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Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Harlem Shuffle, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Crime, Class, and Social Mobility
Identity and Duality
Community, Change, and Loyalty
Systemic Racism, Injustice, and Power
Betrayal, Vengeance, and Integrity
Summary
Analysis
At last, Miami Joe arrives with Arthur. Carney remembers meeting Joe once before, noting the man’s affinity for purple suits. Arthur looks like a schoolteacher, but Carney recognizes a pistol beneath his pantleg, having seen his father wear a similar weapon. When Pepper arrives, Carney feels there is something off about the large man. Carney has not kept criminal company since his father invited accomplices to their apartment. The men compliment Carney’s store as a good front for stolen goods. Carney asks the significance of robbing the Theresa on Juneteenth—truthfully, Miami Joe didn’t know what day it was. Still, he is happy if the perceived racial motivation leads the police astray.
Despite his best efforts to distance himself from his father’s world, Carney finds himself playing host to crooked men who remind him of Big Mike. Although Carney is an unwilling accomplice, the men’s presence calls his identity as an upstanding businessman into question, especially when the criminals assume the furniture store is merely a front for illegal operations. Pepper’s ominous aura suggests he is the most dangerous of the accomplices. The coincidence of the robbery falling on Juneteenth is somewhat comical, showcasing how far removed these men are from issues of Black civil rights.
Themes
Miami Joe declares they have a “Chink Montague problem.” Montague is a mobster who inherited territory and money from imprisoned gangster Bumpy Johnson. Montague’s father is a knife sharpener in Harlem, well known to Carney, though he doesn’t see how this supports Freddie’s claim that Montague is good with a knife. His own father’s crookedness did not make Carney crooked. The Hotel Theresa pays protection money to Montague, so they expected the robbery to catch his interest. Unexpectedly, the necklace Montague wants returned was a gift for his girlfriend, Lucinda Cole, a dancer turned actress. Pepper has been tailing Montague’s men as they delivered his message to known “fences”—men who trade in stolen goods.
Montague’s interest in the necklace is unanticipated, demonstrating the inherent risks of criminal endeavors. Carney’s preoccupation with the idea of fathers passing characteristics onto sons suggests he is feeling particularly self-conscious about getting roped into his father’s brand of crookedness. The notion that a wealthy establishment like the Hotel Theresa pays protection money to someone like Montague shows how crime is integral to the city’s behind-the-scenes operations. Further debunking the idea of crime as a fringe activity is Montague’s relationship with Lucinda Cole, suggesting that some criminal enterprise can result in social advancement.
Themes
Pepper does not believe Montague’s threats to “skin” whoever stole the necklace. Arthur thinks if Montague had connected them to Carney, they would know about it. Understanding that the cops will likely question him rekindles Carney’s anger at Freddie. Still, Carney recognizes that one of the other people he deals with must have added his name to the “underground roster of middlemen.” He considers how the last time his office contained this many people, he had been trying to move a gigantic sleeper sofa out of the basement with the help of four deliverymen. In the end, Carney had to chop the sofa to pieces. Now he worries that the thieves will realize he—like the sofa—doesn’t fit.
Arthur’s assertion that Montague’s men have not yet connected Carney to Freddie implies that Carney is perceived in the criminal community as a “fence”—a seller of stolen goods. This conclusion rankles Carney and supports the notion that he is underselling his own crookedness, since someone other than Freddie must have added him to the “underground roster.” Still, Carney feels out of place among the accomplices and worries they will view him as a liability.
Themes
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Miami Joe confronts Carney, saying he’s never heard of him as a middleman. Carney does not consider himself a “fence.” Though a portion of his showroom is stolen and he brokers the occasional deal between thieves, selling wares to a man downtown called Buxbaum, Carney knows he is not the man for this large a job. He tells Joe that he won’t take it personally if the team offloads the goods elsewhere. Pepper insists that Carney knows, so he’s in. Carney notes that his pitch in this scenario needs some work and accepts that he is involved. Arthur suggests they wait a few days before divvying up the loot, giving Carney some time to solidify his angle.
Although Carney does not think of himself as a fence, his actions prove otherwise—especially his newly revealed contact with Buxbaum, a buyer of stolen goods. Despite living in intense denial of his own crooked behavior, Carney plays along with the assumption that he is a fence, lest the men think he will rat them out. Though Carney is an excellent salesman, Pepper does not buy his “pitch,” suggesting that Carney is out of his depth.
Themes
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