Braine, John - Room at the Top -Chapter Summary

CHAPTER SURVEY

Chapter 1 (p. 7-19):

- arrival of Joe Lampton in Warley, Birmingham
- Mrs Thompson meets him at the station
- on the way home they get to know each other (Joe likes her)
- Joe is impressed by his first own room
- Coffee and conversation with Mrs T.

Chapter 2 (p. 19-22):

- first appearance of Mr Thompson
- Joe and the Thompson recognize the similarity of Joe to Maurice T. (look, job- pilot in R.A.F → killed in an accident in Canada)

Chapter 3 (p. 23-30):

- investigation of Warley
- first time in the Town Hall (where he is going to work)
- Joe enjoys the atmosphere in Warley
- he comes to the decision to become rich (caused by a young wealthy couple which he watches, he is jealous of their wealth)

Chapter 4 (p. 30-42):

- tea with Bob and Eva Storr (theatre gossip)
- on the way to the Thespians Eva is sitting on Joe´s lap, he enjoys it
- Joe sees Susan brown for the first time and immediately falls in love with her
- meets her in the dressing room (little flirt)
- first appearance of Jack Wales, her “boyfriend”

Chapter 5 (p. 42-47):

- work in the Town Hall, Joe likes it
- chief = Hoylake
- Joe talks with Eva about Alice Aisgill his partner in the next theatre play
- Joe is satisfied, because Alice is described as an attractive woman
- Eva does not want to sleep with Joe, although they had kissed each other before

Chapter 6 (p. 47-55):

- first reading of “Meadowes Farm”, went badly
- beer with Alice, get to know each other
- are getting friends
- Alice suggests to ask Susan for a date

Chapter 7 (p. 56-70):

- Joe busies himself with Jack Wales
- invites Susan to the ballet
- flirt with June Oakes in the Town Hall
- Teddy tells Joe that Mr Aisgill has an affair
- second rehearsal in the theatre, went better
- first appearance of George Aisgill
- Joe sees Jack´s home (realizes Jack´s colossal advantages)
- sit-in at the house of the Aisgills

Chapter 8 (p. 70-77):

- date with Susan, she is late
- Joe pretends to be someone else (ballet fan,etc.) to impress her
- he takes her in an exclusive café, normally he does not go into such cafés, because he feels uneasy there
- he notices that “she is his beautiful princess (1st grade)”
- they talk about Joe´s dead parents

Chapter 9 (p. 77-84):

- third rehearsal, Alice and Joe are a team
- they have sex outdoors
- they decide to be “loving friends”

Chapter 10 (p. 84-97):

- Joe spents Christmas at his aunt in Dufton
- tells Charlie about Susan, Ch. Advises him to let her “wait”, to see whether she is interested or not
- Joe visits his parents´ house (destroyed during World War 2, parents killed), painful memories

Chapter 11 (p. 97-106):

- Joe and Alice are together in Elspeth house ( talk about what would be, if Alice was younger)
- Elspeth comes home
- Joe is kind of disgusted by Elspeth, assigns it to Alice
- wants to leave

Chapter 12 (p. 106-115):

- Joe talks with Reggie about Susan (who he did not call), R. says that Susan is talking about Joe steadily
- Teddy, Reggie and Joe talk about the war
- they touch the topic “Alice”, R. and T. seem to know what is going on between Joe and Alice

Chapter 13 (p. 115-120):

- Alice and Joe have a quarrel because she once let her body painted naked
- he thinks that this is not decent

Chapter 14 (p. 120-124):

- he goes through the streets, thinking about the quarrel and why he is so bruised
- realizes that it is his jealousy
- “… they are no better than prostitutes…” Charles once said
- he realizes that he has changed

Chapter 15 (p. 124-131):

- Joe gets an invitation to the birthday party of Sally Carstairs
- wonders if he has chances with Sally
- meets Susan at the party
- kiss each other in the garden and agrre to meet the next day
- they are both enamoured

Chapter 16 (p. 132-140):

