The Warmth of Other Suns

The Warmth of Other Suns

by

Isabel Wilkerson

The Warmth of Other Suns: Part Five: Redemption Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
1. Chicago, Summer 1996. Isabel Wilkerson first meets Ida Mae, she is 83 and spends her time at home, doing crosswords, collecting her late friends’ funeral programs, and staying up to date on the family gossip. She also watches “the lost grandchildren of the Migration” out her window as they sell drugs, dodge the police, and shoot at each other. She wonders how the city’s young people have totally lost their sense of morality. At least they look out for her by telling her which nights it’s too dangerous to go out. During their interviews, Ida Mae and Wilkerson hear a glass bottle crash outside the window and watch the police arrest a local janitor. But Ida Mae refuses to be afraid.
The narrative reaches the point in time when Wilkerson entered her subjects’ lives and began interviewing them extensively for this book. In addition to presenting the three protagonists’ personal reflections on the Great Migration and their lives, then, this chapter also offers the reader a chance to understand what originally drew Wilkerson to write about them. For instance, Ida Mae is the glue that holds together her family and community. She sticks to the old Southern values that were once the foundation of migrant communities in the North. And she is a treasure trove of knowledge about how the Great Migration and the racist backlash to it have transformed her city.
Themes
History, Memory, and Identity Theme Icon
The Legacy of the Migration Theme Icon
The Economics of Racism Theme Icon
Love and Family Theme Icon
2. Harlem, 1996. George Starling’s basement apartment is full of photos, old documents, and funeral programs. He speaks clearly and carefully, giving Wilkerson all the detail she could hope for. His pastor stops by, and they reminisce about the New York of the past, when there was still a sense of community and drugs hadn’t taken over the city yet. He spends his time alone, “sort[ing] through the paperwork of his life” and mourning his daughter Sonya, who recently died of a car accident.
Wilkerson likens George’s basement to an archive, but really, he is the archive she’s after. Unlike Ida Mae and Robert, he spends most of his time turned inward in reflection. His near-perfect memory isn’t his only asset as a witness to the past. He can also speak to how the civil rights movement looked from the perspective of one of its ordinary supporters in the North, and he spent decades watching countless others migrate on the train where he worked.
Themes
History, Memory, and Identity Theme Icon
The Legacy of the Migration Theme Icon
Love and Family Theme Icon
3. Los Angeles, Spring 1996. Robert Foster invites Isabel Wilkerson into his living room, with its 1970s décor, and brings her the slice of pound cake that he offers to all his visitors. He tells her about his early life and worsening heart problems, but he explains that he doesn’t want another bypass operation and “wouldn’t have any regrets” if he dies tomorrow. He spends his time playing blackjack, talking on the phone, and giving extremely precise instructions to his obedient gardener. He has a beautiful house and highly accomplished children and grandchildren. Whenever Wilkerson interviews him, several old friends and patients call him for medical advice.
Driven by his boundless anxious energy, Robert tries to make the best of his remaining time on Earth. What he lacks in close relationships he tries to make up for through his social status, hobbies, and obsessive curation. His story speaks to two opposite trends. On the one hand, his glamorous personal life shows how a select few migrants managed to join the nation’s mainstream cultural elite in the 20th century. On the other, his medical career shows how segregation hampered the South’s development by driving its best and brightest minds to leave, as well as how migrant communities in the North and West could uplift themselves from within.
Themes
Migration and Freedom Theme Icon
History, Memory, and Identity Theme Icon
Love and Family Theme Icon
Decision, Consequence, and Regret Theme Icon
Eustis, Florida, July 1996. Now that the orange grove owners who wanted to kill him and the brutal sheriff Willis V. McCall are all dead, George Starling finally decides to go visit Eustis. He has dinner with Reuben Blye, one of the old foremen, who playfully insists that “a Florida man got more sense than a born New Yorker.” George still owns a small piece of land in Eustis, too, and he’s pleasantly surprised to see the South becoming more tolerant. He even saw a Black man and a white woman holding hands on the street. He and Reuben drive by their old orange groves and reminisce about their picking days.
Even though he has stayed in touch with many people from his community (like the Blyes), George has not been to Eustis in more than 51 years, since the day he left in 1945. So it’s little surprise that he barely recognizes the town when he finally goes back. But this change is uniformly good news: as a young man, he always wanted to leave Eustis, but now, he’s astonished to see that it’s the kind of place where someone like him might actually want to live.
Themes
History, Memory, and Identity Theme Icon
The Legacy of the Migration Theme Icon
Decision, Consequence, and Regret Theme Icon
Quotes
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The Warmth of Other Suns PDF
George starts coming to Eustis every other year for high school reunions. Thanks to his years of service with the railroad, his train ticket is free. People in town have “a distant kind of respect” for him—they know that he left and succeeded in the North, but they can’t pinpoint exactly how they know him, or if they’re related. On one Sunday, Wilkerson follows him to services at his old church, where he sings a tearful solo for the whole congregation.
George surprises even himself by reestablishing links with his hometown. At last, after so many thankless years, he builds some semblance of a community and gets the recognition he deserves for his remarkable accomplishments and grit. Ironically, by returning to the South, he achieves the same peace and contentment that he and so many other migrants sought in the North. But none of it would have been possible if he hadn’t gone to New York in the first place. This redemption may be too little, too late, but at least it helps ameliorate the tragedy of his late life in New York.
Themes
Migration and Freedom Theme Icon
History, Memory, and Identity Theme Icon
Love and Family Theme Icon
Los Angeles, November 23, 1996. There are sixteen people, all seniors, left in the local Monroe, Louisiana Club. Robert Foster brings Wilkerson to one of their meetings. One of the men says a prayer for the food—and Wilkerson’s book—and then everyone digs into the oxtails, collard greens, and more. The club members chat about their old acquaintances, their experiences under Jim Crow, and how things have changed in Monroe. One man remembers the segregated Paramount Theater that Robert used to visit. The man explains that he left Monroe after he risked death by complaining after a white cashier gave him a worthless token instead of his change. Robert tells his own story about insulting the man who asked for help finding “a clean colored girl.” The other club members say he’s “lucky to be alive.”
Like George, Robert finds meaning and community in his last years by connecting with other migrants from his original cohort. As his last trip to Monroe showed him, unlike Ida Mae and George, he simply has nothing left back home in the South. His home is Los Angeles, and his version of Monroe resides not in the city itself, but rather in the memories, stories, and recipes of his fellow migrants. Of course, their memories aren’t particularly fond—which is why they left. And they feel incredibly lucky to have been able to do so: Robert and the other migrant’s story capture the outsized dangers that they faced.
Themes
Migration and Freedom Theme Icon
History, Memory, and Identity Theme Icon
The Legacy of the Migration Theme Icon
Decision, Consequence, and Regret Theme Icon