The Lincoln Highway: 8. Emmett (2) Summary & Analysis

When Emmett and Billy reach the train station, Emmett explains that they will have to stow away on a freight train. He phrases this carefully to avoid upsetting Billy, a “stickler” for all rules. Billy compares the plan to Duchess and Woolly’s escape in Warden Williams’s car, which Duchess told him about. Emmett tries to warn Billy about Duchess. When Duchess recalled sneaking out to the movies, Emmett explains, he left out the night that he refused to cross a river with another boy, and was caught by the police trying to hitchhike away. Duchess was beaten for this, but the racist policies of Ackerly (the former warden) led to a worse beating for the other boy, Townhouse, who was Black. Billy says that the story makes him sad for Duchess, since Duchess probably refused to cross the river because he was ashamed to admit he couldn’t swim.

Emmett scouts out the freight yard and approaches a laborer and asks for his help getting on a train. The laborer dismisses him, but an elderly beggar in a wheelchair calls Emmett over and offers to help. He explains that he worked on the trains for 25 years before injuring his legs. The story cuts away from their conversation and Emmett returns to Billy, whom he is frustrated to find has accepted sandwiches from a stranger. Emmett explains the danger of talking to strangers, then reads to Billy from his favorite book, a collection of heroes from myth and history. These heroes are listed in alphabetical order, and the hero for the letter Y is “you,” inviting the reader to undertake their own adventure.