Chapter 6 Summary

"In Exile" This chapter begins with Alex's joyful, humorous description of a Sunday morning ritual in his neighborhood—several men from the Jewish community would gather to play baseball. Families and friends, Alex writes, and other men (including his father) would gather to watch the game, which Alex describes as simultaneously playful and deadly serious. He says he has fantasies of being part of that life—playing baseball, going home to dinner, spending the evening with family and friends, earning a living during the week. This memory, he adds, suddenly came to him while on a plane on its way to land in Israel (see "Quotes", p. 244) as he fled from his confrontation with The Monkey, terrified that he had contracted a venereal disease from Lina.

Alex then describes the first few days of his visit to Israel—his tours...