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Part 2, Chapter 1
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
Carney sits in the Big Apple Diner, which faces a row of brownstones. He tries to imagine the people who live inside them and wonders whether any of the rooms contain his furniture. With business going well, he estimates that he passes one of his customers’ houses several times a day. Carney is waiting to meet Freddie, who is running late. Even if his cousin doesn’t show, Carney reflects that the trip won’t have been wasted, alluding to some other errand of which the reader is not yet aware. He waits patiently, reading the furniture ads and the news that Mayor Wagner is running for a third term. Finally, Freddie shows.
In imagining the distribution of his furniture, Carney reflects on his vast (if mundane) influence on the city, showing how central New York is to his identity. The mention of a secret errand suggests one of Carney’s illegal endeavors is underway. That Freddie is running late implies that he is still unreliable.
Themes
Freddie looks thin but doesn’t eat. The cousins share news of their mutual crooked acquaintances and catch up on one another’s lives. Carney’s store renovation installed a door inside his office, meaning he can exit without going through the showroom and his more crooked clientele can visit without drawing suspicion. Carney tells Freddie that Chink Montague is sending business his way, but charges a finder’s fee on top of his weekly protection money. They don’t discuss the Theresa job. Freddie determines Carney is inquiring after him because of Aunt Millie, who he hasn’t seen in three months. Freddie is living with a White man named Linus, who he met at a party where he was the only Black man in attendance.
Although Carney and Freddie move in similar circles nowadays, there is a felt distance between the cousins. Where Carney is flourishing, especially as he allocates more resources to illegal enterprise, Freddie—the more experienced criminal—is struggling. Interestingly, Carney initiated this meeting on behalf of Aunt Millie, despite Freddie’s known tendency to get himself and Carney into trouble. Despite this evidence of Carney’s loyalty, Freddie seems aloof.
Themes
Aunt Millie told Carney that Freddie is hanging out with Biz Dixon, a drug dealer with a police record. Freddie claims they are just friends, but Carney pushes. Freddie becomes upset at the implication that he is selling drugs on playgrounds and tells Carney he should worry about himself, since his store makes him easy to find. Freddie leaves. Carney feels he has diverged from his cousin. It has been three weeks since the Dumas Club rejected him, and he keeps their note pinned on his board of debts. As he watches, Wilfred Duke emerges from the brownstones across the street. Carney paid someone to tail Duke, which is how he found him. He follows the man downtown.
While Carney’s concern for Freddie is genuine, his criticism of Freddie’s relationship with Dixon comes across as condescending and judgmental. In his defensive outburst, Freddie makes the valid point that Carney’s store is more of a criminal front than a legitimate business, highlighting his cousin’s hypocrisy. That Carney has followed Duke to this mysterious brownstone suggests he is still intent on enacting his revenge on the banker.
Themes
