59 pages • 1 hour read
Charles BukowskiHam on Rye
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1982A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 23-33Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 23 Summary
Henry remembers flirting with a girl named Lilly Fischmann in his biology class. When the time comes for their exam, however, the students realize they have not learned anything. The ineffective teacher Mr. Stanhope cannot stop the students from consulting their textbooks. When Lilly pulls up her skirts and shows her legs, Stanhope sits down, “utterly defeated” (99). The machine shop teacher is Pop Farnsworth. The male students hate the class, and they distract Farnsworth with dirty jokes.
Chapter 24 Summary
Henry’s favorite teacher is Miss Gredis. She teaches English, and Henry stares at her legs during class. The male students speculate about how they would have sex with Miss Gredis. One day, a boy named Richard Waite begins masturbating in English class. Since no one says anything, he repeats the act in every English class. At the same time, Henry comes to resent an intelligent and “pretty” boy named Harry Walden (107). Henry cannot understand why the bigger boys pick on him but not Harry. He resents the female attention directed at Harry. Rumors spread that Harry is in a relationship with Miss Gredis. One day, Henry sees Harry’s seat empty. He learns Harry died by suicide. Miss Gredis gives the lesson as usual while Richard masturbates at the back of the room.
Chapter 25 Summary
Henry watches a fight between Morris Moscowitz and the gym coach, Curly Wagner. Unexpectedly, Morris wins.
Chapter 26 Summary
Henry’s father is unemployed, but he leaves the house every day so his neighbors will think he has a job. When his mother goes to work, Henry is left alone in the house. One day, he spots a neighbor named Mrs. Anderson on the porch opposite. He uses his father’s binoculars to look up her dress. He masturbates to the sight of her each day. At night, he spies on the Pirozzi house from a dark spot in his garden. He watches Mrs. Pirozzi. When Mr. Pirozzi gets up, he runs away. Baldy’s father puts a lock on the wine cellar. Baldy and Henry watch a couple through a window on many occasions, hoping they will see the couple have sex.
Chapter 27 Summary
Wagner punishes Henry for loitering. Henry is made to pick up garbage with Peter Mangalore, who claims Lilly Fischman was sexually abused by her father. Peter claims Lilly is now interested in him and boasts about the size of his penis. Henry volunteers himself and Baldy to keep watch while Peter has sex with Lilly in the back of a car. Peter struggles to perform, and just as he is preparing to have sex, Baldy spots Wagner. Peter and Lilly are caught; Henry never sees them again. Henry receives many more demerits, and his father beats him. This time, however, Henry reacts differently. He takes the beating and asks for more, then sees his father as a tired old man. This, he says, was the “last beating” he received from his father (121).
Chapter 28 Summary
In the eighth grade, Henry develops a “really terrible” case of acne (122). He loses any reputation as a tough guy he built up, and girls ignore him. Teachers accuse him of having a bad attitude. When he graduates from junior high, Curly Wagner promises to chase him for the rest of his life. Henry’s parents do not attend the ceremony.
Chapter 29 Summary
In July 1934, the bank robber John Dillinger is killed in front of a movie theater, and the prohibition laws are repealed. Henry’s father insists on sending his son to a school for “rich kids” (125). Henry attends with Baldy and immediately feels poor. Rather than gym class, Henry takes Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and undergoes military drills. His acne gets so bad he is withdrawn from school. His father insists on applying the ointment for far longer than advised, and it burns Henry’s skin. Katherine loses her job, and Henry Senior continues to pretend he has a job. Henry Junior goes to the hospital for his acne. He struggles with the hospital bureaucracy.
Chapter 30 Summary
When Henry finally sees a doctor for his acne, the doctor gathers his colleagues to show them “the worst case [he’s] seen in all [his] years of practice” (131). They decide to treat the issue with an electric needle.
Chapter 31 Summary
The doctors try to drain Henry’s boils with an electric needle. The pain is “immense” (134). A nurse named Miss Ackerman is the first medical person to treat him with any sympathy. Henry suspects he will be scarred for life and that the doctors have no idea of what to do about his issue.
