A Man In Full

Morrie, the forklift driver, survives. Conrad is arrested and offered probation if he pleads guilty to assaulting the security team. Conrad refuses the bargain on principle since he did not initiate the altercation at the impound lot. He is sentenced to jail at the Santa Rita Rehabilitation Center. Jill comes to visit him at the center, where the two talk via telephones across a thick glass window. Jill is upset at Conrad for refusing the plea bargain. Stung, Conrad tells her he did it for their children since he wants to set an example of integrity for them.

The couple talking in the booth next to Conrad and Jill begin having phone sex, with the woman exposing herself to her boyfriend. Conrad recognizes the man as Rotto, a terrifying member of the dreaded all-white Nordic Bund gang. A horrified Jill shields her eyes and begins to cry. Before she leaves, Jill tells Conrad she has asked the bookstore to mail him The Stoic’s Game, the novel he had requested.

Back in his cell, Conrad wonders if his insistence on a principled stance is wrong. He reflects that life in prison is miserable: His filthy cell, which he shares with two other men, Mutt and Five-O, measures five by nine feet and has wire mesh for a ceiling. Across the prison, the threat of rape is omnipresent, especially for first-time offenders like Conrad. When a deputy comes in to hand Conrad the book Jill ordered for him, Conrad is distraught to see that the hardback has been ripped from its cover as part of a security check. Worse, the book is not even the novel he requested but an academic study called The Stoics. Meanwhile, Mutt tells Five-O that on his first day in prison at 17, he was raped by an inmate while two others held him down. After the men slept next to him, Mutt took the hardback belonging to one, ripped and sharpened its cardboard cover, and punctured his rapist’s eye with it.

The memory of the ordeal causes Mutt’s voice to grow loud and high, and the other inmates think he is swearing at them. The prison erupts in chaos, with several inmates throwing filth at Conrad’s cell. The deputies come for Mutt, and Mutt hurts Armentrout, the largest and meanest deputy. The deputies taze Mutt, hog-tie him, and cart him away. Five-O tells Conrad the deputies, who are especially angry because Mutt punched Armentrout in the face, will take him to the rubber room, the insulated torture cell. Mutt will be hurt until his mind breaks. Conrad’s heart sinks thinking of Mutt’s fate.

Charlie and Serena go to the exclusive Piedmont Driving Club for a get-together, despite Charlie’s knee being in excruciating pain. At the club, he meets Inman Armholster, who privately reveals the details of Elizabeth’s ordeal. Elizabeth and two of her friends went to a party at Fareek’s apartment. Though Fareek and his friends appeared shady, the women did not want to seem exclusionary toward the young Black men. Fareek ended up pushing Elizabeth into a room and raping her. Elizabeth’s friends came to the door, and Elizabeth yelled out what had happened. However, Elizabeth is not yet prepared to file charges against Fareek. Her friends, afraid of the powerful lobby that supports Fareek, have refused to testify against him. Inman is gathering details against Fareek just the same so that he has a case when Elizabeth decides to bring charges. Charlie promises Inman he will do everything in his power to support him.

At Wes Jordan’s insistence, Roger goes to a church in southeast Atlanta to secretly record Wes’s rival, André “Blaq” Fleet, addressing a congregation. Roger is unsure about parking his Lexus in this part of town as he associates it with criminal youth. At the church, the influential pastor Reverend Isaac Blakely delivers a rousing sermon, and the choir sings the spiritual “Won’t you stay here in the garden next time, Eve” (382). Roger can’t help but be moved by the soulful rendition. Blakeley announces André’s entry, and the congregation goes wild, chanting, “[G]otcha back.” André tells the congregation that his years playing basketball taught him that a good player focuses on the team’s victory rather than his individual score. The “beige half-brothers” and the Morehouse men who have been mayors for Atlanta are the selfish individualistic players. Atlanta deserves a team player, a real Black mayor, like him. Roger feels André is targeting him, but people around Roger hardly notice his presence.

