That night, Duchess tells Woolly that if he had 50 grand, hed open up a place like Leonellos. Just brings attention to the fact that this is amateur work rather than professional. The two promises Emmett has made are to help Duchess and to check in with Sally. In particular, you may be interested in my Q&A (which . Duchess watches as the guy in the cowboy hat walks away right when the Sheriff shows up. Mr. Randsom says Emmett was always going to leave. One of the tables remind him of a table they used to have in the house. Secondly, the typos. 14. Instead, a nearby panhandler tells him that hes the one to ask since he worked on the rails for 25 years. The latter is 3.390 miles long, and it's the U.S.'s very first. They knocked out Emmet when mixed with champagne. After Emmett departs, Sally goes to check on Billy to see that he is gone. Given inflation, $50,000 in 1954 would be the equivalent of about $500,000 today. The manner in which it is presented, through the varying viewpoints, enables readers to gain a fuller perspective of what is actually happening, and it adds to the compelling nature of story. Duchess notes now as they drive, Woolly listens intently to the commercials. He recalls how his father pretended to be upper-class get himself into the presidential suite of the fanciest hotel. The farmer sees Ulysses, but declines to let him into the shelter. Ask and answer questions about books! We learn that when Duchess was 16, he framed by Harry for a number of thefts in the hotel they were living in (which Harry had actually committed). However, Duchess derails the plan. (The book chapters count down from 10 to 1.). He says hell pay him back as soon as they get to Woollys grandfathers place in the Adirondacks. Emmett tries to get Duchess to leave (this place that appears to be a brothel), but before he can, a woman there (Ma Belle) shoves him into a room with one of the prostitutes, Charity. Emmett seems worried about Billy over-romanticizing breaking rules and whatnot since he wants Billy to understand that your actions have consequences which can often effect others as well. Emmett wakes up to the smell of the breakfast that Sally had come over to cook for them. He offers to drive them back in the morning, but Duchess says that Woolly is unhappy there after Warden Williams fired the nurse that used to supply Woolly with drugs. It seems there was some incident involving the police where Duchesss father had told Fitzy to lie to the police. When Sally implies that she wants to leave, too, Mr. Randsom comments angrily about how hes given Sally too much lee-way and that shes become too willful. To what degree does the style shape your sense of the characters personalities? However, Emmett disagrees that he has paid his debt. Duchess leaves Woolly behind to wait for Sarah, and Woolly takes an extra dosage of his medicine when Duchess has gone. So, when Sally called Sarahs place, no one picked up and it kept ringing instead. She was a 28-year-old-ish widow with no kids who worked as a teller at the bank. The Lincoln Highway begins with eighteen-year-old Emmett, recently returned from juvenile detention in 1954, reuniting with his little brother, Billy, on their foreclosed Nebraska farm. All the primary characters are white boys. Woolly is the beneficiary of a trust fund that should have come under his control now that he's 18. It left his $150,000 trust fund to be split between Emmett, Billy and Duchess. Instead, she just wants a life of her own where she doesnt have to take care of her father. He advises Emmett that the only type of person these receptionists are inclined to help are producers, since they hold the purse strings. 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. The novel takes places in the mid-1950sa period of peace, prosperity, and upward mobility in the US; a period in which television was in its infancy, and which came just before the advents of rock & roll, the modern civil rights movement, and the sexual revolution. He says that as a black man, hell likely end up wearing some type of uniform, so he might as well choose the one that suits you. She says that he was off at boarding school when he was wandering around in town and spotted a fire truck. As Duchess and Woolly head to New York down the Lincoln Highway, Duchess assuages Woollys guilt over taking Emmetts car by reminding him that with the money they recover, Emmett will be better off and Billy can come closer to having the house they dreamt up. Praise for The Lincoln Highway: "[A] mischievous, wise and wildly entertaining novel . Yesterday, Pastor John been pretending to be part of a Christian revival meeting, but hed attempted to romance a lovely young member of a Methodist choir, angering the girls father, and had to leave quickly. He then grabs Billy by his shirt collar. He goes looking for Duchess and finds him hacking unsuccessfully at the safe with an ax. She also talks about the parable of the Good Samaritan and how we do not always get to choose to whom we should show out charity.. He instead changes to subject and starts reminiscing about their childhood. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. While he is the youngest and least experienced character in the novel, one could argue that he has the greatest influence on other characters. The old man says Duchesss father recently vacated the room and left something behind. He first heads up to the Tristar Talent Agency. One day, Duchess had gone to check on Marceline to find him hanging from the ceiling fan. The Lincoln Highway is the story, mainly, of four boysbrothers Emmett and Billy Watson and Emmett's friends Woolly and Duchesstrying to come to terms with life and loss in 1954. Mr. Townhouse tells Emmett what transpired with Duchess, and Townhouse warns that two cops showed up yesterday looking for Duchess. The Lincoln Highway Synopsis Emmett Watson, 18, is transported home to Nebraska by the superintendent of the adolescent work homestead in which he has recently served 15 months for inciting separatism in The Lincoln Highway. This was very helpful! He is genuinely curious about the dilemmas the various actors describe and is relieved when a product is introduced to help solve it. The Lincoln Highway A Novel. When the cowboy dismisses him, Duchess grabs a 2-by-4 