Chapter 32 Summary
Henry’s painful treatment continues for weeks with little progress. His unemployed parents rely on government programs to put food on the table. When Baldy and another boy named James try to visit Henry, he hides from them then chases them away. One day, Henry is at home with his mother. His grandmother Emily visits, and she tries to help Henry by brandishing a “huge crucifix” (139). When she stabs him with the crucifix, Henry angrily chases her away. The irreligious Henry challenges God to heal him. He has a nightmare. Henry continues to attend his hospital appointments and falls in love with Miss Ackerman.
Chapter 33 Summary
Henry is given a new treatment. He hears about other patients who died or who will never receive the help they want. Miss Ackerman completely bandages Henry’s “whole head” (144). Henry enjoys this new anonymity.
Chapters 23-33 Analysis
The Great Depression exacerbates the financial plight of the Chinaski family and those around them. In this sense, the novel does not only chart the childhood of Henry Chinaski, but also becomes a document of life in California during this era. The life story of Henry, of course, is the story of the Depression and living in extreme poverty in that era, speaking to the theme of The Life Story of Poverty. Ham on Rye here is a story of national poverty, of the group that experiences poverty, and of an individual impacted by that poverty. Henry notes that many parents of children his age begin to lose their jobs. An epidemic of unemployment sweeps through the region, bringing poverty and suffering with it. This economic downturn has the effect of making heroes out of bank robbers like John Dillinger. The severe nature of the Great Depression has such an effect on the community that criminals become heroes because they target social institutions such as banks. This speaks to the nation as a whole realizing The Illusion of the American Dream; Americans do not cheer banks and see them as pillars of a growing economy but instead hate them and enjoy their destruction at the hands of bank robbers. The suffering of the Great Depression has the effect of recalculating the moral compass of the people in Henry’s social circle, illustrating how much everyone is struggling by showing what people are now willing to forgive, depending on who these criminals are targeting. The robbers separate themselves from appearances and American society in one way, while Henry separates himself from them in another. In this way, readers again see a Social Alienation Caused by Poverty, too. The robbers exhibit anti-social behavior, and the nation, much of it struggling financially, cheers them on. Henry, too, becomes increasingly alienated from society due to his poverty, but he exhibits this alienation through removal rather than the active, anti-social actions of bank robbers.
The Great Depression serves as an illuminating time for Henry. When he was young, his father preached the importance of having a job. He compared himself to his delinquent brothers and insisted that his employment was evidence that he was a good, upstanding man. Henry Senior loses his job in the Great Depression, so he can no longer continue to loudly compare himself to those without jobs. Having proclaimed this belief for many years, however, he does not want to be seen to be unemployed. He views unemployment as a moral failing, even amid one of the greatest economic depressions in the history of the country. Henry Junior watches as his father drives away each morning. Henry Senior is indulging in an elaborate performance. He is desperate to prove to the rest of the world that he still has a job because he does not want to endure the same judgment that he has cast down upon others. In a similar way, his parents drive many miles to receive food aid because they do not want their neighbors to think that they are poor (even though they are). The Great Depression does not just reveal to Henry the depths of suffering brought about by poverty. In a far more personal way, the Great Depression shows Henry Junior that his parents are hypocrites. Again, Henry’s life story, the story of his family, is simply The Life Story of Poverty; the novel does not provide a narrative of success but instead details the behaviors of a family forever living in dire economic circumstances.
This period of Henry’s life is also important because he develops the serious acne that will leave physical scars on his face and body for the rest of his life. These scars alienate Henry from people. He is interested in girls, but he cannot imagine a girl who would endure his acne. The acne deepens Henry’s self-loathing, creating an image of himself in his mind that is not deserving of love. This self-loathing and Social Alienation Caused by Poverty is a psychological extension of the abuse and trauma Henry has received from his father. His acne, and, in particular, the scars left by his acne, are physical symbols of the way in which trauma lingers long after the initial wounds have healed. Henry’s mind, like his skin, is riddled with scar tissue that has barely healed. His economic circumstances have driven him so far from others that he delights in the anonymity his bandages grant him, delights in being completely hidden from society.
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