21. When Will is injured he is cared for by a family of wealthy aristocrats, including their daughter Eloise. Though Will initially thinks she should join them on their trip to the White Mountains, what ultimately changes his mind?
From Quiz The Tripods: The White Mountains
Answer:
She has already been Capped.
Since Will is relatively short for his age, he assumes that anyone smaller than him is younger. He is surprised to discover Eloise is a year or two older than him. Ever since he has met her she has worn a turban on her head. One day when they are playing, he accidentally knocks it off and is shocked to find a Cap on her shaved head. Their relationship becomes somewhat more distant after that. Before this discovery, he says that he imagined their group would be four, not three. After that, more shockingly, he considers allowing himself to be Capped so that he could stay with Eloise.
In addition, this chapter shows that an individual can be Capped and still be pleasant or kind. Eloise and her mother and father all show kindness towards Will. Eloise's mother actually suggests that they would like to adopt or at least foster Will.
One of the criticisms that is raised about The Tripods series is the lack of female characters in the books. The four main characters (Will, Henry, Beanpole, and a fourth who will be introduced in the next book) are all male. Even among secondary characters, Eloise and possibly her mother are the only ones who are female. When asked about this, John Christopher said the general understanding at the time he wrote the Tripod books was that girls would read books about male characters but boys would not read books about female characters. Though I can understand his point, the books do seem to have such a misbalance that even a few additional details or scenes with characters that he does mention (such as Will's mom or Henry's mom or Beanpole's aunt) or a girl traveling as part of this group going to the White mountains) could have done quite a bit to help balance things a bit.