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
For the next few days, Mom stays in her bedroom in her robe. Dad cooks, but he’s terrible, so he promises to bring home “convict cooking” if Mom doesn’t get up again tomorrow. Natalie plays with her food and then tells the same joke she told Mr. Purdy—and then she asks what happened. Dad says that Mom is unwell and the Esther P. Marinoff isn’t the right school, but Natalie says that Mom is angry. Dad assures her that Mom isn’t angry at her—she did very well. Natalie repeats Dad’s words and studies the butter.
It's heartbreaking when Natalie seems to ask if Mom is angry with her. This again highlights Natalie’s humanity—her neurodivergence doesn’t make her any less of a 16-year-old child who wants her parents’ approval.
Themes
The next day, Moose tells Annie and Theresa about asking the warden for Al Capone’s help. They’re not surprised the warden refused, and Annie suggests Capone won’t be able to do anything from prison. Moose, however, believes Capone could help, if he wanted. Finally, Moose approaches Piper and asks about writing to Capone. He asks if he can slip a letter in with the censored mail that Piper’s mom has processed. Piper said she tried that once, but he never responded. She then admits that she did get in trouble for the laundry scheme; her grandmother boils all her food and she didn’t actually want to be there. She asks what Capone can do to help. Moose isn’t sure, but he suggests that if Capone can fix an entire election, this will be easy.
Moose perhaps engages in the same kind of fantastical, exaggerated thinking as his classmates do about what the convicts are actually capable of when he suggests that Al Capone can get Natalie into the Esther P. Marinoff. It seems highly unlikely. And yet, it also seems like Moose’s only option at this point, and he believes that doing something like this is the only way he can help his sister and, by extension, the rest of his family.
Themes
The following afternoon, Piper procures the special duplicate typing paper and coaches Moose through typing a real-looking letter to Capone. In the letter, Moose briefly explains about Natalie and that she needs to go to the Esther P. Marinoff School in San Francisco so she can get help. He includes a postscript about liking Capone’s mother, which Piper scoffs at but Moose insists will help his case—it’ll make Capone act better. Piper disappears with the letter and returns a moment later. She asks if Moose is going back to Santa Monica if Natalie doesn’t get in, adding that she doesn’t care either way. Moose doesn’t know.
Moose’s letter is both charming and serious. Mentioning Mrs. Capone shows that he understands Al Capone is a son, just like Moose himself is—hopefully, they can bond over the fact that they both love their mothers. At least at the outset, getting the letter typed and slipped in looks shockingly easy, suggesting that Moose might be more successful than one might suspect.
Themes
