54 pages • 1 hour read
Lawrence HillThe Illegal
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 24-30Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “Freedom State, 2018”
Chapter 24 Summary
Viola is working out in Ruddings Park when she comes across Anton Hamm beating Keita into the ground. Hamm says, “Deliver, you bastard […] ten thousand dollars, or you will never run again” (276). Viola blows her whistle, and Hamm takes off. Viola gets out of her wheelchair and approaches Keita. She asks if she should call for an ambulance, and he asks her to keep 911 out of it. He explains that he is the son of Yoyo, whom Viola is familiar with. She wants to know more about the circumstances of Yoyo’s death, and so Keita reveals most of what has happened in his life up to this point.
Chapter 25 Summary
Rocco Calder follows through on his promise to Darlene, meeting her in Ruddings Park. She recounts her recent attack, and he tells her about Anton Hamm threatening him. Darlene tells Calder that she was there the night the prime minister came to Bombay Booty and that she saw the man who took Yvette away. She explains that she then had to please that same man. Darlene asked him what he did for a living, and he explained that he runs people to the airport to be deported. After divulging this information, Darlene requests that Calder obtain papers for her. He says he can’t, so she reveals that the night he came in to see her was videotaped at Lula’s request. This convinces Calder to help her get her citizenship papers because he knows the release of that tape would end his career. Darlene also reveals that the prime minister was recorded with Yvette, so now Calder has something on him.
Chapter 26 Summary
Keita arrives at the Clark Valley half marathon. He struggles, experiencing difficulty breathing and a bad headache. He doesn’t know if he can keep up the sprinting pace he needs to win. Billy Deeds, the racist harasser from the Prologue, appears again, eager to beat Keita. Before Keita can cross the finish line, he collapses right onto it. Mitch, having seen many runners struggle at the end of a race, is so concerned by Keita’s condition that he demands an ambulance. Ivernia and Viola follow the unconscious Keita to the hospital. Candace arrives at the hospital as well. The doctor informs them all that Keita has severe diabetes and could have easily died today. Keita is worried about how he will get the treatment he needs and still avoid deportation. The doctor offers a few months of insulin upfront, and Ivernia offers to help him administer it. Mitch assures Keita that he still wants him on the Olympic team. Before they leave the hospital, Candace tells Keita that he got the wrong idea about her not telling him she is a police officer: “I am not after you—in that way” (297).
Chapter 27 Summary
Ivernia’s son, Jimmy, leaves a message on the tip hotline about Keita living in his mother’s house. In his message, he demands the $5,000 reward for reporting Illegals. Calder and his assistant, June, decide to delete the message. On his way to meet with the prime minister, Calder crosses paths with Saunders, who gives him attitude. Inside the office, Prime Minister Wellington apologizes for the “mix-up” at Bombay Booty and lets Calder know that Lula is planning a demonstration. He asks Calder to find out whatever he can about Keita Ali.
Chapter 28 Summary
Viola comes to Calder’s office, where she speaks with June, an old friend from AfricTown. Calder mentions that in the two years he has worked with June, he has never heard her speak naturally until now, speaking with Viola. Viola wants to interview Calder about Yvette Peters and Zantoroland. She agrees to speak with him off the record if she can get information before she leaves for Zantoroland to further her research. He tells her that Saunders was just meeting with the prime minister, and they realize he must be Wellington’s snitch. Calder also informs her that if it wasn’t his own signature on Yvette’s deportation, it could only have been Wellington’s. Viola mentions a rumor saying that Freedom State and Zantoroland have a “secret arrangement” where Freedom State ships dissidents back to Zantoroland. Calder claims to know nothing about this but again reveals that the prime minister’s office has the authority to approve that.
Mitch Hitchcock arrives to ask Calder for special assistance with Keita Ali. He wants Keita on his Olympic team and needs Calder to grant him citizenship so that he can race for Freedom State. Calder agrees to think it over.
