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
Mom won’t say anything to Moose the next morning. When Moose gets home later, Theresa is there and Mom is grinning: Natalie was amazing and even told a joke. Mom tells Moose to come with her so they can talk, leaving Theresa with Natalie (Theresa is talking about tomato juice, which seems to genuinely interest Natalie). Down at the dock, Mom apologizes to Moose for last night. Moose is angry, but Mom asks to finish. She says that she was angry, and Moose seemed not to care about anything—except doing what’s right for Natalie. This is new; Mom never tries to imagine Moose’s point of view. Moose just asks if Moose told Mr. Purdy. Mom didn’t, but she knows she has to.
Leaving Natalie with Theresa highlights how integrated Natalie now is in the Alcatraz community—and that Mom finally accepts this. Then, for the first time ever, Mom admits that she was wrong and Moose was right. She commends him for doing what he thought he must to look out for Natalie and suggests that doing what he did is admirable, as angry as it made her. Growing up and doing the right thing, this suggests, often isn’t easy—at times, as here, it causes a lot of discomfort.
Themes
Mrs. Caconi knocks on the door right before dessert. Mom and Dad go downstairs to answer the phone, leaving Moose and Natalie to eat pie alone. Natalie shovels the pie into her mouth like she hasn’t for months now, while Moose can barely taste the pie. After a long time, Dad returns and says that again, they said Natalie isn’t ready.
Natalie’s eating habits suggest that she’s as stressed about the interview decision as everyone else, another reminder that she might be neurodivergent, but she’s still engaged in her family and aware of the dynamics.
Themes
