Summary: Chapter 9
Grant takes Miss Emma to the jail in Bayonne.
When they arrive, they meet two deputies, Clark and Paul. Clark
orders Paul to search through the package Emma has brought for Jefferson.
After a thorough inspection, they allow Emma and Grant into Jefferson’s
cell. They find Jefferson lying flat on his bunk, staring at the
ceiling. Jefferson does not respond to Emma’s questions. He refuses
her food too, merely saying, “It don’t matter.” She asks him to
clarify, and he tells her, “Nothing don’t matter.” In a vague manner,
he asks when they are going to execute him. Emma does not understand
his question, but Grant does. Emma continues to talk, but she cannot
get him to say much else.
Summary: Chapter 10
The next two visits follow a similar pattern. On the day
of the fourth visit, Tante Lou tells Grant that Miss Emma is ill
and cannot go to the prison today. Grant enters the house to find
Miss Emma in her chair, coughing unconvincingly. Grant thinks she
is feigning illness because she and his aunt expect him to go to
the jail alone from now on. Grant is angry and tells them he feels
humiliated performing the duties they ask of him. Through her tears,
Miss Emma apologizes for humiliating him, but says she has no one
else to whom she can turn for help. Grant departs.
Summary: Chapter 11
When Grant gets to Jefferson’s cell, he is unsure of what
to say. He asks Jefferson if he is hungry. Jefferson asks if Grant
has brought any corn, saying that hogs eat corn. Grinning angrily,
Jefferson acts like a hog, kneeling down and sticking his head in
the bag of food Grant brought. Grant watches him carefully and asks
if Jefferson is trying to make him feel guilty so that Grant will
leave him alone. He says white men think Jefferson’s situation is
hopeless. Jefferson does not respond. Grant wants to ask Jefferson
what he is thinking about, but he stifles the impulse.
Summary: Chapter 12
Grant knows he will have to lie to protect
Miss Emma from the news of Jefferson’s disturbing anger, but he
cannot face her. He drives to the Rainbow Club. Sitting at the bar,
he listens to some old men talking about Jackie Robinson and remembers
the excitement and pride the town felt when the boxer Joe Louis achieved
heroic success. He recalls a recurring dream he used to have in
which a young man on his way to the electric chair cried out for
Joe Louis to save him. He wonders if Jefferson would call out to
Jackie Robinson for help.
Grant quickly leaves the bar and walks to the school
where -Vivian teaches the sixth and seventh grades. Grant finds
Vivian working quietly at her desk. He asks her to leave town with
him that night, but she reminds him that they should not be seen
together. She does not want to give her husband any excuse to take
her children. He tells her about his visit to Jefferson’s cell and,
once again, he tells her he wants to leave the South forever. She
says he cannot bring himself to leave because he loves his people
more than he hates the South. Grant says that he wants more than
he has. Before they leave to get a drink, Vivian tells him that
most of the teachers and students at her school know about their
love affair.
Analysis: Chapters 9–12
Grant and Jefferson view each other as foes. During Grant’s
first solo visit to Jefferson’s cell, Jefferson shows that he took
offense at his lawyer’s words, but in the absence of a true enemy
to rage against, he takes out his anger on Grant. Jefferson makes
it clear that being called a hog angers him more than the death
sentence does. Sheriff Guidry says Jefferson can die like a “contented
hog,” but Jefferson is not contented, animalistic, or stupid; he
realizes that his lawyer’s words denied him his humanity, his will,
and his spirit. Like Jefferson, Grant feels trapped and humiliated.
He bemoans having to visit Jefferson, particularly if he has to
go alone. Although Grant does not show the same amount of aggression
that Jefferson does in the cell, Grant’s will to abandon Jefferson
and the South can itself be seen as an aggressive affront. Grant’s
inability to see the good that might come from his visits with Jefferson
prevents him from interacting positively with Jefferson. Instead
of calmly dealing with Jefferson’s outburst, Grant reacts in an
accusatory and almost petty fashion, asking Jefferson if he is trying
to make him feel guilty.
