Chapters 25–32 Summary
Chapter 25: The House of “Do-Right”
Piri wakes up in the hospital, realizing that everyone around him is angry. A cop is always with him and tells Piri that if the cop he shot dies, Piri will “get the chair.” Once Piri is well enough, they take him to Bellevue Prison Ward. Piri’s aunt visits him with news that the family and Trina are devastated for him.
When Piri won’t swap jail time for information, they move him to a place called the Tombs to await trial with Danny. He finds an old friend, Ramón, and they keep each other company as they await trial.
Ramón and Piri are called to court on the same day. After Ramón is sentenced to the electric chair, Piri walks into court with Danny and Billy. Piri is sentenced to five to fifteen years in prison. As he walks out, he hears Louie being sentenced separately: zero to five years. Piri realizes that Louie must have snitched.
Chapter 26: Breaking In
Piri is moved to Sing Sing Correctional Facility and struggles to get his mind right in the first few weeks, acknowledging that fifteen years is a long time. One afternoon, a few guys start trouble with Piri, but he keeps his cool and is “saved” by a guard walking by.
That night, Piri asks another inmate if he can get a shank. The guy agrees but tells Piri not to kill anyone, or Piri will end up with more prison time. The next day, Piri gets the shank but is pulled back to his cell by a guard, who tells him he’s getting shipped out the following day. Piri is placed on a train with other inmates and is sent to Comstock State Prison.
Chapter 27: Mucho Days and Nights in Gray
At Comstock, Piri is put on the paint gang and is sent to study brick masonry as part of his education. He is paid for his work, which gives him some money to buy better food.
There are some days that Piri simply can’t handle the monotony of prison life. He gets into a fight with a man named Little who is actually a part of his social circle—all because they both need to blow off steam. They head to the back of the paint room, and one of the guards, Casey, “ignores” the scuffle.
Chapter 28: Sex in the Can
Piri reflects on the concept of sex in prison. He fights hard to keep the men away from him, but it isn’t because he’s straight. He feels that it’s because he has to remember that the “outside is real; inside is a lie.” As Piri watches two inmates on death row get married in a fake ceremony, he realizes that this is all they’ll ever have. If he accepts prison as home, he will become too used to it.
A few days later, a kid named Tico, who claims to be Piri’s cousin, arrives at Comstock. He’s only fourteen and is the brother of Piri’s friend. Piri, seeing how young and scared he looks, takes Tico under his wing. As Piri tries to offer Tico advice, Tico admits that he’s gotten too close to an inmate named Rube, who is expecting Tico to be his “lady.”
Piri tells him he has two options: become his “lady” or beat him up. Piri tells him what to do the next time he’s working in the shop and assures him that if he fights, he will be left alone.
Chapter 29: No More Mañanas for Us, Trina
One afternoon, Piri is surprised when...
(This entire section contains 1361 words.)
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his number is called, signifying a visitor. When Piri enters the visiting room, his entire family, including his father, is there. At first, Piri thinks about how he wants his father’s approval, but his father shows no love. His internal monologue is interrupted when his sister reveals that Trina got married.
Piri is angry, but he tells everyone that he wrote to Trina from the Tombs and told her to move on. He said that it wouldn’t be fair to her—but deep down, he’s devastated.
A friend, Young Turk, asks Piri about the visit, and Piri says he received bad news. He asks Turk for drugs, and he takes everything Turk offers to try to numb the pain, but he can’t stop thinking about Trina. Eventually, the drugs lull him to sleep.
Chapter 30: Sweatin’, Man, Sweatin’
After four years in prison, Piri receives a parole hearing, but the parole board denies his case. Back at his cell, a guard brings him a slip from the board that says he can reapply for parole in two years.
Piri breaks down. He doesn’t feel he can handle another two years. The next day, Piri tries to go through the motions, but he knows he’s close to blowing up. As Piri walks back to the shop, the prison chaplain stops him and asks how he is. Piri trusts the chaplain and heeds his warning of “keeping his cool,” but a riot in the prison yard pushes Piri to make a hard choice. Piri is torn, not knowing where his true allegiance lies.
Piri’s boys come over to him, but Piri is stuck. He doesn’t want to ruin his next chance at parole, but his heart is pulling him to fight. Thankfully, as Piri turns toward the riot, a guard forces him back.
Inside, Piri sees Dulcien’s cousin and asks what’s happening. He says that the men are yelling about the prison food, but it has turned into a battle. That battle quickly spreads inside; the locked-up prisoners, including Piri, throw things at the guards. The energy is intense, forcing Piri to act in ways he’s against. He hopes he can still get parole.
Chapter 31: God, Ain’t You for Everybody?
Piri receives his high school diploma and several other certificates as he works toward his brick masonry certification. While working on a new building project, he begins to read more about religion and philosophy.
In the yard, he sits with a light-skinned black man named Chaplin, otherwise known as Muhammad. Muhammad reads from the Quran to a small group of inmates. Piri isn’t sure how he feels. Muslims don’t drink or do drugs, they don’t curse, and they don’t eat pork.
A few days later, Piri sits with Muhammad in the mess hall, but it’s clear that Muhammad doesn’t feel Piri is taking religion seriously. Muhammad tells Piri that Christianity is the “white devil’s” way of manipulating and controlling people of color. Muhammad feels that the reign of the “white devil” is over and that white people will pay for the injustice they’ve caused to black people through slavery and oppression.
Piri spends more time with Muhammad, who gives him prayer books and offers classes to help him learn about Islam. After some time, the brotherhood welcomes Piri, giving him the name Hussein Afmit Ben Hassen. While Piri admits that he stops practicing after prison, Muhammad’s teachings and words stick with him.
Chapter 32: Great, Man, Great; I’m Thinking Like a Stone Philosopher
Piri focuses his energy on learning. He acquires a psychology text and struggles through it with a dictionary. While reading, he realizes he doesn’t know himself and begins to wonder what God is all about. He starts to believe that everyone’s soul is the same and that it extends beyond this waking reality.
In the two weeks leading up to Piri’s second parole hearing, the pressure builds in Piri’s heart. He stops working hard and begins provoking people, but the real reason runs far deeper. Piri feels that if he doesn’t get out this time, he’ll go mad.
On parole day, Piri’s mind is racing, but he hears the words he craves. After six years in prison, Piri gets to go home; however, there are two warrants he still has to face. Even so, Piri feels like a new man.
