Summary

In Chapter 3, Milkman is twelve and begins to work for Macon Jr. This gives him the chance to spend more time with Guitar, Pilate, and Hagar. Sometimes Guitar and Milkman go to the barbershop run by Railroad Tommy and Hospital Tommy to listen to the men talk about racial inequality. After one of these discussions, Guitar tells Milkman he is angry at white people, and his father's former white boss in particular, after his father was killed in a sawmill accident.

At age fourteen, one of Milkman's legs is shorter than the other. He tries to conceal it in the way he walks. In addition to swaggering to hide the problem with his leg, Milkman is constantly battling other people's perceptions that he is identical to his father. He tries to dispel this thought in how he behaves, such as smoking cigarettes and spending money...