- Joe and Susan go to Benton by bus
- they cuddle, but do not have sex
- suddenly he feels alone but then pushes away that feeling
- he has ulterior motives in being together with Susan (she is Grade A, she has a rich father and Joe awaits a good job, etc.)
- he keeps on pretending to be someone else

Chapter 17 (p. 140-146):

- Hoylake indirectly advises Joe not to go out with Susan anymore
- Mr Brown has a great deal of influence (“…if anyone got in his way he´d be utterly ruthless…”)
- Hoylake suggests to concentrate on the girls going to the Civic Ball

Chapter 18 (p. 146-152):

- Joe is of the opinion that he cannot make it in the “rich world”, because of his backround/ Susan is to good for him
- he feels cheap compared to Jack Wales
- remembers Alice

Chapter 19 (p. 152-159):

- Joe and Susan go to the Folly (on the way, he sees a young working-class couple à makes him feel complacent)
- Susan tells Joe, that she is going to the Civic Ball with Jack (her parents do not like that she is going out with Joe)
- they talk about marriage and having children
- what he says to Susan actually is meant for someone else

Chapter 20 (p.159-164):

- Civic Ball
- Mr Brown and Jack invite Joe to a drink, they chat
- he feels queasy

Chapter 21 (p. 164-169):

- Joe phones Alice “…I must see you… I´m sorry about it all…”
- actually he misses sex, he is frustrated of the teenage games he had been playing with Susan
- he tells Alice that he loves her, she feels the same

Chapter 22 (p. 169-174):

- Joe goes out with Susan and Alice at the same time, he is happy with Alice, but does not enjoy making love to Susan, she is just a toy
- he recaptures his youth with Susan
- Alice is unhappy because she thinks that she is too old for Joe
- on his way back he meets Eva Storr, she realizes that he has been with a woman (not Susan)

Chapter 23 (p. 174-177):

- Joe gets a letter from Susan, he chucks with him, because she found out
- he also gets a letter from Charles, he offers him to come to Cumley earlier
- Teddy applies for a better job, Joe tells him, that he does not care

Chapter 24 (p. 178-184):

- Joe and Alice take Charles´ offer and go on holiday together, they behave like a married couple
- he secretly wishes that she was younger
- Alice is jealous of a young girl
- he discovers what real love is like
- he experiences sex newly

Chapter 25 (p. 184-190):

- Alice has to leave, they really love each other (Joe:”…I´ll love you till the day I die…”)
- he meets Charles and Roy, they both have girlfriends, too
- he is not attracted by the young gitl he met before, because he loves Alice that much

Chapter 26 (p. 190-195):

- Charles and Joe talk about Alice, Ch. Does not want Joe to be with her (because of her age and the fact that she is married)
- Joe hast to promise Charles that he will write a letter to Susan and try to get her back

Chapter 27 (p. 195-199):

- Charles had helped to write the letter, Susan comes back to Joe
- Realizes that he cannot have Alice and Warley at the same time, but he does not want to leave Warley in no case
- Susan wants Joe to quit with Alice, but she is in hospital à Joe wants to finish the affair face to face
- Susan is angry because of this

Chapter 28 (p. 199-212):

- Joe gives Ray (who stole some money in the Town Hall) another chance
- Meeting with Mr Brown (meets Jack Wales there, too)
- Mr Brown tests if oe really loves Susan, he wants Joe to marry her because she is pregnant, he also offers Joe a job à only condition: Joe has to leave Alice immediately (he tells Joe, that Alice had an affair with Jack Wales)

Chapter 29 (p. 212-215):

- Joe finishes with Alice, Susan is not the true reason but Jack Wales

Chapter 30 (p. 215-235):

- Teddy tells Joe that Alice is dead (accident with her car)
- he takes a bus out of Warley
- he prowls and gets drunk
- at any time Eva and Bob find him totally drunken and take him home
- he thinks that he is guilty of Alice´s death

“ROOM AT THE TOP is the story of Joe Lampton´s malevolent rise from Town Hall clerk to industrial riches by marrying a millionaire´s daughter, sacrificing true love along the way to reach his goal.”