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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
