Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Al Capone Does My Shirts, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Disability, Dignity, and Shared Humanity
Friendship and Community
Family
Growing Up and Doing the Right Thing
Summary
Analysis
On Monday, Moose is so grumpy about not being able to play baseball later that he doesn’t remember at first that he’s putting on his “first convict-washed shirt.” It looks normal. He finds Piper with three laundry bags when he gets to the boat, and Jimmy and Annie arrive with more laundry bags. As Piper tries to consolidate the large bags, Mr. Trixle gets on the boat in civilian clothes. (Moose is envious that he apparently gets a day off—Dad hasn’t had a day off yet.) Mr. Trixle asks about the laundry, and Piper explains that it’s a city-wide science project about the weight of wet versus dry cloth. He shakes his head and observes that Piper, like the warden, has an answer for everything.
Mr. Trixle’s presence on the boat reminds Moose and readers that he and the other Alcatraz kids are always being watched, much like the prisoners. But more explicitly, Moose sees Mr. Trixle here as an indication of how Dad is currently being mistreated at his job which, as Moose understands it, is harming his family.
Themes
Piper has the laundry in three bags by the time the boat docks, but it’s still too much for her to carry. Moose takes two bags and observes that Mr. Trixle didn’t believe Piper’s story, but Piper points out that he still didn’t check the bags. She locks the bags in a supply closet and gets them back out again at lunch. Scout catches Moose in the cafeteria and tells him that he was able to move the game to Tuesdays. The boys approach Piper, but there’s a problem: kids are upset that their shirts are just clean and aren’t bloody or riddled with bullet holes. Piper insists the clean clothes are collectors’ items since Al Capone’s sweat is on them and brandishes an Alcatraz laundry ticket as proof. This does nothing to change people’s minds.
Humorously, the kids got exactly what they paid for—clothing washed by notorious convicts. But because their focus is just on the murderers, thieves, et cetera who washed their shirts, they ignored the fact that they were always just going to get clean clothes. This illustrates how young Moose and Piper (and their classmates) really are. This does, however, make Piper’s ability to swindle her classmates somewhat more impressive.
Themes
