- Guess what? Yep, we're going to meet another character. He's Hip Barrows.
- Bookmark this spot too. Hip is gonna disappear for something like a hundred pages after this. If your book is shaped like ours, anyway.
- We learn Hip doesn't have Gerry's hunger or cold, but is surrounded by the hate of his father. Here we go again with the mean fathers.
- Sturgeon tells us briefly that Doctor Barrows, Hip's dad, is merciless and instructs his son with strict morals.
- Hip's childhood is one of curiosity and rising like a rocket. He wins all sorts of friends and awards. But his father's workaholic lifestyle conditions Hip to feel that he's not entitled to these things, as if he's never good enough. Being so young, Hip doesn't realize he feels ashamed of his successes.
- Hip builds cool stuff such as radio gear and his father forbids or destroys it.
- Don't worry. This novel has some happy parts. It just takes a while to get there. Here, cheer up with this picture of kittens snuggling.
- Hip, growing up, continues to win prizes, his father fighting him all the way. Hip begins making his own living as a researcher while studying engineering. He then becomes very popular at the engineering school and joins the ROTC.
- In the Air Force, however, his brilliance is not appreciated, and he becomes lonely.
- The section concludes by leaving us with some suspense. We're told Hip will someday find on an anti-aircraft range an answer, a dream, and a disaster.