Chapter 3 - 4

Chapter 3 (Past 1979)

from the point of view of the teenaged Larry
difficult relationship with his violent, redneck father Carl
reader learns that Carl always picks up a black woman (Alice) and her son (Silas) on his way to drop Larry off at school
Alice and Silas have no winter coats and are shivering the cold
Larry gets aware of "how unusual, inappropriate it was for black people to be getting out of a white man’s truck" (p. 46)
Larry is one of the few white students at Chabot‘s mostly black school (result of government-mandated racial integration)
pickups of Silas and his mother stop after Larry‘s mother Ina found out about them $\rightarrow$ she herself drops Larry one day and hands Alice and Silas coats with the comment "You’ve never minded using other people’s things" (p. 49)
after that incident, Carl completely stops picking up Alice and her son
Larry as overweight, neither athletic or mechanical kid, tries to gain his father‘s love by helping him with his garage
Larry loves listening to Carl‘s racist stories $\rightarrow$ creates illusion of being happy when listening to stories
when one day Larry takes a rifle from his father and heads into the forest, he passes Cindy Walker‘s home (has romantic/sexual fantasies with her)
flashback: Larry made a racist comment to a black girl at school because he wanted to be part of a group of popular boys, gets attacked by that girl and other black students
Larry ends up in front of Silas‘ and Alice‘s shack, Silas discovers him and the shake hands, form some kind of relationship over Alice‘s car and Larry‘s rifle, Larry allows Silas to shoot it and lets Silas borrow it for some time
Silas is grateful for that $\rightarrow$ rifle as a means to secure food (squirrels)

Chapter 4 (Present)

call from Angie, Larry has been shot but is still alive
Silas heads over to Larry‘s house and starts investigating
takes not of the blood and the gun left on the floor where Larry‘s body was found
place hasn‘t changed in the past 20 years
Chief French arrives and starts more formal investigation
Silas preserves footprints and tire tracks
notices the beer in Larry‘s fridge (weird because Larry didn‘t drink)
Larry wasn‘t allowed to have or carry guns
both go home eventually, Silas is supposed to come back during daytime due to better lighting
discuss possible correlation with the Rutherford girl‘s disappearance
message on Silas‘ answering machine from Larry, sent the night before, hinting to something important that he wanted to talk about with Silas

Function

introduction of narrative pattern: shift between past and present
$\rightarrow$ to draw reader more deeply into plot (mystery, friendship), to explore theme of relationship between past and present and the layering of truth through narrative technique
development of the novel‘s thematic interest in racism (black people getting out of white man‘s truck, Larry‘s racist comments to girl at school)
introduction of Carl Ott and Alice Jones
$\rightarrow$ have a siginificant relationship as narration will reveal, Larry‘s mother hints at this relationship
reference to Larry‘s wish for acceptance by his father
$\rightarrow$ sense of loneliness results in culturally and socially inappropriate relationship with Silas
pieces of evidence in finding out truth: beer in the fridge and who brought it there as means to identify the attacker‘s identity, phone message on Silas‘ answering machine
developments in past and present play out novel‘s interest in key themes: relationship of past and present and layering of truth
$\rightarrow$ questions that are asked in past are answered in present and the other way round
$\rightarrow$ answers that are revealed bit by bit cause more questions