Chapter 31: CHAPTER 28 – Summary & Analysis
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This page reveals the full contents of Chapter 31 of A Calamity of Souls. Proceed only if you have read up to this point.
← Previous Chapter | Back to Book Hub | Next Chapter →
Summary
Desiree DuBose is alone in a worn, odorless hotel room in Carter City—a space that feels to her like a relic of the antebellum South. This is a familiar setting; she has stayed in hundreds of such rooms across a dozen states since joining the Legal Defense Fund. The case of Jerome Washington was flagged to her as a “golden opportunity,” and she traveled from North Carolina to Virginia immediately.
After undressing and wrapping her hair, she performs her nightly ritual: gazing at a photo of a young couple she keeps in her wallet. She then stands at the window, reflecting on her role. She is uncomfortable partnering with Jack Lee, a white lawyer who has never fought for the cause she has dedicated her life to. She credits his resilience after being beaten, but a part of her would prefer he withdrew. She worries that Edmund Battle’s trial skill and the weight of the Commonwealth will crush Lee if he falters, and that the pressure is not just legal but public.
Sitting at the desk, she covers pages with strategic notes, seeing herself not as a lawyer in a uniform but as a battlefield officer whose uniform is her Black skin. Her mind then shifts to the 1968 presidential election. George Wallace’s far-right candidacy is gaining momentum, even in the North, and DuBose fears that regardless of who wins, the new president may need to appease Wallace’s movement, stalling civil rights. The presence of Howard Pickett, a longtime transactional racist she has battled before, signals that Wallace’s camp sees an opportunity in Virginia: a Black man executed for killing a white couple might reverse the progress made after the Loving decision.
She turns out the light and reviews the evening. She liked Pearl and Miss Jessup, but she will not assume Jerome’s innocence until she sees the facts. She knows Battle would not prosecute without grounds—factual or fabricated. Her task is to ensure the outcome does not derail the strategic march toward racial equality.
She thinks about the Lee family. Jack’s mother struck her as a typical racist, horrified at the thought of her son dating a Black woman. Frank Lee seemed decent but uncomfortable, and his plea to keep Jack safe feels irrelevant: DuBose has lost too many to racists, and a grown man makes his own choices. As she closes her eyes, she senses that this case, while similar to others, will also hold differences. Possibly profound ones. She finally falls asleep in another foreign place.
Key Events
- DuBose surveys the dingy hotel room, a setting she has endured in many southern states.
- She recalls why the case came to her—a golden opportunity approved by the Legal Defense Fund—and her quick journey to Freeman County, a name she finds sardonic.
- She completes her nightly ritual: undressing, hair wrap, and a long look at a photo of a young couple.
- Standing at the window, she admits her distrust of Jack Lee and wishes he had withdrawn, despite giving him credit for not fleeing after being beaten.
- She drafts strategic legal notes, reframing her role as a battlefield officer whose uniform is her Black skin.
- The 1968 presidential election consumes her thoughts: Wallace’s threat, the likely nominees Nixon and Humphrey, and the danger that any winner will pacify Wallace’s supporters at the expense of civil rights.
- She identifies Howard Pickett’s arrival as the real reason she took the case, seeing it as a Wallace-camp attempt to exploit the trial after the Loving v. Virginia setback.
- Lying in bed, she revisits her impressions of Pearl, Miss Jessup, and the importance of avoiding premature conclusions about Jerome’s guilt.
- She assesses the Lee family—labeling the mother a typical racist, noting Frank Lee’s discomfort, and dismissing his plea for his son’s safety.
- She falls asleep with a premonition that this case, while familiar, will contain profound differences.
Character Development
- Desiree DuBose: The chapter penetrates her interior life. She is not just a litigator; she is a strategist, a soldier for racial equality, and a woman carrying personal grief (the photo ritual). Her conflicted feelings about Jack—grudging respect mixed with a preference to work alone—reveal her hardened pragmatism. She views every case through a long-term political lens, yet remains vulnerable enough to note the precise moment she lets herself drift into “foreign and discomforting” sleep.
