Part I, Chapters Six through Ten Summary and Analysis

In chapter six, McCall mentions that his mother began a relationship with the man who became his biological father in 1949 when she was thirteen and that by age eighteen, she was saddled with three boys, soon splitting up with her husband. His father is out of his life until McCall is an adult. He notes that, having had this experience, one might expect his mother to talk to the boys about sex, but she doesn't. The young men in the neighborhood, who are by now forming groups that have all the earmarks of gangs, often form "trains" which McCall says are the equivalent of gang bangs. At one point, McCall participates but admits to feeling dirty afterward. When he encounters a former girlfriend named Denise, he convinces her to go to...