Ham on Rye

Henry continues his painful acne treatment but becomes used to the process. His father finds work as a guard at a museum. Since his father has a job, Henry is no longer entitled to the free treatment at the hospital. He never sees Miss Ackerman again. Henry Senior wants his son to reenroll in high school. Henry discovers the public library and reads books by Upton Sinclair, Sinclair Lewis, Josephine Lawrence, D. H. Lawrence, Ernest Hemingway, and many more. He reads late into the night, despite his father’s instructions to go to bed.

Back at high school, Henry is still ignored by the rich students. A group of “the poor and the lost” (155) students form around Henry, much to his annoyance.

Through his friend Gene, Henry meets an aspiring boxer named Harry Gibson. He spars with Gene’s oldest brother, Dan. Harry knocks down Dan with ease and then does the same to Gene. Henry, annoyed at Harry’s aggression, calls him “yellow” (158). Henry is made to fight Harry. Henry puts up a good fight but does not notice the blood and pus from his broken boils. Dan and Gene split up the fight. Harry credits Henry as being “pretty good” (159). Henry walks home, trembling and bleeding.

Henry dislikes Jimmy Hatcher, even though Jimmy insists they are friends. Jimmy takes Henry and Baldy to his girlfriend’s house. Ann Weatherton has a late class, but Jimmy lets them inside with a key. Henry is horrified when Jimmy begins masturbating the family dog, Bones, whom he claims “needs release” (161). Jimmy also urinates in the family milk, and, just as he is about to do something else, Ann returns home. When she and Jimmy kiss, Henry and Baldy leave.

Jimmy convinces Henry to go to the beach, even though Henry is self-conscious about his acne scars. While cycling, Henry argues with a young man driving a car and then stops to wait for Jimmy. At the beach, Jimmy flirts with girls, but Henry is reluctant to get involved. Jimmy assures the girls Henry is “just strange” (167). Alone, Henry watches Jimmy with the girls. As he watches, a young boy throws sand in his face. Henry chases him away. Jimmy returns with the girls’ phone numbers. They return home.

Henry is one of the “misfits” who is enrolled in Reserve Office Training Corps (ROTC) rather than gym class (170). Lt. Beechcroft teaches the boys to “hate the enemy” (171). A big fight breaks out during a training exercise, but Henry just sits to the side on his own.

ROTC means Henry rarely plays sports. He has “no interests” (174), in his words. He is selected to represent his squadron at a competition. He has no desire to win and wishes he could be anywhere else, drinking beer. Nevertheless, he wins by a fluke and does not feel like he earned his medal. He walks home, tossing his medal in a storm drain, and then prepares to mow the lawn.

Henry’s parents criticize him for his poor grades and sullen disposition. They tell him to be more like Abe Mortenson, whose mother makes him study intensely outside of school hours. Henry convinces Abe to abandon his studies and play baseball on a Sunday. Henry plays well but develops an intense rivalry with a newcomer named Kitten Floss, who suckers Henry into being struck out. Desperate to catch Kitten out, Henry collides with Abe in the outfield and hurts Abe’s arm. Later, his parents punish him for breaking Abe’s arm. They are worried about being sued, but Henry Senior is quietly “proud of a son who could break somebody’s arm” (185).

Jimmy finds work in a grocery store and steals beer to drink with Henry. He also rips up his neighbor’s mail and speaks frankly about his father’s death by suicide. When they drink beer, Jimmy talks about his mother’s history as a sex worker. Henry enjoys drinking, but Jimmy vomits. When he passes out, Henry continues to drink and thinks about how he could have sex with Jimmy’s mother, Clare. When Clare returns home, she dismisses his propositions and calls him “a god-damned little kid drunk on beer” (190). When he continues, however, she pulls up her skirt as a challenge. Henry seems suddenly demure. He makes his excuses and leaves.

Henry thinks about the impossible nature of his future. His father seems like a stranger to him, and his mother seems nonexistent. Since he is poor, he believes, he will never truly be able to succeed in society. He attends senior prom and watches through a window, feeling like an “ugly,” alien creature compared to those inside. He hates “their beauty, their untroubled youth” (194). A security guard appears and tells him to go home.

Henry graduates high school. As the other students collect their diplomas, Henry and his friends speculate about their futures. Abe shows Henry the middle finger, and Henry is shocked, unsure whether he should fight Abe. He chooses not to, noting he escaped the lawsuit for breaking Abe’s arm thanks to his mother’s pleading. Henry’s parents approach Abe’s parents, and, while they talk, Abe denies any knowledge of insulting Henry. As the other families drive away in their new cars, Henry reluctantly gets in his family’s dilapidated car and thinks about his “bright future” (200).

Henry finds a job in a department store named Mears-Starbuck. He walks to work on his first day and stops to pet a stray dog. He tries to share his sandwiches with the dog, but the dog refuses the food. At the store, he meets Superintendent Ferris. He is shown how to work a timecard and, on seeing his fellow new employees, decides he is one of the “pathetic group of losers” (205). Henry delivers stock from the warehouse to the store. The salespeople are rude to the warehouse workers. That evening, he argues with his parents and prepares to work the next day.