The Plot Against America

In January 1942, having been trained by nurses in Canada to move about on a prosthetic leg, Alvin is discharged from the hospital and sent home with a pension and severance. Herman’s brother Monty, a rich wholesaler of fruits and vegetables locally known as “the Tomato King,” thinks Alvin should stay in Canada, where he could qualify for additional benefits. During a Sunday visit the week before Alvin returns, Monty lambasts Herman for letting Alvin run away to fight in the war. Herman accuses Monty and other “rich Jews” like him of turning a blind eye to the injustices of Lindbergh’s administration simply because the market is up.

On the day Alvin arrives home, the Roths go together to meet him at the train station. As Alvin’s train pulls in, Herman and Bess warn Philip not to be afraid of Alvin—or of his leg. Sandy rushes down the platform to meet Alvin, who is being pushed off the train in a wheelchair by a nurse. He hugs Alvin tight around the neck. Herman and Bess burst into tears. Meanwhile, Philip feels overwhelmed by his confusing fears about Alvin, Lindbergh, Sandy’s involvement with the OAA, and the recent squabbles between Herman and Monty. He robotically moves toward Alvin and hugs him. Philip notices that Alvin’s mouth smells terrible. As Philip looks down at Alvin’s leg, he sees that Alvin’s prosthesis is in his luggage rather than attached to this body.

As the Roths accompany Alvin to collect his baggage, he stands up out of his wheelchair and begins hopping through the station. Sandy, concerned, asks the nurse if Alvin could slip and fall. The nurse, however, assures him that Alvin is exceptional at hopping and that his determination will take him anywhere he wants to go. She has never seen anyone as angry with how things have turned out as Alvin is.

Sandy, Herman, and Alvin load Alvin’s luggage into the car while Philip and Bess take the bus home—there is no room in the car for them. Bess, sensing Philip’s fear and discomfort, tries to warn Philip that though Alvin is angry, he’ll soon return to his old self. All Philip is concerned about, though, is having to look at—or worse, touch or care for—Alvin’s stump. Alvin is moving into Philip’s room to stay with him while Sandy moves into the guest bedroom. Bess offers to take Philip’s place in his room and let him sleep with Herman, or for Philip and Sandy to switch places—but Philip knows he can’t allow Alvin, who lost his leg fighting Nazis, to share a room with a boy who is working for Lindbergh. 

After several visits to the family dentist to get his rotted teeth—the source of the foul smell in his mouth—fixed up, Alvin begins smelling better. His stump, however, is deteriorating—cracked and bloodied, it pains Alvin and prevents him from using his prosthetic leg. One night, Alvin wakes up in the middle the night covered in sweat due to a terrible nightmare. When Alvin turns on the light, Philip sees his stump for the first time. Philip asks how long it will take for the stump to heal. Alvin replies that it will take “forever.” He explains to Philip the cyclical issues with his prosthesis and its fit that he will endure for the rest of his life, and he shows Philip how he needs to keep the stump bandaged. Philip feels less frightened.

The next day, when Philip returns home, Alvin is at the dentist and Sandy is out with Aunt Evelyn. Home alone, Philip decides to play with Alvin’s bandages and pretends to wrap up his own leg. When Philip finds that the bandage is dirty, however, he begins to dry heave. He runs down to the cellar to vomit in the laundry sink. Down in the dank cellar in his petrified, disgusted state, Philip is reminded of the underworld of Greek myth. Philip fears the cellar and hates going down there to do laundry of shovel coal into the furnace—he believes that the ghosts of his dead family members live down there.

While Philip is in the cellar, he hears the pained cough of his family’s downstairs neighbor, Mr. Wishnow, who is, like Herman, an insurance agent with Metropolitan Life. Mr. Wishnow has been out sick from work with cancer of the mouth and throat for over a year. The Roths sometimes bring food over to the Wishnows—and Philip often gets roped into playing with Seldon, a chess-loving, nerdish schoolmate of his.

Within a week, Philip overcomes his squeamishness and begins helping Alvin change his bandages with ease. Soon, Alvin’s stump is healed well enough that he can put on his artificial leg and walk around. After several days of practicing around the house and in the alleyway, Alvin is able to play football and run errands. Philip helps Alvin take his pants to a seamstress and have hidden zippers installed so that Alvin can more easily get his pants on and off while wearing his prosthesis—in exchange, Alvin awards Philip with the medal he received for his service in the Canadian Army. Philip loves the medal and wears it all the time. As Philip and Alvin grow closer, Philip knows that Alvin must have noticed Sandy’s removal from the family and filled in the blanks regarding Sandy’s allegiances.

Everyone is happy about Alvin’s speedy recovery—but with so much idle time on his hands, Alvin begins wandering the neighborhood and shooting craps with neighborhood youths. Bess and Herman are worried about Alvin’s future and believe he should return to school or find a job—after all, he is 22 years old. One afternoon, Philip comes home from school and finds Alvin in the cellar masturbating. Alvin doesn’t hear Philip at the top of the stairs, and Philip doesn’t know what Alvin is doing—he believes that Alvin is crying, grieving, and releasing in the form of a viscous liquid on the wall a festering embodiment of his grief.

Uncle Monty comes by to see Alvin one afternoon in January. Monty wastes no time drilling Alvin and urging him to tell the story of how he lost his leg—confronting the tale, Monty suggests, will help Alvin feel better. Alvin says that while stationed in Europe, he shot a German in the middle of the night while waiting for a boat that would evacuate his platoon. The German cried all night—Alvin’s shot hadn’t killed the man. Alvin at last crawled over to the man and shot him in the head, then spit in his face. German troops threw a grenade at Alvin, and the blast ruined his leg beyond saving. Philip is disappointed by the cowardice he perceives in Alvin’s story.

Monty chides Alvin for his stupidity and shames him for his lack of motivation upon returning home. In spite of his disgust with Alvin, Monty offers Alvin a job at his market, claiming that he would do anything for the son of his dead brother, Jack—Alvin’s father. Before leaving, Monty reminds Alvin that the friends who saved him after he was hit by a German grenade didn’t risk their lives so he could spend his life shooting craps and lazing about. Alvin is a wreck who must now make something of himself. Alvin doesn’t react at all—he simply goes upstairs, gets in bed, and refuses to talk to anyone for the rest of the day. Philip goes down to the cellar to cry.