Elsewhere, he finds a Louisville Slugger baseball bat and marvels at its design. He promises to be back soon and to give Emmett his share of the cash when they return. So, he plans to go there to ask about Harry Hewetts whereabouts and hopefully find Duchess in the process. Each [character], Towles implies, is the central protagonist of an ongoing adventure that is both unique and universal . Also the additional explanations in grey alerted me to basic facts of the plot, whys, and hows. . Current events make Woolly anxious, but Woolly likes now in old newspapers you can find out what happened. Fitzy explains that Duchesss father was the one who had refreshed his memory when he wrote that statement. Passing by the Empire State Building, Woolly felt that should be included on the list. Odd choice. Four horses died in that fire because the firemen (who had been in a grocery store nearby) werent able to locate their truck. Posted May 29, 2022 May 29, 2022 document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This was very helpful to me, especially the careful chronological summary of the events. Emmett reluctantly agrees. So, even if his brothers idea of finding their mother seemed crazy, his plan could work in California. That night, Duchess sleeps in Emmetts room, and he notices how barren the walls are, as if Emmett had been preparing to walk out of his house with nothing but a kit bag for a long, long time. However, based on Woollys schooling background and family name, Ma Belle is able to deduce that Woolly must be from a very well-to-do family from the Upper East Side. In New York, Woolly sees a man selling old newspapers. In Chapter 1, Emmett arrives at Woolly's great-grandfather's house to find Woolly dead and Woolly still trying to get the safe open. After Emmett had failed to check in with her on Friday, Sally had reached out to Father Coleman at Episcopalian church the in New York, knowing that Woollys family is Episcopalian. One night, Duchess had seen them sneak two boxes of Oreos from the pantry into Townhouses locker in order to get him in trouble. The Lincoln Highway. On Sunday June 20th, Duchess and Woolly slip out at the crack of dawn and head for Woollys great-grandfathers place. How would you describe Billys personality? As the crosses through the boxcars, he finds a empty private car, littered with remnants of a days full of festivities, undoubtedly attributable to the passengers in the nearby sleeping cars. He yanks out the corpse and gets inside . At that moment, he had felt abandoned by God and by fate. Instead, Emmett works quickly to clear up and traces that theyd been there, and they deal with Duchess. It references an earlier conversation that Billy and Emmett had (in chapter 8) about how long you have to know someone to be their friend. Before Emmett leaves, Sally mentions that when they do finally hit the road, she plans to go to San Francisco as well. In present day, Billy tells Ulysses that according to the book, it took Homers Ulysses ten years to be reunited with his wife and child, so he thinks Ulysses will be reunited with his own family in less than two years. None of them are major and they dont detract from the content at all. As a clock chimes, he bows to each of them. In this book, I find it works well. Emmett had brought down the picnic set to urge them to go, and his mother had reluctantly agreed. Towles goes all in on the kind of episodic, exuberant narrative haywire found in myth or Homeric epic . Duchess realizes that theyre at the intersection that is mentioned in Billys big red book (I write to you from the junction of Thirty-Fourth Street and Fifth Avenue on the isle of Manhattan), the location thats described as the office of Professor Abacus Abernathe, the author of the book. When they arrived, one of the tenants asked about his watch, since Marceline had a solid gold watch that had been part of his act which he refused to sell, even when he was broke. However, Duchess claims that the money is safe and sound at Sarahs place, and he offers to give Emmett another car (Woollys 1941 Cadillac convertible). Remembering Woollys admiration for Lincoln, Duchess notices that one of the landmarks on the maps is a Lincoln statue. Duchess thinks back to how you used to be able to make out the word Othello printed on the case. Duchess can tell that Townhouse is their leader. When Townhouse was 16, he rented out one of the cars a Buick Skylark convertible for a date with a girl, Clarise. He offers it to Billy, who initially declines it, saying that its too precious. or ask your favorite author a question with Marceline had been one of the most famous clowns in Europe in the twenties. Initially, the plan for Emmett to go after Duchess and Woolly alone, but Billy insists on going to New York, too. Next to him is a picture of Ackerly with two boys, presumably his grandsons. Billy has another idea: taking the continent-spanning Lincoln Highway to find their mother in San Francisco the last place she mailed a postcard from after she disappeared eight years ago. Afterwards, Emmett sees Woollys will which was duly signed and dated. As they drive, Sally says that the sheriff came by her place because the cowboy hat guy that had confronted Emmett (along with Jake Snyder) had been attacked. (Later, well learn that Duchess was not born in Dutchess County, but instead got his nickname for a different reason.). Duchess thinks about the times Ackerly had hit them as he as brings the skillet down on Ackerlys head. After that, for weeks on end, Sally had prayed that her father would marry Alice, so that hed have someone else to do his housework. The next morning, Emmett heads to Harlem to pick up his now-yellow Studebaker which has gotten some other upgrades as well. You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Outside, Emmett smashes a windowpane to get back into the house. Hi Jenelle, the chapters in the book count down from 10 so I am mirroring the chapters in the book. Woollys sister, Sarah, observes to Emmett: If you take a trait that by all appearances is a merita trait that is praised by pastors and poets, a trait that we have come to admire in our friends and hope to foster in our childrenand you give it to some poor soul in abundance, it will almost certainly prove an obstacle to their happiness. Do you think this is true? (The book chapters count down from 10 to 1.). When hes done, Billy asks to hear a story about Ulysses own life. Emmetts father leaves Emmett a quotation from Ralph Waldo Emersons essay Self-Reliance as part of his legacy. The Lincoln Highway Quiz Amor Towles This Study Guide consists of approximately 76 