Chapter 5 Summary

Larry Kramer walks down the hallway of the inner offices of the district attorney, still wearing his tennis shoes from the morning commute. On the way to the office that he shares with two other assistant DA's, Larry passes District Attorney Weiss' office. Weiss commands a large, showy office in contrast to Kramer's drably efficient work space. In his office, the other two ADA's tease Kramer about his tennis shoes while Kramer changes into the dress shoes he carries to work in a cheap A&P shopping bag. The other two ADA's make wisecracks about his Jewish heritage, and in return, Kramer makes fun of their Irish and Italian backgrounds. He feels superior to them because he went to a better law school and because he is Jewish. "Very early in life he had picked up the knowledge that the Italians and the...