Chap­ter 20: The Antes House intro­duces Gus Plitz­ka, the chair­man of the Pottstown city coun­cil, who has a deep-seat­ed aver­sion to Memo­r­i­al Day. This hol­i­day, which includes the John Antes His­tor­i­cal Society’s Cor­net March­ing Band, brings with it a series of events that Gus dreads each year. These events involve a coun­cil meet­ing, fol­lowed by a band per­for­mance, a break­fast of Ger­man sausages, and a parade where coun­cil mem­bers dress as Rev­o­lu­tion­ary sol­diers to hon­or John Antes, a com­pos­er with a con­tro­ver­sial life. Gus is par­tic­u­lar­ly dis­pleased by the cel­e­bra­tion, as it not only high­lights the mixed lega­cy of Antes, but also brings the town’s com­plex his­to­ry to the fore­front in ways that make him uncom­fort­able. For Gus, this annu­al gath­er­ing rep­re­sents a forced cel­e­bra­tion of both tra­di­tion and a past that he feels should remain buried.

The cel­e­bra­tion cul­mi­nates at the Antes House, a dilap­i­dat­ed his­tor­i­cal site that serves as a haven for the town’s unsa­vory char­ac­ters for most of the year. The house, neglect­ed and run­down, attracts a diverse crowd—runaways, trou­ble­mak­ers, and rev­el­ers alike. How­ev­er, just before Memo­r­i­al Day, these peo­ple van­ish, leav­ing the house to be cleaned and refur­bished in prepa­ra­tion for the event. The build­ing, a sym­bol of Pottstown’s his­to­ry, is a con­tra­dic­to­ry place; it serves as a refuge for the town’s more mar­gin­al­ized indi­vid­u­als, while also rep­re­sent­ing the town’s con­nec­tion to its past and its strug­gle to rec­on­cile his­to­ry with the present. In a town where peo­ple and their sto­ries are often swept under the rug, the Antes House stands as a reminder of the com­plex­i­ties of Pottstown’s iden­ti­ty.

As the chap­ter unfolds, Plitz­ka reflects on his role as the new own­er of Clover Dairy, a posi­tion that has not brought him the suc­cess he hoped for. Instead, he is bur­dened by a sig­nif­i­cant debt to a mob­ster named Nig Rosen, which has become a source of con­stant stress and anx­i­ety. The loan, which he once viewed as a means of advanc­ing his life and career, has become a crip­pling weight that he can­not escape. His par­tic­i­pa­tion as a parade mar­shal dur­ing the Memo­r­i­al Day event does lit­tle to alle­vi­ate his finan­cial strug­gles, and he spends much of the time con­sumed by thoughts of how to resolve his mount­ing debt. This under­ly­ing ten­sion between his out­ward role as a respect­ed town fig­ure and his inter­nal finan­cial tur­moil speaks to the larg­er strug­gles that many in Pottstown face, where appear­ances often mask deep­er issues.

In the midst of the Memo­r­i­al Day cel­e­bra­tions, Gus Plitz­ka seeks help from Doc Roberts, a fel­low coun­cil mem­ber and a mem­ber of the march­ing band, to address his phys­i­cal ailment—a painful toe. Their inter­ac­tion reveals a strained rela­tion­ship, with both men har­bor­ing past griev­ances against one anoth­er. These issues stem not only from per­son­al dif­fer­ences but also from the larg­er class and polit­i­cal divides that define their inter­ac­tions. Plitz­ka, who is bur­dened by his role in the coun­cil and his finan­cial oblig­a­tions, looks to Doc for assis­tance, but their exchange is far from friend­ly. Their shared his­to­ry of con­flict makes even sim­ple inter­ac­tions charged with under­ly­ing ani­mos­i­ty, adding com­plex­i­ty to their rela­tion­ship.

As the two men con­tin­ue their con­ver­sa­tion, the top­ic shifts to the grow­ing pres­ence of Black res­i­dents in Pottstown. This change in the com­mu­ni­ty cre­ates uncom­fort­able ten­sions and high­lights under­ly­ing racial dis­crim­i­na­tion. Plitz­ka, whose views are col­ored by prej­u­dice, makes dis­parag­ing remarks about the Black com­mu­ni­ty, while Doc, though more reserved, express­es his dis­con­tent with the dif­fi­cult con­di­tions they face. This dis­cus­sion brings to light the racial divides that exist with­in the town, reflect­ing the broad­er soci­etal issues that affect their lives. The con­ver­sa­tion serves as a win­dow into the racial dynam­ics of the town, show­ing how deeply ingrained bias­es shape the atti­tudes and behav­ior of those in posi­tions of pow­er.

Amidst their bit­ter exchanges, the char­ac­ters reveal more about their roles with­in the town and their respec­tive polit­i­cal moti­va­tions. Their per­son­al struggles—Plitzka’s finan­cial woes, Doc’s phys­i­cal dis­com­fort, and both men’s sim­mer­ing racial prejudices—are woven into the larg­er fab­ric of small-town pol­i­tics. The chap­ter delves into the eth­i­cal and moral dilem­mas they face, offer­ing a glimpse into the intri­ca­cies of their per­son­al and polit­i­cal lives. The ten­sions between them, both per­son­al and polit­i­cal, set the stage for larg­er themes of pow­er, race, and class to unfold. As the chap­ter pro­gress­es, it becomes clear that these themes are not only rel­e­vant to the char­ac­ters’ inter­ac­tions but also to the com­mu­ni­ty as a whole, where divi­sions run deep and affect every aspect of dai­ly life.

The chap­ter ulti­mate­ly paints a pic­ture of a town on the brink of change, where old divi­sions are being chal­lenged by new real­i­ties. The inter­ac­tions between Gus, Doc, and the oth­er char­ac­ters high­light the ten­sions between tra­di­tion and progress, as well as the per­son­al strug­gles that define their lives. Through their exchanges, the read­er is intro­duced to the com­plex web of small-town pol­i­tics, where per­son­al griev­ances, racial ten­sions, and eco­nom­ic strug­gles inter­sect. The themes of pow­er, race, and class that emerge in this chap­ter set the stage for deep­er explo­rations into the lives of the towns­peo­ple, sug­gest­ing that their indi­vid­ual bat­tles are part of a larg­er fight for iden­ti­ty and sur­vival in a rapid­ly chang­ing world.