Part 1: Chapter 5 Summary

The drab, ugly architecture of the Knox Building in New York City where Frank Wheeler works in sales promotion is an emblem of the drab, dull routines that workers inside go through daily. As Frank rides the elevator to the fifteenth floor, his mind races back to his first trip to this building as a young boy with his father, Earl Wheeler. The two had taken the train to New York from Pennsylvania so that his father could show him the home office and some of the sights of the city. Frank remembers that they have lunch with Earl Wheeler's boss, Oat Fields, a large, slovenly man who Frank Wheeler finds disgusting. After a long day in the city, they return home and Earl is crestfallen: the big promotion that he expected in New York has been shot down by a...