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Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Devil in a Blue Dress, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race and Identity
Power and Corruption
Violence, Justice, and Morality
The American Dream
Summary
Analysis
As Easy returns home, two White men in a parked black Ford approach him. Introducing themselves as detectives Miller and Mason—Miller seemingly the more senior partner—they strongarm Easy into accompanying them to the police station, where they shove him into a dingy, dimly lit interrogation room. The detectives slap Easy around, demanding to know his whereabouts the night he and Coretta took Dupree home. Though Easy is honest, the detectives dismiss his answers and refuse to explain why they’re questioning him. After hours of intimidation, they release Easy but ominously remind him that they know where he lives.
Miller and Mason’s barbaric interrogation tactics speak to the systemic racism entrenched in Los Angeles law enforcement. Their use of violence to intimidate and pressure Easy into a false confession demonstrates how Black men were historically often presumed guilty without evidence. But Easy refuses to let the detectives break him. Though the situation tests his resolve, he ultimately emerges from it stronger and more determined.
Themes
