Chapters 14–19 Summary
Chapter 14: Learning Some New ABC’s
The next morning, Brew and Piri wake up at Piri’s family home on Long Island. Momma prepares breakfast as Brew tells Piri what it was like growing up in Alabama.
With Momma’s blessing, they go to Penn Station and cram into a packed train heading toward the National Maritime Union. They procure their papers with the Seafarers and plan on heading to Norfolk, Virginia, the following morning.
While Brew says goodbye to his girl, Alayce, Piri heads home to Long Island. As he showers, he thinks about race and how everyone perceives him as a black man instead of a “Porty Rican,” which fills him with anger and confusion. Piri needs to know once and for all where he stands, and he believes that visiting the South will give him the answers he needs.
Chapter 15: Brothers Under the Skin
As Piri showers, his brother José bangs on the door, needing to use the bathroom. Piri notices his brother’s light skin.
Piri tells José he is going down South to learn more about black men. José is confused, telling Piri he’s Puerto Rican, but Piri disagrees, saying he and Poppa are darker-skinned. José gets upset, claiming that they’re all family, but Piri tells José that they are not white, even if Momma is.
José tries to leave the bathroom, but Piri won’t let him. José tells Piri that he’s tried to explain to others why Piri and Poppa look different from the rest of the family, but this comment infuriates Piri. He punches Jose in the face, feeling as though José has become one of them—“a paddy.”
The fight moves out of the bathroom, and the brothers start beating each other senseless. Poppa breaks up the fight and demands an explanation from Piri. Piri says that Poppa, José, and his other brother James think they’re white. Piri yells about how he knows he’s not white, and they should all be proud.
Chapter 16: Funeral for a Prodigal Son
The next morning, everyone sits down to breakfast, including Poppa, which is a rarity. Piri tells his family he loves them, but they aren’t hearing him. Momma pleads with him not to divide the family, but Piri says the divide is made by skin color. Piri gets up to leave. Momma gives him his blessing, but Poppa says he has a lot to learn. Poppa admits that there are things he may not understand himself, but he is proud to be Puerto Rican.
Piri tells Poppa he should come to the South with him and see for himself that his internal whiteness is only a dream. Poppa offers Piri some money and goes to bed. José tells Piri he can’t help what he looks like or how he was raised, but he loves Piri nonetheless.
Before Piri leaves, he says goodbye to Poppa and apologizes for speaking his truth. Poppa says he understands; he felt the same way growing up with dark skin. He explains that he would play different roles in front of different groups of people. He also mentions that his father named him John Thomas so that he would seem more “American.” The conversation ends, and Piri leaves.
Chapter 17: Gonna Find Out What’s Shakin’
Piri meets Brew at Alayce’s house and talks about their trip. Brew explains why Piri wants to visit the South, but Alayce can’t understand. She feels that Piri is Puetro Rican and culture divides them. Brew gets mad and slaps her for not realizing dark skin is dark skin. He recounts a story of almost being raped by...
(This entire section contains 1390 words.)
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two white boys down South and how he finally fought back. He didn’t kill them, but he came close.
As Brew and Alayce reconcile, Piri tells Brew he doesn’t have to come with Piri, but Brew and Alayce both agree that Brew’s mother would love to see him. The boys go to get Piri’s bags. Piri stops to say goodbye to Trina, but when Brew sees her, he gets confused because he thinks she’s white. Piri explains that she’s Puerto Rican, but Brew reminds Piri why they’re going down South: “White is white.”
In Norfolk, the boys head to the National Maritime Union. The boy behind the window says he doesn’t have any work, but after Brew offers a forty-dollar donation to the Seamen’s Fund, he tells them to come back in two days, and he’ll help them out.
Chapter 18: Barroom Sociology
Brew takes Piri to a bar he remembers called Blue Bell. When they order drinks, they get into a long conversation about race with their waiter, whose name is Gerald Andrew West. Gerald is from Pennsylvania and is writing a book on the black community. Brew starts getting upset because Gerald has never been further South, and Piri becomes annoyed that Gerald is lighter than him.
Gerald hopes to write about uniting the black community and making peace between the races, but Brew disagrees with his premise. He pushes Gerald to talk about his genealogy, which reveals that Gerald is “one-eighth negro” and otherwise has a mix of English, Native American, and Spanish blood. Brew asks how he identifies, and Gerald is unsure, but when Brew asks if he is white-passing, things get tense.
Gerald says he can’t and won’t apologize for his mixed background and how he chooses to identify. The point of his book is to get people to realize that there isn’t one “thing” about a person. Black people can have a white lineage, and vice versa. He knows the burden of all skin colors and struggles to find his place of acceptance, just like Piri.
Brew stops engaging with Gerald, which solidifies Gerald’s point that he doesn’t fit in with the black community. After Gerald leaves, Piri thinks about what he said and understands his troubles.
Chapter 19: Las Aguas del Sur
A couple of days later, at breakfast, Brew asks Piri about Gerald’s proclamation. Piri thinks long and hard and says he just doesn’t know. He feels split down the middle—white and black—and he isn’t sure how to reconcile it, as Gerald has. Brew responds by pointing out that Piri isn’t white-passing, so he’s not sure why Piri is still confused.
They head to the pier and learn that they are going to be mess boys on the James Clifford. On board, the boys are shown their rooms and given orders for work.
When they get to Brew’s hometown of Mobile, Alabama, Piri struggles to understand the racial divide. He walks into a white restaurant and tries to order, but he is told that they don’t serve his kind. Piri is furious. Brew, again, tries to explain the reality of the South.
In New Orleans, the two separate when they find some women, but once Piri gets back on the ship, Brew is nowhere to be found. Piri never sees him or Alayce again.
The ship arrives in Texas, and Piri goes straight for the girls. He has it in his head that he will sleep with a white girl. He becomes friendly with a Mexican man who says that if Piri doesn’t speak English, the white folks will believe he’s Puerto Rican and not black.
Piri’s new friend brings him to a white hotel and assures the clerk that Piri isn’t black. They each get separate rooms and have their way with the women, Piri paying five dollars more for his girl. Piri doesn’t care; he has a plan. He gets dressed, and as he leaves the hotel room, he smiles and tells the girl she just had sex with a black man. The girl is horrified, and Piri runs away.
Piri makes it back to Norfolk and catches a ship to the West Indies working as a coal fireman, but he can’t handle the job. He fakes sick and is transferred to a position as a coal supplier. Piri travels to several countries and learns that he’s black everywhere he goes. The hate grows inside of him, waiting to come out. Piri misses Brew and hopes he’s okay.
