Peter pushes Clara’s wheelchair down the slope and smashes it

Peter’s destruction of Clara’s invalid chair turns his resentment at losing Heidi’s company into a deliberate act of sabotage. He pushes the chair down the mountain slope, watches it break apart, and celebrates in secret, expecting the loss to send Clara Sesemann away and restore his old life with Heidi.

Background and Motive

The chair has been readied for the day’s journey, but Peter sees it as a threat to his place beside Heidi. For weeks, Clara has occupied Heidi’s attention: when Peter arrives in the morning, Clara is already in her chair and Heidi is busy with her; in the evening, the same pattern continues. Heidi has not gone out with the goats once that summer, and Peter resents that she will accompany Clara again that day.

His anger is directed not only at the change in their routine but at the chair itself, which he treats as the visible cause of his exclusion. When he finds himself unwatched, he acts on that resentment rather than confronting Heidi or Clara.

The Chair’s Destruction

Peter rushes forward and gives the chair a forceful push toward the slope. It rolls downhill and is destroyed: its feet and arms, along with torn pieces of its padded seat and bolster, scatter across the mountainside. The narration makes clear that the damage is intentional, not an accident.

The scene’s sequence emphasizes Peter’s agency. He first checks that no one is nearby, then pushes the chair, and only afterward seeks a hidden vantage point from which to observe the result. The destruction is therefore both an attack on the chair and a concealed attempt to alter the arrangement that has come between him and Heidi.

Concealment and Expected Consequences

After the push, Peter runs to shelter behind a large blackberry bush. From there he can watch what happens below without Alm-Uncle seeing him. As the chair breaks apart, Peter laughs, jumps, and stamps with delight; he returns to the same spot and breaks into laughter again.

Peter imagines that Clara will have to leave because she can no longer get about in the chair. He expects Heidi, left alone again, to return to going out with him as before. His satisfaction depends on treating Clara’s loss as a means of recovering his former companionship with Heidi, without considering what the destruction will mean for Clara or what will follow from his own action.

Narrative Significance

The episode exposes the self-interest beneath Peter’s jealousy: he does not merely dislike the changed routine but deliberately destroys the object he associates with it. His private celebration contrasts with the damage he has caused and with the trouble the narrator says follows wrongdoing. The chair’s destruction thus marks a turning point in the conflict over Heidi’s attention, while Peter’s attempt to remain unseen establishes his awareness that his act must be concealed.