Chapter 29 Summary
Ivernia goes before a judge who will rule on her fitness for living alone. The judge is wary of Jimmy’s behavior, so she gives Ivernia a chance. She puts Ivernia on probation for six months; if Ivernia can avoid any more automobile accidents or other troubles, then she will be granted access to her assets again, and the case will be closed. When Ivernia returns home, she is awoken by a visit from Anton Hamm, who is looking for Keita. He is violent and aggressive, breaking down the door to Keita’s bedroom, finding some of Keita’s cash, and pocketing it. When Ivernia attempts to stand up to him, he knocks her out. The nosy neighbor, Lydia, watches through the window and calls 911. Hamm runs off with Keita’s money before the police arrive.
Chapter 30 Summary
Saunders and Hamm have a confrontation over Keita’s location. Hamm demands his payment from Saunders, not believing Saunders bold enough to fight back. Saunders proves he is serious by shooting Hamm and blowing off the tip of his pinkie finger.
Chapters 24-30 Analysis
These chapters unravel the image that Freedom State wants to maintain. John says he doesn’t understand “why [Freedom State’s] government would be in cahoots with the people in power in Zantoroland,” to which Viola responds, “anything to stay in power” (285). The corruption of the state, which espouses democratic virtues but collaborates with authoritarian regimes to fulfill its own aims, is exposed alongside the corruption of powerful individuals as Rocco Calder discovers both the relationship between AfricTown and Freedom State and the true nature of Graeme Wellington’s power. The prime minister was willing to seek out sex workers in AfricTown and then set Calder up to take the fall. Clearly, his image as a Family Party man is an illusion. In an environment where public and private personas clash, John and his camera become the ultimate source of power, as people are much less willing to commit corruption if they know it will be exposed. For instance, Calder finally helps Darlene when he fears that John’s footage will be released and disrupt his public persona. This contrasts with a character like Keita, who is automatically deemed a criminal by the public despite being a morally superior person, developing the novel’s critique of Race, Privilege, and Power The entrenched racism of Freedom State is part of a broader pattern of supposed virtue masking moral rot.
Furthermore, Freedom State looks less and less like an admirable country as Keita’s health deteriorates, eventually leading to his collapse at the finish line of a race. Keita is more afraid to get medical help than he is to continue living with his symptoms. Keita’s health struggle illuminates the crisis of many real refugees and migrants who, afraid of being captured and deported, avoid all medical care until a life-threatening situation forces them into an emergency room. The irony is that Keita is gaining fame for his running, even receiving an invitation to Freedom State’s Olympic team, but he is always on the run from the police and potential deportation, even as he collapses with diabetic fatigue. Freedom State wants Keita’s success and fame for itself, even if it kills him. That said, the novel also draws attention to the decency of doctors trained to care for their patients regardless of their social position. Keita’s doctor says, “My first job is to treat. Others can worry about money” (295), drawing further attention to the question of Legality Versus Justice.
The novel addresses the theme of freedom through many lenses. In Chapter 28, it emerges that Rocco Calder is much less free than he believes and is in fact a pawn for the prime minister. Viola asks why he hasn’t followed through on his promise to intercept boats of Illegals. He responds, “Beats me. They told me to crack down on the big numbers, and I’ve been unable to do it” (304). He also reveals that although his signature is technically required on paperwork like the deportation orders for Yvette Peters, in reality “the PM’s Office could handle it. The PM’s office handles everything” (305). Rocco dreams of the day when he can escape politics and resume running a used-car dealership, where he felt much freer.
The novel also questions what it means to be a free citizen through Ivernia’s case for living independently. As she is humiliated in court, it is clear that Freedom State citizens are not truly free, especially when they belong to disenfranchised groups. Ivernia explains this to the judge: “There is only one reason I am here before you […] it is because of my age. Otherwise, I would not be forced to submit to this humiliating procedure […] I find it offensive that you are doling out my own money and autonomy, like a bean counter. I want my freedom back” (310). After Hamm attacks Ivernia, her situation is not so different from Yoyo’s. His spirit was also crushed through humiliation, his assets were also taken, and his freedom to write was destroyed. Yet Yoyo had the love and support of a dedicated son and kindly neighbors. Ivernia has the racist busybody Lydia living next door and a terrible son who steals from her. The comparison between Ivernia’s life in Freedom State and Yoyo’s in Zantoroland critiques Western pretensions to freedom and civilization, suggesting that the richer nation does not enjoy much more of either than the poorer Zantoroland.
Related Titles
By Lawrence Hill
