The Jacket

The second half of the novel brings Phil’s character arc to a close, resolving both his internal and external conflicts while also acknowledging there is still room for growth. Chapter 4 continues Phil’s process of understanding racial divides. In addition to his neighborhood, his school bus is almost all white kids, showing that the surrounding neighborhoods are also largely populated by white people. His thought that you can learn a lot from looking around a bus symbolizes how simple observation can teach us about our world and shows that taking the time to look is a crucial first step toward gaining knowledge. Phil figures out both that his experience and his reality not the only ones and that they aren’t the default.

Phil’s introspection directly contrasts with his mother’s instruction to forget about thinking he’s prejudiced. Where Phil wants to see the world in terms of his new understanding, his mother doesn’t want him to think of himself as prejudiced because she fears that he’ll internalize that he’s a bad person. Phil grapples with questioning his biases and learns that finding things about himself that he dislikes doesn’t mean he is a bad person. Rather, it means he can work to do better.

Phil’s parents show the difference between people who are aware and unaware of their biases. Phil’s mom is unaware of any bias she carries toward Daniel’s grandmother because she has not made the effort to unpack her feelings or investigate factors that have contributed to her attitudes. By contrast, Phil’s dad is overtly prejudiced against Black people and does not attempt to hide his racism or cover it up behind innocent-sounding statements. Phil’s dad is annoyed specifically that a Black player might be chosen over Phil to start for the basketball team. He goes on to gripe about professional Black players who get all the attention, citing how talented white players of the past aren’t celebrated alongside the current greats. While talent and skill should determine who has the opportunity to engage in any career or sport, systemic racism has limited the opportunities for Black people to thrive in areas where it has traditionally been easier for white people to flourish. Phil’s dad sees the rise in Black players as a dismissal of white players and says to Phil, “‘don’t get me started’” (60), suggesting his racism extends beyond professional sports.

At the end of Chapter 5, Phil learns that Daniel lives about two miles away. Likening this to the distance he runs in basketball practice makes Phil realize that Daniel doesn’t live far from him, and Phil starts to understand that racial divides are only as wide as people allow them to be. During Phil’s run in Chapter 6, he sees the divide at work as neighborhoods go from all white people, to multiple races, to all Black people. The area in the middle shows that the divide is not everywhere, and it offers the new idea to Phil that a place doesn’t have to have a color associated with it. Regardless of the racial breakdown in an area, Phil sees the same things happening—people taking care of their yards, shopping for groceries, and enjoying time together as a family. Racial divides are perpetuated by society, not inherent in human existence.

The final confrontation between Phil and Daniel shows how disagreements of any kind, racial or otherwise, persist when people refuse to acknowledge another person’s perspective. When Phil first tries to give the jacket back to Daniel, Daniel refuses it because he doesn’t want Phil’s pity. Phil struggles to give Daniel the jacket in a way that feels appropriate because Phil is uncomfortable with his prejudice, a sign of white fragility (when a white person gets angry or defensive at the idea of being racist). Still grappling with everything he’s learning, Phil doesn’t know how to make it clear he wants Daniel to have the jacket simply because he wants him to have it—not because he views Daniel as needing charity. Phil gets angry at Daniel’s refusal to listen, which is the point at which Daniel understands that Phil is being genuine. Phil’s anger shows Daniel that Phil isn’t giving him the jacket out of pity and makes Daniel aware that he was being unfair by not giving Phil a chance to express himself.

In Chapter 6, Phil doesn’t know how to feel about the similarities between his home and Daniel’s because his thoughts about race are new. In this moment, Phil is coming to terms with some difficult truths: he assumed Daniel’s neighborhood and home would be poor; he thought the Black women in town didn’t truly belong (they weren’t shopping, after all, but traveling home, likely from jobs in town); and he realized he isn’t close friends with anyone of a different race despite being in the same school and on the same sports teams. Change and understanding take time. Phil recognizes that he has made mistakes, but he wants to learn from those mistakes. Daniel shows Phil that the effort is what’s important; he is willing to accept the jacket when he sees that Phil is being genuine. Similarly, the book ends with the idea that there is always room for improvement. Phil’s parents are both still holding on to their biases, whether aware of them or not, and like Phil, they have the capability to examine their feelings and change. Just because they haven’t done so by the end of the book doesn’t mean they can’t or won’t.