Chapter 4 begins with a flashback focusing on Raymond's mother. Eleanor Shaw divorced Raymond's father when she was six months pregnant with her second child. Soon, she married the younger baby's father, John Iselin, her first husband's law partner. Twelve-year old Raymond would forever resent his mother for this scandal, and for his father's eventual suicide. His younger brother would die at the age of 8, during Iselin's campaign for governor. The sympathy this elicited propelled Iselin to victory.
Here, the narrative steps back further to show Iselin's shady law practices, his duplicity in dealing with Mr. Shaw, and the scandal that arose from his presiding over the Shaws' divorce case while serving as a corrupt judge. Raymond's mother is also shown to be a woman who will seize power wherever she can find.....
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