93 pages • 3 hours read
Gennifer CholdenkoAl Capone Does My Shirts
Fiction | Novel | Middle GradeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 19-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part One
Chapter 19 Summary: Daddy’s Little Mess
Wednesday, January 16, 1935
School is lonely for Moose as Scout will no longer talk to him. At home, he is writing a letter to his old friend Pete when Theresa calls him and Natalie outside: Piper is handing out the laundry money and Annie promised that she would buy some candy. Theresa tells Natalie that she can bring her buttons. Piper tries to get Natalie’s attention but she is too absorbed with her buttons; however, when Piper asks Natalie to make the calculation to split their money three ways, Natalie does it instantly. Mr. Trixle tells Piper, Moose, Jimmy, and Annie that the Warden wants to see them inside. All of them are terrified.
Theresa grabs Natalie’s hand and brings her along. Moose is astounded that Natalie is letting anyone touch her. At the library, the Warden explains how disappointed he is and reads a letter from Del Peabody’s father about the laundry operation Del has told him about. In the letter, Mr. Peabody writes, “I am appalled by the extremely poor taste and unseemly behavior of your daughter and her friends” (112), and threatens to go to the San Francisco Chronicle if such a thing happens again. Annie tells the Warden the scheme was Piper’s idea. Jimmy and Moose speak up about Piper as well, but the Warden decides to punish them all. When Natalie chimes in with the amount of money she calculated, the full truth of the operation comes out. Annie and Jimmy hand over their money, but “Piper doesn’t move” (114). The Warden gives them all a stern warning: “if anything like this occurs again, all of your fathers will be dismissed without severance” (115). Throughout the whole meeting, the Warden addresses Moose as if he were involved, even though he and Theresa repeatedly deny he had anything to do with the scheme.
Chapter 20 Summary: Warning
Same day—Wednesday, January 16, 1935
Outside, the kids return to their usual occupations: Natalie is playing with her buttons, Jimmy is trying to build another machine, and Moose is kicking a can around. When Moose accidentally kicks the can, hard, into Natalie’s elaborate button organization, he drops to his knees, sincerely apologizing and trying to put things back together. Natalie remains perfectly quiet and then rolls herself into a tight ball. All of the kids try to speak to her, but it doesn’t work. “Natalie has gone away somewhere deep inside” (118).
Moose’s mother finds them all around Natalie and asks Moose how long Natalie has been this way. Helen angrily tells Moose to get rid of the others because she is embarrassed for Natalie to be “a spectacle” (119). In vain, Moose tries to defend the kindness of his friends to his mother. Moose then finds Cam, who carries Natalie home and puts her to bed.
Mr. Trixle finds them at home and speaks with Cam alone. Then Cam takes Moose outside and asks Moose if he knew about the laundry episode. Moose can only respond that while he was not involved, he was aware of what was going on. Cam takes away Moose’s ball gloves, bat, and ball for not coming forward.
Chapter 19-20 Analysis
These chapters are about the difference between punishment and justice—and the way these concepts relate to the idea of harm and victimhood. Del’s father writes the Warden a letter about Piper’s laundry scheme assuming that his threats to go to the newspapers will get his victimized son justice—in this case, a suitable comeuppance for whomever is responsible. However, as Moose experiences firsthand, punishment is not necessarily fair: Despite the kids explaining Piper’s role as laundry scheme mastermind, her father punishes everyone except her and even threatens the livelihoods of the kids’ families. When the guilty are powerful, they can evade justice, Moose realizes as he sees “Piper lean over and whisper to her father like she’s his buddy, not his daughter. The little slime” (116).
On the other hand, Cam expects Moose to live up to ideals of fairness—he punishes Moose for not alerting anyone about the laundry scheme before it happens. Cam focuses on those harmed by Piper—and on the fact that Moose could have prevented the harm but chose not to.
Sometimes harm cannot be prevented. When Moose accidentally wrecks Natalie’s button display, she becomes catatonic—he has hurt her without meaning to, and his instant deep regret does nothing to redress his actions. Nothing is more painful for Moose than hurting his sister, though the minor crisis does reveal that Moose’s new Alcatraz friends are genuinely good: “Annie’s small blue eyes [show] that she understands” (119) and Theresa believes she has a special bond with Natalie and that she can get through to her like no one else can.
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By Gennifer Choldenko
