Evicted Part 3: Chapters 17–20 Summary & Analysis

Part 3: After

Chapter 17: This Is America

Part 3 begins with Chapter 17, in which the narrative returns to Arleen, who is still searching for a new place to live. She and Crystal have been getting along well lately. After inquiring about or applying for 25 apartments, Arleen is contacted by a potential landlord, Carol. Carol meets Arleen at the potential unit and asks her if she has been evicted in the last three years. Arleen tells her about all of her hardships and all of the places she has lived. When Carol states that no children can live in the apartment, Arleen lies and says she only has one child. Carol then visits Arleen and Crystal at Thirteenth Street, where Arleen has tried to clean up. Carol is hesitant to let Arleen rent, but agrees when Arleen offers to have the rent deducted from her monthly assistance check automatically.

Arleen and her boys load everything into a moving truck and place it in storage. While trying to secure an interim spot at a homeless shelter for her family, Arleen gets a call that Carol has rented the apartment to someone else. While grabbing the last of her belongings from Thirteenth Street, Arleen instructs her son Jori to remove the $5 adapter that she purchased so the stove could connect to the gas line. At this, Crystal flies into a rage, and Arleen and Crystal argue. Arleen and her sons eventually leave. Desmond points out that “removing the adapter was throwing Crystal’s desperation in her face.” Crystal has previously been diagnosed with multiple mental disorders and requires long-term assistance for mental health and, with an IQ of 70, support to be maintained as an adult.

Chapter 18: Lobsters on Food Stamps

Chapter 18 circles back to Larraine, who is visiting the Human Services Center to try to get her food stamps reinstated. Since she missed a meeting with state services, her benefits were cut off. Despite lacking all of her documentation (which is inaccessible at Eagle Moving Storage), she is able to make an appointment and get her food stamps back. Larraine spends her $80 monthly food stamp allowance on lobster tails, shrimp, and king crab legs. She loves to cook and eats all the food in one sitting back at Beaker’s trailer. Desmond describes a mindset that is popular among people who are at the lowest level of poverty (grinding poverty). Instead of trying to make financially responsible decisions, they realize that even if they save their money, it will not be enough to change their situation. So, they spend the little money they have on extravagant things. Larraine refuses to sell her jewelry for rent money because she believes she will always be poor and might as well have jewelry she likes.

Beaker gives Larraine one day’s notice that he is moving to an assisted-living facility. He writes a letter to the landlord explaining that he will leave the trailer as payment for back rent and that Larraine will be moving out immediately as well. Even though Larraine is caught up on her storage payments, she does not have a vehicle to retrieve her belongings. On a whim, Larraine asks Betty, an older woman who lives in the trailer park, if she can move in temporarily. Betty agrees, and they seem to get along well.

Chapter 19: Little

Chapter 19 returns to Ned and Pam, who have moved to a cheap motel. After a friend agreed to take their three oldest girls, Ned and Pam move in temporarily with their friend Travis, who has an apartment. Ned then finds work customizing motorcycles. Pam tries to find somewhere for them to live permanently, since Travis has limited patience for their baby daughter and Pam is due to give birth soon. Pam finds that many places are not willing to take children, even when she lies and says there are far fewer than she actually has. In an aside, Desmond notes the 1968 Fair Housing Act did not list families with children as a protected class, which allowed landlords to turn them away. In 1988, Congress outlawed discrimination against children and families, but many landlords still openly resist renting to them.

Arleen has called about or applied to 82 apartments without being accepted. She has tried altering her story when talking to landlords: whether or not she is on welfare, has children, has had evictions, or is living in a shelter. She doesn’t know which story would work best. While visiting apartments, she stops by to see her cousin J.P. and son Boosie. Arleen’s three oldest kids were put into the foster care system years ago. Boosie is a crack dealer and Arleen doesn’t like the neighborhood, despite an apartment being open. Arleen is unable to find an apartment but is allowed to stay at the shelter for 29 more days.

Ned and Pam look into more apartments, including some units on the Hispanic South Side. Outside the apartments, Ned makes racial jokes and claims he is willing to live among Mexicans, but never Black people. He uses racial slurs with Pam’s mixed-race daughters. Eventually, Pam gives birth to another daughter and Ned rents an apartment but leaves Pam and two of the girls off the application. He tells them that if the landlord ever asks, they should say they do not live there. Pam thinks about taking the girls and going to a shelter to get away from Ned.

Chapter 20: Nobody Wants the North Side

Chapter 20 opens with Crystal returning to the Lodge after being evicted by Sherrena. Many people who stay at the Lodge connect with other people in similar situations and end up becoming roommates after leaving the shelter, pooling their resources. At the Lodge, Crystal meets Vanetta, a young woman with three children. The two become friends and decide to look for a place together. Vanetta has a trial pending for armed robbery, but she hopes that she will get probation and not a felony conviction. Vanetta doesn’t approve of Crystal’s spending habits nor her regular donations to her church. She points out to Crystal that the church rarely helps her, despite her giving part of her limited funds to the collection plate.

Desmond offers an aside about the history of racial discrimination in housing and how it led to the distribution of people in the different regions of the city. Crystal and Vanetta contact 50 apartments without success. Eventually, the stress is too much for Crystal, and she yells at one of the maintenance people at the Lodge. She is asked to leave within 24 hours. The chapter ends with Crystal standing in the cold rain, calling people she knows who might help. No one answers.

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