There Are No Children Here: Chapter 22 Summary & Analysis

It has been a week since Craig Davis’s funeral, and Lafeyette is irritable, often gets angry at his siblings, and cleans the apartment frantically to channel his excess energy. He orders the younger ones about, telling them to help him clean the apartment, and they soon learn to stay away from Lafeyette’s unpredictable, occasionally violent temper, which makes it seem as though Lafeyette has no control over his moods and emotions.

Although he worries about Lafeyette, Pharoah handles Craig’s death by claiming that he is too young to understand it, thus avoiding the pain it might cause him. LaJoe, however, finds herself at a loss to try to get Lafeyette to talk about his grief. Lafeyette begins to repeat that he is tired, which worries LaJoe because Terence used to say something similar to express his general anger or dissatisfaction with his life. One day, when a shooting erupts outside their window, LaJoe and the younger children go to hide in the hallway but Lafeyette remains impassive, watching television in his sister’s room, refusing to shield himself from the threat of death.