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Chapter 22: Al Capone’s Mama
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Al Capone Does My Shirts, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Disability, Dignity, and Shared Humanity
Friendship and Community
Family
Growing Up and Doing the Right Thing
Summary
Analysis
Early in April, Miss Bimp pairs Moose and Scout for a project. Suddenly, the boys are friends again and Scout puts together a lunchtime baseball game. After lunch, though, Scout says he’d like a convict baseball, as Piper says they “just come sailing over the wall.” Moose asks why Scout talks to Piper at all, and Scout says they talk in French class, and he thinks Piper is a bit cute. He then says Piper told him Natalie is “different.” Moose shrugs, and Scout says he’d just like a baseball—if they’re friends. Moose stews all through his next class. How friendly are Scout and Piper?
Moose is so upset about Scout and Piper talking because he secretly has a crush on Piper, and on some level, he sees Scout as competition. But while both Scout and Piper seem a bit manipulative here, note that Scout doesn’t push and ask or say anything about Natalie, rude or otherwise. He may care less—and be more open and understanding—than Moose gives him credit for.
Themes
As soon as Mom leaves that afternoon, Moose gets his and Natalie’s coats and leads her outside. As they climb the stairs, he asks what she thinks of Mrs. Kelly. Natalie says, “9868”—Mrs. Kelly’s address—and then does an impression of Mrs. Kelly telling her she can’t have her buttons. It’s the funniest thing Moose has ever heard. Is Mrs. Kelly helping? He asks Natalie what she thinks about two people who talk in French class, and she seems to shrug. Having reached their destination (the bushes down the hill from the rec yard), Moose tries to get Natalie to help him look for a baseball. However, she sits and starts arranging rocks, which looks more fun anyway.
Natalie is becoming more interested in the people in her life, which seems to be why she decides to do this impression of Mrs. Kelly. Moose doesn’t pick up on it—he focuses on whether Mrs. Kelly is helping—but it’s likely this is due to Natalie simply having more of a community these days, and of consequently having more people to care about.
Themes
Moose isn’t sure why, but he doesn’t want Piper to find a baseball for Scout. He looks under every bush until his search takes him to the chain-link fence, and where it meets the cement wall, up the hill, there’s a gap. Natalie is still absorbed in her stones. Moose decides he'll just be gone a minute to check for a baseball.
