Part 1: The Body, Chapters 1, 2, and 3 Summary

Joyce Carol Oates' novel of personal pain plays out against a backdrop of social issues in a small New York town in the 1950s and '60s. The two main characters, Iris Courtney, a white girl, and Jinx Fairchild, a Negro boy, come from different worlds that collide when Jinx accidentally murders an obnoxious boy, Little Red Garlock, who has threatened Iris. This heinous act joins Iris and Jinx forever in their secret about Little Red but societal issues prevent any true exploration of their friendship and bond.

As the novel begins, a fisherman discovers the dead body of a sixteen-year-old boy named "Little Red" Garlock in a lake near Hammond, New York. After the authorities are notified, Little Red's body is identified by his brother, Morton, and cousin, Edith Garlock, who reveal that Little...