Part 3, Chapter 17 Summary

Jimmy Minty has a dark and tawdry past and he relives some of it in his mind while parked across from the Empire Grill, fantasizing about beating Miles Roby to a pulp. Over the course of his recollections, Jimmy reveals himself as a manically insecure and bitter product of a twisted and dysfunctional childhood. Jimmy's father was a petty grubber who taught Jimmy that all things are determined by an elite group of human beings who "have the whole thing figured out." This conspiracy of the knowledgeable determines what job one holds, whom one marries, how much money everybody makes, who will die in their wars, and how much rent you will pay. These are the same people who "can't figure out how to get your unemployment checks to you on time." Walter Cronkite was one of them back then and...