Chapter 1 Summary

We meet the main character Hazel (Haze) Motes who is sitting on a train. He shifts his gaze between the passing scenery and the other end of the car. His seatmate, Mrs. Wally Bee Hitchcock, tries to make conversation but Haze pretty much ignores her. He is holding a stiff black hat and is wearing a new suit, but he has an army duffel at his feet. Mrs. Hitchcock had a hard time looking anywhere except Haze's eyes that are the "color of pecan shells" and seem "like passages leading somewhere" such that she keeps trying to look into them.

Haze has been looking at the porter and he excuses himself to go see him. When he gets there, he hints about his hometown, Eastrod, Tennessee. Then, when the porter does not take the hint, Haze "accuses" him of being from there. The...