"RachelâÂÂs Summer" is a short story by Charles R. Jackson originally appearing in Partisan Review (Fall 1939) and first collected in ' in 1950 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
The story is a fictional re-configuring of the death of JacksonâÂÂs sixteen-year-old sister Thelma and his four-year-old brother, Richard, both of whom died in 1916 when a locomotive struck the car in which they were passengers. Jackson was 13-years-of-age at the time. In âÂÂRachelâÂÂs Summerâ Jackson changed ThelmaâÂÂs name to Rachel and altered the details of the vehicular accident; his brother Richard does not appear in the short story.
Though appearing in the penultimate Table of Contents position in reissues of The Sunnier Side volumes, âÂÂRachelâÂÂs Summerâ was âÂÂaptlyâ positioned as the final story in the original 1950 collection.
The story is a concise exposure of collective intolerance towards unsanctioned sexuality set in a small American town in the early 20th century.
According to biographer Mark Connelly, Jackson regarded Rachel/Thelma âÂÂas a sacrificial victim, someone chosen to fulfill an unspoken ritual of expiation of sexual fear and guilt.â Biographer Blake Bailey confirms the theme of sacrifice:
The author himself makes this theme explicit in the following passage:
At the center of this tragic tale is a devastating irony; Rachel is kept in the village by her mother merely to deflect rumors she is pregnant out of wedlock. Had her motherâÂÂs fear that her daughter would be stigmatized not been threatened, the girl would have been safely at her grandmotherâÂÂs house in the Catskills on the day of the accident. The motherâÂÂs efforts are for naught: Rachel dies before her condition can be determined by the residents of Arcadia.
The Arcadia community assumes that the girl died for her sins before she could be publicly disgraced. According to some residents, God, in his mercy, had permitted the daughter to be near her mother in the final weeks of her life. Mrs. Birnam knows very well that Rachel only remained in town to disprove suspicions that she had violated the moral codes of the community. As such, she regards the locals as accessories before the fact in her daughterâÂÂs demise.
Mrs. Birnam is denied closure on the matter on her daughterâÂÂs condition at the time of her death, depriving the âÂÂvibrant, beautiful, inquisitive, and rebelliousâ Rachel of redemption: âÂÂ[T]hough she tried all her life to dismiss the rumor, she couldnâÂÂt help seeking reassurance, again and again, [that] it wasnâÂÂt true.âÂÂ