Chapter 2 Summary

This chapter flashes back to the 1970s, when Tom is a football coach and teacher. He and his brother Luke go to New York City to be at their sister's poetry reading. Savannah has become a total New Yorker, loving the city in all its beauty and ugliness. Tom and Luke hold the opposite view and try to urge Savannah to return to the south.

Luke finds that his southern gallantry is not appreciated by the feminists of New York, and when he witnesses a callous robbery of an elderly woman, he is convinced that the city is evil and no place for his beloved sister. In the relationship between the brothers and Savannah, there is an undercurrent of envy on Luke's part. He seems to feel left out of that special bond between twin siblings.

Savannah's poetry reading is a resounding success...