from a trash can nearby and hits him with it, saying consider your debt repaid in full. However, Woolly says that its too precious just to keep, saying that its a watch that should be handed down to others. He then hoped to use the proceeds to buy two more run-down properties to renovate, one to sell and the other to rent out, and so forth. He then says hes going to drive to the police station with Duchess and leads him outside, but Duchess resists. Ma Belle tells him about how Duchesss father used to leave Duchess with them as he worked in the lounge downstairs. Duchess also uses a pay phone to call Salina to ask for the address of the retired former warden, Warden Ackerly, by pretending to be his uncle. Earlier that day, Emmett had woken up with a headache, naked, and Charity at his side. Billy soon launches into a story about his own travels. If you have come to this Guide because you have read The Lincoln Highway, I owe you my heartfelt thanks. 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). What virtue do you think each of the main characters possesses in excess? However, Townhouse is reluctant to hit Duchess at first, and he tells them to shut up. . As a bedtime story, he ends up reciting to him the story of Macbeth. At the train station, Emmett decides theyll need to hitch a ride on a freight train since they dont have money for a train. 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. That part makes no sense to me, why summarize from the end to the beginning? Emmett thinks about how his father had always had plenty of bad luck, but also bad judgment, too. As he looks around the house for anyone, he sees a checklist entitled Closing the House, describing procedures to go through before leaving (like locking the doors and windows, etc.). (The full story is that Duchess had convinced Townhouse to sneak out to see a movie. 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. Pastor John happens to be walking by when he spots the open hatch and Billy sitting alone in the boxcar, reading his big red book by his side. And because his family are society people, she uses the Social Register to find an address for his family. Over at the Ransom home, Sally thinks about a parable that Reverend Pike had read to the congregation where Jesus chides Marys sister Martha when she complains about doing all the housework while Mary sits at Jesuss feet. He also realizes that by taking the car, Duchess and Wooly had also (inadvertently) taken all his money with them as well. She feels that doing something unnecessary is about kindness. The Lincoln Highway: A Novel: Towles, Amor, Ballerini, Edoardo, Ireland, Marin, Graham, Dion: 9780593452097: Amazon.com: Books Books Literature & Fiction Genre Fiction Buy new: $36.98 List Price: $50.00 Details Save: $13.02 (26%) FREE Returns FREE delivery Friday, February 10. Meanwhile, Woolly mentions wanting to make a pit stop to see his sister Sarah Whitney when they get to New York. He understands why Sally is upset, knowing that there was once the possibility of something between them. Duchess thinks about the teachings of Sister Agnes, a nun at St. Nicholass Home for Boys where his father had dropped him off. A year ago, Emmett killed another young man, Jimmy Snyder. Before Emmett leaves, Sally mentions that when they do finally hit the road, she plans to go to San Francisco as well. Instead, Duchess marches up to the cowboy and confronts him. Duchess can tell that Townhouse is their leader. He decides to go with Ulysses to travel via boxcar and seek out his own adventure. They leave to escape angry townspeople who believe Emmett got off . So, he plans to go there to ask about Harry Hewetts whereabouts and hopefully find Duchess in the process. Sally drops them both off at the train station, and she asks him to promise to call and check in (on Friday at 2:30) when they get to New York. He brings up the Hondo incident. When Duchess starts talking about going to San Francisco with Emmett, Emmett insists that Duchess needs to go back to Salina. Duchess thinks about the times Ackerly had hit them as he as brings the skillet down on Ackerlys head. Afterwards, they both agree that they are square. T he main themes in The Lincoln Highway are unintended consequences, alienation and longing, and self-reliance.. He knows that population growth is crucial to his plan of ensuring the profits of possible rental properties. Emmett Watson has spent a year on a work farm for involuntary manslaughter. Reader Q&A, THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY. The idea of debts. In the city, Emmett tries to track down Duchesss father, and he struggles to navigate the busy city. I will definitely finish the book, as I like it, but your summary will help me bluff my way through book club. Now, as they go looking for Ulysses, they all end up at the abandoned railroad camp. But Billy merely kicks him and runs away. There is a constant push and pull of wanting freedom and the things we owe to others. Over dinner, Duchess further explains that Woolly has a trust fund, for which his brother-in-law, Dennis Whitney, is the trustee (the person who makes decisions on behalf of a minor). This is filled with typos, mis-spellings and downright mistakes! When she shows up, they all come out to greet her. Over in Hells Kitchen, Duchess heads to a dive bar called Anchor on W. 45th St. Bernie had tipped him off that Fitzy and his father had often met there at 8 pm each night. Fitzy lied in a statement to corroborate Harry's lie. Hed found the $150,000. How does reading Duchesss first person narrative influence you in comparison to Emmetts third person narrative? The next morning, Emmett sees that Duchess and Woolly drove off in the Cadillac. In spring of 1953 his father had a flu he couldnt recover from. Amor Towles spins a wonderful one-of-a-kind kind of adventure through the pages of the Lincoln Highway. Emmett takes a quick look and is dismayed to see that the envelope with the money from his father isnt there. Sally muses that men seem to think that meals just make themselves. Hed decided to walk the 40 miles to the nearest junction in Des Moines instead. Ulysses tells him about ending up in Iowa on foot when the boxcar hed been traveling in was stopped. 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