The Wasp Factory: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

In the morning, Frank cleans himself and visits the loft. He dusts the altar, and adjusts the factory. He makes a circuit of the island, repairing the Sacrifice Poles as needed. He then engages in some target practice, shooting ball bearings and throwing his knife at a tree.  Mrs. Clamp visits for lunch. She reports that a dog is missing in town. Frank jokes it’s lucky Eric isn’t around to take the blame.

After lunch, Frank feels cheerful and energetic. That night he continues to patrol the island, looking out with his binoculars. He sees some smoke, but doubts Eric has generated it. He watches Angus leave home and walk to town unsteadily. Frank suspects he is drunk. This is unusual, and Frank returns home to investigate.

Inside, the phone is hanging off the hook. Frank suspects Angus got a phone call, was surprised by it, and got drunk. Frank debates what Eric’s next move will be. He decides that Eric will definitely get in touch. In that case, Frank will remain at home, in the “center of my power and strength.”

Frank sits in his kitchen, waiting. In the early evening Angus calls incredibly drunk. He tells Frank Eric has been caught, and asks Frank to come into town. Frank agrees to join him, but as he walks into town he notices a patch of telephone wire where birds are not sitting. He gets up to investigate, discovering the telephone wire leading from the mainland to his house has been cut. On a nearby telephone pole someone has nailed a dog’s ear. Suddenly reinvigorated, Frank turns around and runs back to the island. Back at home, Frank is ecstatic to know Eric is still out there. He’s angry at Angus, who he realizes lied to him to try and lure out of the house “just because he was too frightened to face Eric.”

Frank has fallen asleep waiting for Eric. He wakes up to the sound of someone moving around downstairs. He hopes its Eric, but its just Angus, staggering drunkenly to bed. Angus yells for Frank but Frank doesn’t respond. After his father has gone to bed, Frank goes downstairs. He finds Angus’s coat, with keys in the pocket. Frank will finally be able to unlock his father’s study.

Inside the study Frank finds a specimen jar that holds a “tiny, torn set of male genitalia.” Seeing them, Frank cries at his loss.

Frank eventually regains his composure and looks around more carefully. Most of the items in the room are “junk and chemicals,” but he continues to investigate. Frank unlocks a drawer using his father’s key and is shocked by what he finds: inside is a box of tampons, a box of male hormones, and a box labeled KBr. Confronted with this puzzle, Frank begins to work through it. He comes to the conclusion that Angus is, in fact, Agnes, and has been taking male hormones and passing himself off as Frank’s father. Frank realizes he’s never his father without a shirt, and has noticed his arms have very little hair. He takes the tampons, the hormones, and his knife, goes to visit Angus. 

Angus is sleeping in bed. Frank wakes him with two slaps to the face. Frank shows him the tampons and the hormones, demanding some kind of explanation Angus is too drunk to explain anything, and instead tries to escape his violent son. Frank threatens Angus with a knife until he lays still, and then removes his father’s pants. As he does so Angus tries to apologize, explaining drunkenly, “Was an experimen, sall. Juss an expermen…” Frank cuts Angus off by calling him a bitch. Frank pulls Angus’s pants all the way off, revealing his penis.

Frank is interrupted by screams and bleats outside, accompanied by a strange orange light. Looking out the window, he sees a herd of sheep, all set on fire, charging over the hill. Behind them comes Eric, holding a torch and dancing. Frank runs out to greet him.   

Frank arrives outside to find Eric hacking at the cellar door with an axe. Frank yells to Angus to get out of the house. Eric makes it through the door, but drops the torch, changing direction and charging at Frank instead. Frank ducks, and Eric runs into the night. Frank retrieves the torch, which managed not to light any of the cordite in the cellar on fire. However, a burning sheep has collided with the shed where Frank has hidden his bombs, which explodes deafeningly.

Frank goes back inside. The sheep have all died or burned out. Eric has disappeared. Angus is at the sink with a bucket of water and a carving knife. Frank explains the danger is over. Frank asks Angus to sit down and explain some things to him. Angus had brought the specimen jar downstairs with him, and now reaches for it. He knocks it to the ground where it smashes. He takes the specimen from it, closing his fist around it. Opening his hand again, he reveals a pink ball, like “a lump of plasticine, or wax.”