Part 2, Chapter 3 Summary

Dr. Copeland and Singer forge a new friendship and begin to spend more time together. The doctor feels that Singer can understand him and his life's purpose unlike any other person. Singer is faithful to him during the doctor's bout with pneumonia. The doctor must deal with the fact that his son, Willie, has been sentenced for assault with a deadly weapon in addition to his illness.

While Willie is in prison, Portia tries to keep the family together and organizes a family reunion for her other two brothers, their grandfather, her father and her husband. Her good intentions fall flat for her father, who has nothing in common with the others and can't even believe that he fathered some of them. They are ignorant, and their conversation is banal. He's baffled to watch them hang on to their illiterate grandfather's...