Chapter 1: Torn from the Nest Summary and Analysis

The young Robert Beck (who will eventually be known as Iceberg Slim) is three years old and is sexually abused by his babysitter named Maude while his mother works in a hand laundry to support them. He and his mother are living in Indianapolis at the time, having just moved from Chicago.

They move from Chicago because his mother found his father cheating on her with a waitress in the storage room of the hotel they both worked at. After Beck is born, his father suggests the baby be put on the steps of a Catholic church since they cannot afford him. When his mother refuses, he takes the baby Beck and throws him against the wall.

When the baby survives the violence, his father leaves them, forcing his mother to go door...