Chapter 14
Finally, Richard and his Aunt Maggie buy a train ticket to Chicago, promising to send for his mother and brother when they get settled. When leaving his job, Richard cannot say that he has decided to go to the less racist North: it would be too suspicious. So he says that his mother is taking him there. Still, his co-workers do not like the idea, worrying that it will change his view of whites and make him bold.
One cautions him not to fall into Lake Michigan. Shorty is jealous, saying that he could never go North because he is too lazy. Book One ends with Richard's synopsis:
"This was the culture from which I sprang. This was the terror from which I fled." Chapter 14, pg. 257
Topic Tracking: Coming of Age 9
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