- Jack Lee (via DuBose’s lens): Seen as sincere but untested, a potential liability whose courage after the beating earns measured credit. DuBose’s internal debate shows she does not fully trust him to withstand what is coming.
- The Lee Family: Jack’s mother is pegged as a racist whose near-apoplexy over the imagined romance with a Black woman confirms DuBose’s instincts. Frank Lee is viewed as decent but uneasy—a microcosm of the white moderate DuBose cannot afford to rely on.
- Howard Pickett: Introduced as a long-time adversary, arrogant and transactional. His presence escalates the stakes from a local murder trial to a national political battlefield.
- Pearl and Miss Jessup: DuBose’s affection for them is genuine, but it does not soften her disciplined withholding of judgment on Jerome’s guilt until she sees the evidence.
Themes, Symbols, and Motifs
- The Uniform of Blackness: DuBose’s metaphor of her skin as a uniform transforms her identity into a weapon and a shield. It underscores the inescapability of race in every courtroom, hotel room, and conversation.
- Justice as Political Theater: The chapter explicitly links Jerome’s fate to the 1968 election and Wallace’s white supremacy campaign. A guilty verdict and execution could become a trophy for those who want to roll back civil rights, making the trial a proxy war.
- Outsiderhood and Displacement: The hotel room is described as a “foreign land,” echoing DuBose’s perennial alienation in the places where she fights. The repetition of “strange, uncomfortable bed” reinforces her never being at home in the world she seeks to change.
- Rituals of Memory and Grief: The photo of the young couple serves as a quiet motif of personal loss. DuBose’s nightly ritual connects her private humanity to her public mission, reminding readers that she is sustained by what she has lost.
- Pragmatic Trust vs. Idealistic Alliance: DuBose’s reluctance to partner with Jack Lee highlights the tension between making useful alliances and maintaining the integrity of a movement. The chapter questions whether a white lawyer who has never fought for civil rights can be a true ally under extreme pressure.
Why This Chapter Matters
After the intensity of earlier courtroom and confrontation scenes, Chapter 31 provides a necessary decompression that deepens the novel’s central character. DuBose’s solitary reflections transform her from a forceful legal weapon into a fully rounded human being. The chapter anchors the personal to the political: the 1968 election, Wallace’s rise, and the specter of the Loving case fuse Jerome’s fate to the national struggle. It also foreshadows conflict both inside the defense team and outside in the public arena. By ending on an ambiguous premonition—that “profound differences” lie ahead—the chapter sets the stage for the trial’s unpredictable violence, both legal and literal, while confirming that DuBose is far more than a supporting player; she is the novel’s strategic conscience.
Study Questions and Answers
-
Why does DuBose prefer that Jack Lee withdraw from the case, even though she acknowledges his bravery after the beating? She trusts her own experience and fears that an untested white lawyer, however sincere, will crumble under the combined pressure of Edmund Battle’s skill and the massive public scrutiny. His potential failure could harm not only Jerome’s defense but also the larger civil rights mission she is sworn to protect.
-
How does DuBose connect Howard Pickett’s presence to the 1968 presidential campaign, and what does that connection reveal about the stakes of the trial? Pickett is a longtime operative for George Wallace’s white-supremacist faction. DuBose believes they see Jerome’s trial as a chance to showcase a Black man’s execution for killing whites, hoping to galvanize voters and force the next president to adopt some of Wallace’s platform. The trial thus becomes a national propaganda tool, raising the stakes far beyond one defendant’s life.
-
What is the significance of the photo ritual DuBose performs before bed, and what does it suggest about her character that the text does not directly explain who the couple is? The ritual shows that DuBose carries a profound personal loss, likely of loved ones who died because of racism. The omission of their names universalizes the grief: they could be parents, a partner, or friends. It humanizes her combativeness and suggests that her ferocity in court is fueled by private sorrow as much as by ideology.