After Mutt’s departure, Five-O rearranges their cell, calling the tiny space “da home,” a phrase Conrad considers deeply ironical. Five-O tells Conrad that for the hardened gang members in the prison, inmates are divided between players (aggressors) and punks (victims). If the gangsters decide Conrad is a punk, they will come for him. At such a time, Conrad should not engage in a physical fight but rather use his mouth, or his words, to get himself out of trouble.

Conrad gets around to reading The Stoics, which details the lives and lessons of the Stoic philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome. His interest is piqued when he learns that the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, sold into slavery to the cruel Roman despot Nero, did time in prison as a young man. Despite his humble origins, Epictetus went on to become a successful philosopher. Epictetus’s writings often contain a dialogue between humans and Zeus, the king of Gods. Zeus tells humans that although they are mortal, they contain “a portion of our divinity” (398). This divinity is free will and the power to take the right action. The right action is one which is in accordance with an individual’s character.

As an example, Epictetus describes his own response to the imperial decree that philosophers abandon their profession. Epictetus resists, and Nero’s successor, Domitian, threatens him with beheading. Epictetus accepts the threat Stoically, saying that Domitian can do the right action by him, which is to behead Epictetus; Epictetus will stick to his part, which is “to die without quailing” (409). Domitian sends Epictetus into exile. Epictetus writes that every person should act similarly according to their nature in a time of crisis, whether they be a wily fox or a noble bull, which is the Stoic ideal. Conrad finds Epictetus’s message rousing.

However, spotting the gangs and hardened criminals like Rotto in the common areas, Conrad once again feels dispirited. After dinner, inmates bang cups in order to get the resident rapper, Rapmaster EmCee New York, to sing. His song is filled with obscenities and threats of sexual violence. The toxic masculinity in the prison suffocates Conrad. He wonders what action he will take when his time to face atrocities arrives. He prays to Zeus to give him inspiration.

The opening of the Wilson Lapeth exhibition is attended by Atlanta’s elite. Hoping to make her return to society impactful, Martha spent nearly $10,000 on her clothes, jewelry, and makeup, in addition to buying a table at the event. However, when she greets people at the exhibition, she feels they show little interest in her, treating her like a “social ghost,” a woman sans husband or career identity. At Martha’s table, even the guests she has invited, including eligible bachelors selected by her friend, Joyce, talk over her. Martha also notes that people hardly seem moved by Lapeth’s explicit, homoerotic art. In their desire to appear sophisticated, the attendees ignore the fact that the larger-than-life tableaus are shocking.

Peepgass, present at the exhibition, grows progressively more drunk. He notices Martha at her table, looking sad as the men on either side of her talk to each other, ignoring her. Meanwhile, Charlie, who too is unhappy to be at the event, is scandalized by the paintings, which feature “an endless stand of penises” (426). The tension comes to a head when Martha runs into Charlie and Serena. Charlie greets Martha enthusiastically, but Martha feels awful when she sees Serena. She walks away and is accosted by Peepgass. Though Martha cannot remember Peepgass, she begins talking to him.

Conrad immerses himself in the teachings of Epictetus. Epictetus believes adversity is good since it tests people. If Hercules, the hero, had not faced a lion, a hydra, “and unjust and brutal men” (443), he would have led a life of luxury and slumber, an ignoble life. Inspired by Epictetus, Conrad helps out Pocahontas, a young man named for the mohawk he wears, after Pocahontas is brutalized by Rotto. Conrad notes that none of the other inmates help Pocahontas, probably afraid of offending Rotto.

However, Conrad knows that he has done the right thing. He goes into the common room and prays to Zeus to enlighten him. To Conrad’s horror, Rotto approaches him, calling him a “cute little dude” (457). Conrad tells Rotto that he wants no trouble. He just wants to do his time in peace as Rotto should do his. Though Rotto looks momentarily fazed, he reaches out to touch Conrad. Conrad realizes that the right action is to use his strong hands to defend himself. Grabbing Rotto’s hand, Conrad crushes it, breaking Rotto’s wrist. Five-O tries to lead Conrad away before the deputies arrive, but Armentrout and the other deputies show up at the scene and tell Conrad he will be taken out tomorrow. Five-O fears that Conrad, like Mutt, will be taken to the rubber room and begs Conrad not to lose his mind there.