79 pages • 2 hours read
Jack GantosHole In My Life
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2002A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Part 3, Chapters 1-2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3, Chapter 1 Summary: “Evidence”
Gantos receives a call from his father, informing Gantos that he must turn himself in. Gantos’ father secures his son a lawyer, Al. E. Newman. Upon returning to New York City, Gantos meets with his lawyer, who remains confident that Gantos’ age and part in the crime will provide leniency, in regard to sentencing. Gantos and Newman soon realize, however, that is not the case; the District Attorney, Tepper, in a meeting with Gantos and his lawyer, reveals that Hamilton, Rik, and the parties they sold drugs to are in custody and have provided evidence against Gantos. In addition, Tepper, provides pictures of Gantos unloading hash from the boat. Upon reflection, Gantos states, “I didn’t feel so guilty as stupid” (130). He recalls the words of his boarding home owner warning him of the dangers of a life squandered to drugs, alcohol, and lack of accountability. The chapter ends with Newman reassuring Gantos that he’ll likely escape major jail time, albeit with less certainty than before the meeting with DA Tepper.
Part 3, Chapter 2 Summary: “Face to Face”
“Face to Face” reintroduces the motif of Gantos’ faceand discusses the origin of the skin problems evident in his prison picture. As a result of the stress of the trial and being followed by federal agents, Gantos picks at his skinas a way to exert control over his life and assuage his guilt. He found picking over his face “very satisfying,” and refers to it as a “cleansing ritual” (132). During this section, Gantos also attempts to visit one of their buyers, Lucas, who bought a hundred pounds of drugs. Instead, he finds Lucas’s wife and child at home and discovers that Lucas has been arrested and is scheduled to be arraigned. Lucas’s wife confronts Gantos about the immorality of selling drugs, to which Gantos has no response. The chapter ends with Gantos burying the remaining smuggled hash in Central Park by General Sherman’s statue.
Part 3, Chapters 1-2 Analysis
Part Three of the memoir represents the great divide between expectation and reality. Previously, Gantos feels the smuggling venture will be great fodder for writing; he expects to use the money to fund college and formal writing training. However, reality is best represented in the character of DA Tepper, when he shows Gantos pictures as evidence of Gantos unloading hash and states, “look at the smile on your face. Would you like a mirror to see how you look now?” (128). Gantos, realizing the case against him is strong, turns to picking at his face, an act that will be a recurring reflection of his fear and anxiety. Gantos looks into an actual mirror after Tepper mentions the hypothetical one and sees a face that surprises him: he begins to pop the pimples and tear at the surface of his face, as if his criminal acts are showing in the mirror. As his life spirals out of his control, one such consequence is that his face starts to resemble “how ugly [he] was becoming” (133). Gantos impresses on the reader that a man’s criminal acts can make him ugly through and through. Just as his father told him when he was a child, the consequence of crossing the line is very real and possibly irreversible.
Another reality Gantos faces comes from a minor character. When he tries to visit Lucas, he finds the man’s wife, who asks him if he ever thinks about the consequences of selling drugs. This concept is too difficult for Gantos’ immature mind to process; his inability to answer her reflects how little a role consequence has played in his decisions. As a result of her remark, Gantos sees danger everywhere. He follows the Attica prison riot, internalizing the horrors of prison. These events, and the reality of time in prison, numb Gantos; however, the reader sees a shift in his mentality when he is facing dire consequences for the first time. Coupled with the evidence of his wrongdoing, Gantos shows the budding of personal growth when he accepts he has ruined many lives, and, very possibly, his own. He refers to his face as “an open wound,” (138). These reflections represent the raw violence and lack of protection he fears in prison, but it is Lucas’s wife’s frank questionthat finally changes Gantos’ perception of himself and his fate,and shifts his outlook to one of pure fear.
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