The Wasp Factory: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Frank’s “greatest enemies are Women and the Sea.” He hates women because he believes them to be “weak and stupid” and inferior to men. He hates the sea because it always destroys what he has built, “wiping clean the marks” he has made. The sea is a “mythological enemy”—both feared and respected. Women, in contrast, are a more domestic enemy, because they “are a bit too close for comfort.”

Frank prepares for the day. He goes through his daily ritual of cleaning himself. He notes that all of his “ablutions” follow “a definite and predetermined pattern.” He dresses himself with similar precision.

Frank leaves the house, and as he walks across the island a few jets fly overhead. He recalls how once a jet made him jump, and in retribution he built a plastic model of a jet and blew it up. Two weeks later a jet crashed into the ocean. Frank likes to think “the Power was working,” but suspects “it was a coincidence.”

Frank goes to visit a sapling he has named the Killer. He recalls using it to fire hamsters, mice, and gerbils across the creek. He explains that this destruction “was all for a purpose…I was looking for Old Saul’s skull.” 

Frank visits the Bunker. The Bunker is an old concrete pillbox guard post, which formerly housed a machine gun. Frank has repaired the rusted door and converted it into a kind of shrine. Inside he has filled it with candles and the skull of Old Saul. He has placed a candle in the dog’s skull, and lights it.

As the candle burns, Frank reflects on the past few days. He then imagines an alternative version of himself, “a tall slim man, strong and determined and making his way in the world, assured and purposeful.”

Frank then begins a ritual—taking the cadaver of a wasp which has been through the Factory, and lighting it on a pyre of sugar and weed killer. He inspects the patterns of the incinerated wasp, but sees nothing.

After his ritual, Frank returns home. Angus has returned and is chopping wood in the garden. Frank offers to make lunch, but Angus volunteers to do it instead.

That afternoon, Frank rides into town on his bike. He buys some air-gun pellets and a new catapult. Then he goes to the café, where he looks at movie posters on the walls and considers his relationship with Angus. Frank and his father have an “unspoken agreement,” that as long as Frank stays out of trouble Angus will buy him almost anything he wants. Frank isn’t sure if he loves his father, or if his father loves him. Frank had hoped to see someone he knew in town, but only sees the storekeepers—Mackenzie who sold him the catapult, and Mrs. Stuart in the café. He explains that he doesn’t know many people his own age. His only real friend is a man named Jamie.

Frank continues, explaining that after “Eric went crazy” it was harder to socialize in town. He became associated with his brother, or else mistaken for Eric altogether. Plus, Frank suspects that many parents guessed about his connection to the deaths of Blyth, Paul, and Esmerelda.

Frank returns home, and makes some bombs from his mixture of sugar and weed killer. He wishes he could use some of the cordite his father keeps locked in the cellar, but it is off limits. The explosive was discovered in an old warship by Frank’s grandfather, Colin Cauldhame. Colin used it domestically to light fires, and Angus did too for a while, but now he just watches over the stash. Frank believes that Angus is so careful with the cordite because of nervousness born out of the explosion with the Bomb Circle, and because of his own “little superstition…something about a link with the past, or an evil demon we have lurking, a symbol for all our family misdeeds.”

Over dinner, Angus tells Frank that the police are searching for Eric on the moors. Angus asks Frank if he has any requests for food to order from town. Frank wants mostly junk food, which Angus criticizes but permits. Angus wonders if Frank is going to town that evening. Frank says he plans to go out tomorrow, instead, and Angus warns him not to get too drunk. Angus claims he can tell how drunk Frank has gotten, and what he has had to drink, based on the quality of his farts. Frank thinks this is nonsense, but admits that Angus is generally correct in his fart-based inferences. 

After dinner, Frank watches television and amends his maps to include the newly named Black Destroyer Hill. He thinks back to a fight he had with local boys from the mainland, which led to him beginning to cache weapons. Although he notes that he doesn’t “want to kill anybody now,” having a secret stash of bombs, as well as his “Defence Manual” full of maps and tactics, makes him feel “secure.”

Frank stays up until almost eleven, and is surprised to hear the phone ring. It’s Eric. Angus comes out of his room and watches Frank take the phone call. Frank pretends Eric is his friend Jamie. Angus accepts this and returns to bed.

Frank checks in on Eric—is he eating right, how is he getting around? Eric insists he no longer has to sleep.  Eric also says he’s mostly eating dogs, which upsets and disgusts Frank. Eric says he shoplifts, but only things he cannot eat. Frank wonders why he doesn’t just shoplift food, and stop eating dogs. Eric responds angrily, “Are you crazy?...These are dogs, aren’t they?” He continues to shout, getting out of control and smashing the receiver until the line goes dead. Frank goes to bed, all the while considering how to better handle Eric over the phone.