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
It rains all of February and half of March—except for on Mondays, when Scout plays baseball. Moose tries to ignore the game every week. He’s bored on Alcatraz, as his friendship with Pete has fizzled out, Annie and her mom go to church every day, and Piper is living with her grandmother in San Francisco. Though Annie insists that’s because Piper is in trouble too, Piper says she’s just sick of everyone and is having lots of fun. Moose gets his ball and glove back in February, but there’s no one to play with. He still feels extremely guilty, but Dad won’t talk about it. The only thing that keeps Moose going is bowling most afternoons with Theresa and Natalie.
During these few weeks, Moose nurses his wounds while also integrating more into the community on Alcatraz. Without Piper around to stir things up, he can spend his afternoons with Theresa and Natalie, something that he does genuinely seem to find fun. Still, he can’t escape that Alcatraz feels like a prison sentence to him, just like it certainly does for the inmates.
Themes
Natalie seems more present now, and she hasn’t had a “fit” since the day everyone got in trouble with the warden two months ago. Moose has met Mrs. Kelly a few times, and he doesn’t like her—he overheard her telling Mom that sometimes, there are multiple kids in a family “affected.” Mom was obviously upset, but she made it worse when she said that Moose is “smarter than he looks.” The only other thing that happens during these weeks is that Moose realizes how used he is to living with convicts.
It's interesting that while Moose acknowledges that Natalie is becoming more present, he still doesn’t like Mrs. Kelly. What’s changed for Natalie is that she’s now part of a group, something Mrs. Kelly insisted on. Mrs. Kelly certainly doesn’t ingratiate herself with Moose by implying that he may be “affected” too, however, so it may be this personal insult that keeps Moose from acknowledging the good Mrs. Kelly is doing.
Themes
In late March, the sun comes out, Piper returns to Alcatraz, and Annie and her mom go back to attending church weekly. Piper is clearly already working on a new scheme, as she calls a meeting on the parade grounds. Moose insists nobody is going to do what she says anymore—she said last time that nobody would get in trouble, and she was wrong. Piper just scoffs. Once Jimmy, Theresa, and Annie arrive, Piper says that they’re taking the 9:30 boat on Sunday and returning on the 10:00 one: Al Capone’s mother is coming to visit. She knows this because she reads Al Capone’s mail; her mom sorts it all. Theresa says she’s bringing Rocky. Piper tells Theresa to leave the baby, asks Annie to get out of church, and suggests that Moose leave Natalie at home.
The way that Piper sells this trip to her friends as a chance to get a glimpse of Al Capone’s mother suggests she doesn’t see either Al Capone or Mrs. Capone as fully human, like she is: they’re celebrities to gawk at. She also lords her power over the other kids by noting that she can read inmates’ mail; this gives her an unusual amount of insight into the convicts’ lives and relationships. But that also highlights how much Piper dehumanizes the convicts: even reading their letters—which connect convicts to their loved ones—doesn’t dim Piper’s enthusiasm for staring at them.
Themes
