent decides to leave Dexter and move to Cincinnati. He packs his belongings and says goodbye to Eliphalet and Mrs. Hodges, who are deeply grieved by his departure. Mr
- [XV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/xv.md): Fred Brent struggles with the lingering effects of his repressive upbringing, feeling trapped by the very discipline he thought he had escaped. He goes out with Perkins to a beer-garden but is intercepted by a temperance
- [XVI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/xvi.md): Fred Brent receives a telegram from Eliphalet Hodges summoning him home. He struggles with his feelings about his father, Tom Brent, who has returned and is dying. After internal conflict, Fred returns to Dexter, where h
- [XVII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/xvii.md): The town of Dexter continues to gossip about Tom Brent's return and death, and Fred's disappearance. Eliphalet and Hester Hodges receive letters from Fred, who has found work in Cincinnati and is growing happier and more

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters