The Deuce Summary
Robert Olen Butler

The Deuce Summary

While little is made of Tony's religious upbringing, Butler uses a mural of Moses descending from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments in the New York Public Library and a street preacher's harangue to bring questions of morals and judgment to Tony's mind. A love child himself, Tony holds conflicting notions about casual sexual contacts. He loves his mother's memory, he understands the socioeconomic pressures that led her to prostitution, but still he resents the degrading nature of her work that frustrated a good relationship between them. He has feelings for Norma, a girl who hits the streets when he does; he welcomes a passionate interlude with her, then resents her continued life as a prostitute. Even so, as he considers the image of Moses enraged at the sight of Israelites involved in prostitution as part of the worship of the Golden Calf at the base of Sinai...

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