Summary

Fonny’s family arrives – first his mother Alice, smiling tightly with eyes that “begged for mercy at the same time as [they] could not give it” (61), then his two sisters, Adrienne and Sheila, watchful but polite. Finally, there is his father Frank, jovial but tentative. Ernestine takes Sheila out to the kitchen to fetch drinks, while the others sit in the living room make small talk about finding Fonny’s lawyer – Alice speaks of how hard she has worked to try and find a good one, while Frank speaks of his combination of trust and mistrust in the lawyer that Ernestine found because he is young and white. Alice comments that if he would only let go of his hate and trusted in the Lord, Fonny might stand a chance. Frank argues that her “Lord,” who...