Summary
Ray goes to visit his in-laws, Leland and Alma, with Elizabeth. Ray becomes irritated by Leland's condescending comments about their new air conditioner. At the same time, he worries about what Montague is going to do to Freddie. He imagines multiple scenarios in which Freddie is killed. Leland starts talking about how one of Elizabeth's childhood friends just got into an exclusive social group called the Dumas Club. Alma says that Ray should consider applying to join but Elizabeth asks her to ease up. The narrator says that Elizabeth's family has come from a long line of wealth.
Leland asks Ray to recount a story from his childhood, but Ray decides not to, as he often feels that Leland makes a spectacle out of his impoverished childhood. Elizabeth says she is feeling tired and Ray takes her home. They find Freddie waiting outside their apartment. Freddie says hello to Elizabeth and May before they go upstairs. He then informs Ray that Arthur is dead.
The story then jumps back in time and recounts the backstory of another member of the Theresa Hotel job team named Pepper. He served in World War II and was a capable soldier. At the same time, it eroded his faith in the decency of other people. Back in the present timeline of the story, Pepper visits Arthur's apartment and sees that there are multiple cop cars parked outside. He learns that Arthur has been killed and feels momentarily sad, as he liked him. The next day, Pepper shows up at Ray's store and tells him they're going to find Freddie and Miami Joe. They make a few stops before getting lunch at a Chinese restaurant. They go to Miami Joe's former residence and are nearly stabbed by his old roommate. They drive away and Pepper reveals that he's met Ray before, in the company of his father, Big Mike.
The next day, Ray's floor salesman, Rusty, tells him that a local cop named Munson stopped by the store. Stressed, Ray returns home and notices his mother-in-law is there. She tells him that she thinks Elizabeth and May should stay with them for a little while. He gets mad at her and they have a heated exchange. He says that he knows she thinks he is not right for their daughter. She calls him several unflattering names. She calls Leland and leaves angrily. Ray goes out and is spotted by Miami Joe.
Miami Joe leads Ray back into his office and asks where the money is. He tells him that, like Ray, he had an unreliable cousin. Then, suddenly, Pepper shoots Miami Joe. Pepper tells Ray to get rid of the body. Ray wraps the body in a rug, drives his pickup out to Mount Morris Park, and dumps it. The rest of the summer ends up being relatively prosperous and Ray sells a number of furniture sets. Later in the summer, Ray receives a package from Pepper containing a ruby. Ray waits a year and then sells it.
The story then jumps ahead two years to 1961, when Ray attends a meeting at the Dumas Club. He is approached by the Club's leader, Wilfred Duke, a well-known Black banker. Duke tells him that to secure membership many people offer donations. He asks for five hundred dollars and Ray acquiesces, assuming that it is simply the price of doing business. Later, back at home, he tells Elizabeth about the meeting. She says all of those men aren't worth his time and that she grew up around them and detested them. The narrator notes that Elizabeth went back to working for a travel agency that helped Black travelers move safely through the South. She was shaken up and angry about the Ku Klux Klan's firebombing of a Black hotel. Ray drops off the check at Duke's office.
Shortly after, Ray returns to Duke's office demanding his money back, as he was denied entry into the club. Duke says he made no promises and then threatens to call the police on Ray. Ray goes back out onto the street. He thinks about how his father used to threaten to burn his enemies' houses down while they slept. He decides to plot his revenge on Duke, biding his time carefully.
Analysis
Social mobility is a key theme in this section. Ray feels constantly insulted by his in-laws. They often make comments about the size of his home and the quality of his belongings. They come from a long line of wealthy Black families who have lived in New York for generations. They were disappointed when Elizabeth chose to marry Ray, as they believed he was beneath her. His interactions with them grow increasingly tense in the events of the novel, as their accumulated digs at his lack of money and hard childhood make him angry. This finally culminates in a heated showdown with his mother-in-law, Alma, after she suggests Elizabeth and May move in with them while Elizabeth is pregnant. Their harsh conversation finally lays bare Alma's class prejudice and Ray's awareness of it. Whitehead showcases the way in which markers of class and status elude Ray and make this very personal part of his life more challenging.
Crime is also an important theme here. Ray is drawn all the way into his cousin's problems as the fallout from the heist continues. He learns from Freddie that Arthur has been murdered. Freddie shows up at his doorstep and then abruptly splits. Then, he is accosted by Pepper who takes him all over Harlem in search of Miami Joe. Finally, Miami Joe grabs him and takes him back to his office to get the stash from the robbery. Miami Joe is then shot dead by Pepper, who tells Ray to dispose of the body using his truck. Ray does so and, later in the summer, receives a ruby from the heist, courtesy of Pepper. These moments show Ray being forced back into the criminal life, as his options for escaping it become more and more narrow. After Freddie gives his name to the other robbers, he becomes implicated in the heist and has no choice but to fend for himself to the best of his abilities. What is surprising, however, is that he demonstrates a clear aptitude for this line of work, managing these tasks more discreetly and efficiently than his cousin, who is a more well-known criminal.
Racism is another significant theme in these chapters. Ray's wife Elizabeth works for a travel agency that helps Black people move safely through southern states, attempting to keep them away from violence and harsh segregation laws. Still, she grows increasingly frustrated with the lack of political progress on the issue of civil rights, as she knows there is only so much her company can do in its limited framework. After one of the hotels they recommend is bombed by a hate group, Elizabeth becomes enraged by the state of affairs. In these brief passages, Whitehead shows the prevalence of violent racism that went virtually unchecked during this period of time. While Elizabeth's job is geared toward protecting Black travelers, its very existence is indicative of the kind of threat they lived under for so long.
Consequences are a recurring motif in this part of the book. Freddie's careless mention of Ray's name sets off a whole chain of events that ultimately forces Ray to become involved in the heist. What Ray recognizes is that attracting attention is bad for business and every crime has the potential for blowback. In contrast, Freddie handles things in a haphazard manner and frequently relies on Ray to get him out of tough spots. He assumes, like Ray's father, Mike, that things will always work out in the end. Their differing perspectives on this matter later have massive consequences for the story, as Freddie's problems only continue to escalate.
Where before Ray was wavering between the "straight" and "crooked" worlds, he suddenly finds himself firmly planted in the latter. After disposing of Miami Joe's body and accepting the ruby from the heist, he is now implicated in the robbery and its bloody aftermath. The story's 1959 section ends on these moments, which show a reversal in Ray's fortunes (he makes a great deal of money) and also portrays his definitive shift into the world of the "crooked."
