93 pages • 3 hours read
Al Capone Does My Shirts
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BetaChapters 16-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part One
Chapter 16 Summary: Capone Washed Your Shirts
Monday, January 14, 1935
When Moose gets on the boat to school, he sees that Piper has three large bags of laundry. Mr. Trixle, one of the prison guards who has a day off, questions Piper about the bags, but Piper explains that it is a science experiment. The guard doesn’t fully believe her, but let’s her go because “You got an answer for everything […] just like your old man” (99). Moose helps carry two bags without saying a word.
At school, Piper unlocks a supply closet in the home economics room and put the bags in there. Alarmed by her casual disregard of any rules, Moose wants “to stay away from her” (100), but at lunch, he sees her carrying the laundry bags and comes to help.
Scout finds Moose and tells him there will be a baseball game on Tuesday. Moose is overjoyed that he will be able to play.
Piper hands out the laundered clothes to the kids, and they are not happy. They were expecting blood or bullet holes but the shirts are just clean. There’s no way to tell that Alcatraz prisoners actually washed them. A student named Del is particularly mad, accusing Piper of conning the whole class out of their money.
Chapter 17 Summary: Baseball on Tuesday
Same day—Monday, January 14, 1935
At home, Moose learns that his mother has changed her piano classes to Tuesdays instead of Mondays and he is miserable. He asked Scout to change the baseball game days to Tuesdays and now he cannot believe that he will have to ask him to switch back. Moose pleads with his mother to go back to Mondays, or to find someone else to look after Natalie. She cannot and asks Moose to make sacrifices: “We all have to help out, Moose. That’s the only way this is going to work” (104).
Chapter 18 Summary: Not on My Team
Tuesday, January 15, 1935
When Scout finds Moose before school starts, he chats excitedly about their baseball game. Moose wants to tell him the truth but struggles. He wishes he could lie or come up with some excuse, but “that’s a rotten thing to do. I’m not a liar and I’m not a rat” (106).
At the end of the day, Moose overhears Piper telling Scout that Moose is a great baseball player and discussing convict baseballs. Piper then tells Moose that he is not getting any of the laundry money.
When Moose finally tells Scout that he cannot go to the game, Scout is not happy. Scout tries to convince Moose to find someone to watch Natalie, even asking Piper if she would do it. She refuses. The only time Moose can play is during lunch. Scout, visibly upset, does not accept Moose’s apology. When Scout leaves, he angrily snaps that Moose should not “expect to play on [his] team again” (108).
At home, the moment that Moose is alone with Natalie he gives her back her button box and “as much lemon cake as she wants” (108). He is “not sorry about it either” (108).
Chapters 16-18 Analysis
These chapters consider the theme of following and breaking the rules. Piper breaks the rules in a self-serving way, lying to Mr. Trixle, breaking into the supply closet, and of course, the whole laundry escapade. Somewhat predictably, her disregard for ethical behavior makes her a disloyal and unreliable conspirator. As soon as the classmates Piper has talked into paying for convict laundry realize that this only means getting their clothes clean and demand their money back, Piper informs Moose that she will not be cutting him in for a share of the money. Moose, on the other hand, only breaks the rules when motivated by sympathy. Seeing Natalie’s distress at being deprived of her button box, he secretly gives it back to her to make her happy again.
These chapters mark the first time we see concrete evidence of the ways Natalie’s condition means sacrifices for the Flanagan family. Moose has told us about the move to Alcatraz, but since we never saw his life before the island, his complaints were more theoretical. Now, because of the family’s financial difficulties and Helen’s piano lessons, Moose must give up his one happiness since moving to Alcatraz—getting involved with a baseball team—because he has to watch Natalie. By asking for schedule changes repeatedly, he has lost the opportunity to play baseball and has offended one of his only friends.
It is also worth noting how differently Piper and Moose respond to disappointment and setbacks. Piper immediately takes her frustration with her classmates’ annoyance about the laundry out on Moose. Meanwhile, instead of getting angry at Natalie for derailing his baseball schedule, Moose instead lets her have cake—his consolation to himself is being kind to his sister.
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