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Part 2, Chapter 6
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
In September, the newspapers report the arrest of Cheap Brucie for promoting prostitution, alongside the disappearance of Wilfred Duke. Only Carney, Miss Laura, and a photographer named Zippo—all gathered in Miss Laura’s apartment on a Wednesday evening—fully understand how these occurrences are connected. The narrative flashes back to Brucie’s arrest, which Detective Munson fails to warn Carney about. As a result, Carney must rush to enact the rest of his plan (the details are unknown to the reader) before the pimp is released from jail. Munson arrests Brucie as payback for Carney’s information on Dixon. Years later, Carney will learn that Brucie’s arrest helps Munson take revenge on another officer for stealing his lunch.
The brief flash forward in time reveals the results of Carney’s mysterious plan before the reader learns the plan’s details, increasing suspense. Like Carney’s, Munson’s motives for arresting Cheap Brucie are self-involved and centered on indirect vengeance, showing how grudges and petty payback can influence community dynamics.
Themes
Carney only has one night for his plan, which involves luring Duke to Miss Laura’s apartment outside of his usual schedule. He leaves the store, wondering what will happen if his straight and crooked lives collide. Carney has a black eye where Pepper punched him after finding out he’d been used to do “legwork for the cops.” Carney told Elizabeth a junkie assaulted him. Carney meets with Miss Laura, who is afraid of what Cheap Brucie will do if he is released before they carry out the plan with Duke. Miss Laura plans to lure the banker to her apartment by claiming she wants him, feeding his ego. Carney leaves to locate Zippo, his photographer.
With a limited time frame for Carney to enact his plan, the pressure is on, exacerbating the tension that exists between his separate lives. Pepper has enacted his own vengeance on Carney for having him betray his personal principles. Carney’s scheme is complex, with various moving parts—he has invested significant effort into this revenge plot. Combined with the fear that Elizabeth or the authorities will discover his double life makes the whole situation more suspenseful.
Themes
The narrative flashes back to when Carney brought Zippo in on the Duke job after realizing he is not good at taking photographs, despite practicing with his family. Zippo used to hang with Freddie, who has disappeared again after Linus bailed him out of jail. Carney hopes the experience will set his cousin straight. He meets with Zippo and describes the job as “boudoir stuff” with one person unconscious. Zippo agrees readily. In the present, Carney locates Zippo at a studio and drives him and his gear to Miss Laura’s apartment. While they wait for Duke to show up, they discuss Zippo’s previous arrests for arson. Carney condescends to the younger man, who asks him what happened to his eye.
That Freddie has not contacted Carney since being released from prison could imply he is still irritated by the way Carney judged him. Rather than feeling guilt for the part he played in his cousin’s arrest, Carney continues to patronize Freddie in his mind, showing that he still thinks of himself as ethically superior. When he treats Zippo with the same brand of condescension, the photographer subtly calls him out by pointing out Carney’s black eye—evidence that he, too, participates in crooked activities.
Themes
Duke arrives after eight p.m. Waiting for Miss Laura’s signal, Carney ponders when the Duke job truly began, or if he and the banker are both just fulfilling their deepest natures. Finally, he and Zippo join Miss Laura in the apartment, where Duke is knocked out on the bed. Carney’s initial plan was to pose Duke with Miss Laura in suggestive positions. Miss Laura objects, saying they should “show him as he really is” to do more damage. She helps Zippo pose and photograph the unconscious banker. Carney watches, wondering why this doesn’t feel like revenge. He thinks Duke upholds the systems of White supremacy, despite his Blackness. Afterward, Miss Laura packs a suitcase and the conspirators abandon Duke in the apartment.
In considering that Duke could not help his corruption any more than Carney can help his desire for revenge, Carney once again confronts the nuances of his own identity, this time contemplating the inevitability of certain traits expressing themselves. Miss Laura’s suggestion for the photographs suggests that she, too, holds a grudge against Duke. The notion that exposing the darkest parts of a man like Duke will do the most damage highlights how social status does not indicate internal purity. Rather, privilege and corruption can, and often do, coexist. Duke’s wealth causes him to believe he is superior to lower class Black people, which leads him to betray them and uphold the oppressive system of White supremacy.
Themes
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