Chapter+8

Kristin, Alex, and Robyn. Chapter 8: Bad Days: October 1942

A changed Alvin returns home to visit the Roth family. His amateur gambling days have turned serious, where he now is involved in a big gambling empire in Philadelphia. Alvin and Herman get into a serious fight, over Alvin's new "lifestyle" and Herman's lack of respect for it, are both severly injured, and tear the flat apart while they are at it. Alvin once again leaves the house. Outside of the house, the earlier-established Newark Committee of Concerned Jewish Citizens battle with the vigilante group of Jewish ne'er-do-wells, and shots are fired. Fearing that a pogrom is starting in their neighborhood, Herman rashly decides that the other families who emmigrated to Canada had been right all along and decides finally to take his family there. His decision, however, comes too late. Now, Lindbergh and his entire plane have mysteriously disappeared, which causes the government to close access to the Canadian border and a search for the president is enacted across the nation. After no sign of him has been found, speculation builds that Lindbergh is in Germany and purposefully crashed his plane in the ocean somewhere where the Germans could then pick him up. The acting president Wheeler states that Jewish conspirators are responsible for Lindbergh's disappearance as well as all the riots, and people supposed to have been involved with the disappearance, such as Mayor LaGuardia, Rabbi Bengelsdorf, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, are arrested. Anne Lindbergh is also taken away, but escapes the asylum they place her in, and begs the nation to come to action and hold an election. In this re-election, FDR wins, restores some order and brings the nation into the second world war. Whether this is the "truth" or not we never find out, a story is later told by Aunt Evelyn that Lindbergh was indeed acting in concurrence with the Third Reich. We learn that Rabbi Begelsdorf //may// have been told by Mrs. Lindbergh that their child, who is supposed to be dead, was actually taken into German custody and was being used as a sort of pawn to make the Lindberghs do what Hitler pleased. The whole of Lindbergh's election and poilitical strategies were being controlled by the Nazis. (We as readers do not ever know whether to take this as the truth for Aunt Evelyn's mental capacity is in question near the end of this chapter, when this conversation with Mrs. Roth takes place)
 * Chapter 8 Summary:**

The first thing to notice here is that instead of a time frame at the beginning of this chapter all we have is a month and year: October 1942, and the fact that the chapter is entitled "Bad Days" doesn't necessarily get you to start thinking that the "happily ever after" will occur in this chapter. Alvin comes back in this chapter and is followed by even more grief and heartbreak. It seems as though when Alvin comes back he has it all figured out: a career, a girl, and new friends, but in the end it's as though he is still unhappy and not any better off than he was when he was living with the Roths. The huge drama comes into play when Alvin and Herman get into a brawl that sends them both to the hospital and as far away from each other as possible. There seemed to have been a lot of built up anger and hostility between the two and so this is what caused the fight between the two Roths. This story line is quite a good example of the control turning into "unruly flux", being that Alvin and Herman had a good relationship, and trusted one another but after Alvin going to war, losing his leg, moving out, and now finally coming back, enough "unruly flux" had occurred that everything spontainiously erupted in the Roth household on this particular night. This idea is even noted right in the book, "Before that night, I'd had no idea my father was so well suited for wreaking havoc or equipped to make that lightning-quick transformation from **sanity to lunacy** that is indispensabel in enacting the unbridled urge to destroy." (pg. 293) All in all, Herman acuses Alvin of being ungrateful and Alvin acuses Herman of being the source for all his problems, which is quite ironic in a sense because Alvin was the one who decided to go to war and Herman tried to talk him out of it. I think this is a good lesson learned for the reader at this point becuase it shows that no one is to blame but ourselves for the decisions and consequences that occur in our lives. This chapter also addresses the fact that at one point the people in the Roth's neighborhood believe that a pogrom is occurring right outside their home but in reality it is a "show down" between the city police and the "Jewish police." It shows the ongoing battle with "fear" that the Roths deal with on an everyday basis. It also sheds a great deal of light on Herman as a person. It is a universal thought that the choices a person makes during hardships shows their character the most. The choice that Herman makes to decide to try and flee for Canada shows that although he can be headstrong, and at sometimes stubborn, he is able to concede to a better decision ezpecially if it is to protect his family. Next, on page 301 the chapter changes into somewhat of a diary format which is marked chronologically by the date. Starting off with the Winchell funeral and a memorable speech by FDR, including a great piece of foreshadowing, "Where is Lindbergh?" At first this is in a figurative sense, asking the public to think about why their president is never around, and why he seems to hide in the shadows barely ever addressing the public, such as the pogroms, and when doing so, seems to make his speeches short and sweet, hardly conveying anything to the American public who so lovingly elected him. But then after giving a short speech, he flies away in his beloved airplane and is never seen again. So now the phrase is used literally because the president has gone missing and no one seems to know where he is. Shortly after, the rumors start to fly, and of course they are centered around the fact that the Jewish people must have had something to do with it, which isn't unexpected for the Jews seem to recurringly be a scapegoat. Yet, it feels as though things are blown out of proportion and that something is going on behind the scenes that the reader is not filled in on until the whole story behind the plot is revealed and it seems as though the nation has order again. The "scheme" that is shared focuses on the fact that everything that had to do with Lindbergh getting elected, such as Homestead 42, Just Folks, and right down to Lindbergh's disappearance, was always the plan of Hitler. It explained that Hitler tried to control America and its Jewish population and live out his philosophy through someone that the American people loved. Although it seems pretty far-fetched and unlikely, the reader has to make a choice here: either to believe the story that is told about Hitler being behind all of the madness or to think of all the other possibilities that could have been. It is easier to believe what the author tells us, but is this the best way? No formal conclusion is ever reached however, because at the end of the chapter FDR is re-elected and history is back to the way it was originally intended. Overall, this chapter is a huge turning point for the characters and in a sense gives the reader closure on the national issues that the characters deal with. Lindbergh is gone and FDR is back in office, the way it should have been from the beginning and the way it was in the history of our nation.
 * Chapter 8 Analysis:**