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Lincoln Highway. Duchess notes now as they drive, Woolly listens intently to the commercials. Emmett tells Duchess that hes taking him to the cops, and things start to get physical between the two of them, but hes interrupted by Billy showing up. Emmett tries to pay for the food instead with some cash that Mr. Parker had tipped him (on the train), but pulls out the bill to find that its a 50-dollar bill and Ulysses sternly tells him to put it away. With no money and no mode of transportation, Emmett and Billy hitch a ride on a train to go to New York to track down Duchess and Woolly. Your email address will not be published. By now, Ulysses, Emmett and Billy are settled in the boxcar together with Billy reading from his book the story of Jason and the Argonauts. Though only occasionally told in the first person, The Lincoln Highway gives each character's perspective its due in a wonderful feat of narrative . Woolly has medicine that he takes, and the trustee of his estate has had him declared "temperamentally unfit." Duchess has hatched a plan to rescue Woolly's rightful trust of $150,000 from the family safe out in the sprawling, Adirondack summer estate. The day before, Duchess had gone to the hardware store to look for tools to help get the safe open. He makes the point that while oftentimes nothing bad happened, in one instance Duchess got one of his friends in trouble because of it. You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Then, in the kitchen hed found an envelope marked To Be Opened in the Event of My Absence in Woollys handwriting (which we soon learn is Woollys will). Emmett sees that the book is from 1951, but Ma Belle tells him that with society people, the addresses never change. Afterwards, Emmett thinks about how he had been free of debts and obligations that morning, but was now encumbered by two promises hed made that day. It seems there was some incident involving the police where Duchesss father had told Fitzy to lie to the police. Finally, in April, he passed away. He seems upset that she remarried after their father died, but Sarah gently reminds him that she waited four years and either way you cant begrudge your mother the comforts of companionship. Here we get a little more information on why Duchesss father may have taken off when he heard that Duchess was free. She was a singer who got sick and died. He advises that Emmett will eventually need to stand up for yourself like you used to. Emmett goes into the city to track down Duchess, who knows is looking for his father. When Billy refuses to give it up, Pastor John hits Billy. Emmett claims he is interested in hiring Harrison Hewett, and Mr. McGinley directs him to Mr. Cohen, an agent at another agency (Mr. Morton had explained that they all work cooperatively and take commissions from each other for referrals). "The Lincoln Highway" is the story of a cast of characters who find themselves out on the road with intertwined stories. But Sally makes it clear that shes not interested in trying to get involved with him. Duchess and Woolly arrive at Sarahs place in Hastings-on-Hudson. (At one point, Maurice walks in and is upset to see that Townhouse is giving the car back to Emmett, but Townhouse just tells Maurice off, who stalks off angrily.). Woolly then muses that it would be magnificent to have a one-of-a-kind kind of day. Emmetts father also got sick, and this year he passed away. Instead, he would rather use Fitzys feelings of remorse to guilt him into telling him where his father is. The battery is dead from being idle too long. When Duchess goes to the bathroom, he strikes up a conversation with the traveling salesman. Billy says that hed want a house in San Francisco. Then, he took full advantage of it before finally sneaking out the back stairs when it was time to leave. However, the brothers soon discover that Duchess and Woolly, teens from the detention center, escaped and stowed away in the warden's car to the Watson farm. It involves getting a cork out of an empty wine bottle. [I was thinking the little pink pills might be like valium or xanax, for anxiety and panic. Unintended consequences: Emmett's story both begins . When the subject of their mother comes up, Woolly gets upset when they mention her second husband, Richard. His sister Kaitlin Wolcott Wilcox had been angry when his mother had given it away. They go to visit the offices and find a little old man who identifies himself as Professor Abernathe. The Lincoln Highway is a joyride. He then sees hes next to a freshly dug grave with a casket at the bottom. Once he starts punching though, he seems to recall the indignity and injustice of the Hondo incident and hits more vigorously. What is it about Billy that makes this so? That night, situated in the trains empty car, Emmett and Billy open the cars hatch (with warning from the panhandler to shut it when they near the Chicago station mid-way). Triumphantly, he gets ready to depart with the bag until he realizes the shovel is missing and . When the train starts to slow, Ulysses tells Billy he doesnt have to leave and invites him to stay. Meanwhile, Duchess sets Billy to work to distract him from Emmetts absence. However, the police broke up the event. What about Emersons idea strikes you as particularly American? Chapters 10 and 9 open with Emmett Watson (18) returning home to Morgen, Nebraska (dropped off by Warden Williams) after having spent a year in juvenile detention for killing Jimmy Snyder. He saw that it was locked, but hed managed to guess to combination easily since he remembered what Woolly had said about his great-grandfather loving the 4th of July. As Dennis yells about needing to catch the 6:42 train each morning, Woolly had realized that his boarding schools had been designed to train them to become adults who had every-day days as well. It leads him to Fitzy, who tells him about Duchess's past and also gives him Harry's Syracuse address. They show Emmett that they have his Studebaker, and Townhouse explains that Duchess left it there. Fitzy tells him that Harry is at the Olympic Hotel in Syracuse, and that he imagines Duchess will be headed there as well. In town, Jake Snyder (brother of Jimmy Snyder) accosts Emmett, trying to goad him into a fight and then punching Emmett a few times, though Emmett doesn't fight back. As Billy reads to him the story, Ulysses weeps, thinking about his own past. Back at the camp, Ulysses asks Billy to read him the story of Ulysses again. I hope you enjoyed the book. Townhouse then takes Emmett to a body shop nearby. 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