Chapter 2 (Arriving at the Gang's Cabin): Unlike the movie where the cabin has electricity, the book's cabin is more like a shack and does not appear to have electricity. At the cabin, the gang is depicted as using kerosene lamps. In the movie, Stitch gets yelled at about possibly starting a fire due to leaving a light on, whereas book Stitch gets yelled at for not screwing in the kerosene lamp. There is also a fireplace, that is not seen in the movie cabin.
The conversation for the remainder of this evening at the cabin is pretty much verbatim to the screen play. This is actually of value because it helps you to understand what Duke is saying in the movie, as there are a few points where his words sound slurred or otherwise inaudible. Here are the ones I had trouble with:
1.
Duke responding to Shorty's question about what he is going to do about the "honky chick" who could get loose and blow the whole plan: She aint gonna git loose, well make sure of that, and besides,
the big glow aint for two more days now, an' we'll worry 'bout her when the time comes."
- The reference to a big glow is an obvious reference to the planned Race Riot, but I have never heard that expression before and it sounded to me like Duke said "blow'." As Duke makes the reference to their "killing 100 honkies on Friday," this seems to make the evening of Debbie's kidnapping a Wednesday night. The movie, however, appears to make it a Saturday night when Bill says he will pick her up for Church the next day. Historically the riots began on a Sunday, so both dates are off, although it was possible that Duke was just giving Debbie misinformation. I reconcile all this in my novel, but you will have to read it to see it:)
2. Duke explaining to the gang why it is within his right to claim Debbie as "his chick": "I got the right, remember the Club rules. Chief Leopard gits first choice on all the spoils of war."
-This and other parts of the book allude to the gang being a part of a Club, one in which they have sworn an oath. I have not seen any historical references to the term "Chief Leopard" among the Black Panthers or any other Black Nationalist Group.
3. Duke explaining the "Honky War" to the gang in response to Shorty's objection that Debbie was not a spoil of war, and that they had all seized her together: "Man that's the honky war. You heard what cats like Stokley Carmichael and Rap Brown say: We're at war with them honkies. Why do you think we're heah boy?
-In the movie Duke make an additional remark about a Cadilliac, but the only historical reference I can find is Rap Brown stating white people don't beat black people for owning a Cadillac, they beat them because they are black. I have no idea what point Duke is trying to make here, then again, he could just be drunk lol.
After being led into the cabin, Debbie pays close attention to the banter between the gang. She picks up on the fact that it sounds as though they are involved in plotting some kind of civil unrest after hearing a remark about how last year's riot will be seen as small compared to what they are planning now. She makes a mental connection to last year's riots, reflecting how people are worried that they will start again with school ending in a few weeks. The reference to school being out seems out of place since the date of last year's biggest riot was August 11, 1966, and is remembered as the "Kercheval incident"). Unless of course Debbie was thinking about Summer School.
In the kitchen, Debbie has to heat water on a stove prior to doing dishes. Debbie sees a backdoor to the cabin from the kitchen but it is padlocked. Over the gas stove
cooking the same famous pork chops and beans meal as in the movie, Debby blames her mother for her predicament and vows never to forgive her.
A damsel in distress with a flair for history, Debbie analogizes her situation to women in 1945 Berlin who were raped and accepted becoming the property of a Russian soldier whom they would ordinarily be repulsed by, simply for safety reasons. She tactically concludes she must do the same. As the men eat their dinner, she strategically evaluates each gang member, confidently concluding that with her beauty she could win any of them over to be her protector. She describes the men as they as the appear in the movie, although she feels most afraid of Stitch, whereas movie Debby appeared most petrified by Shorty (at least before Jody shows up!).
Debbie quickly concludes Duke is the best candidate to be her protector. He's strong, clearly the group's
leader, and her female intuition is sensing he is already developing a soft spot for her, despite his having raped her in the car and slapped her after they arrived at the cabin. Debbie believes Duke is acting so dominant towards her (and to a lesser extent the others), as a means of maintaining his stature as the gang's leader. Debbie hopes during her captivity he will become nicer to her in private and become protective of her with the others. To accomplish this, she resolves to be completely subservient to Duke, and through her submission earn his favor and trust until she can escape.
Card game- book vs. movie similarities and differences: During his poker challenge, book Duke makes Debbie strip naked in front of the fireplace as he prepares to offer her as his collateral for a game of poker. Debbie stands behind him nude during the poker game and watches her fate unfold. Movie Debby stayed dress during the game, which required a $50.00 buy-in, while the book's buy-in was only $5.00. Stitch however, apparently hard strapped for cash, had to borrow money in both instances. The last hand ends the same, Shorty beats Duke with 3 Kings over 3 Queens.
Debbie's violation - book vs. movie similarities and differences: Other than Debbie's state of being nude during her beating, (Movie Debby still had her dress on, hence affording our heroine an extra layer of protection besides the blanket she's rolled into), Shorty's belt whipping of Debbie plays out basically the same in both versions. Debbie pleads that she doesn't deserve to be beaten, "I've tried to help. I've marched and everything." This likely refers to Debbie having been present at Martin Luther King's Walk of Freedom March in Detroit, on June 23, 1963, the summer before Debbie's freshman year of high school.
Additionally, we learn that Debbie has also done sit-ins to protest big city housing laws and supported money drives for poor southern blacks, even though she lives in a small town where these issues don't exist. Debbie doesn't mention any of this though, believing the political aspect of her being beaten and impending rape is just an excuse for what animals like Shorty and his cohorts wanted to do anyway.
Shorty's actual sexual assault of Debbie is much different than the movie, where she is forcibly put on her hands and knees and made to run a train with Coke in her mouth and Shorty violating her from behind. Instead, Shorty gives her a gentle and prolonged experience of oral sex. The reason? As Shorty mentally notes:
"She had passed the first stage of physical submission by violence and now the conquest of her mind and spirit must be accomplished by softness of touch."Thankful for the physical beating having ended, Debbie's body actually responds as Shorty planned:
"They were no longer hurting her...There was only the light rising sensation of floating, floating on a soft-gentle fleece-covered cloud whose very warmth belied the presence of danger...She had geared her mind to the fighting of the pain and humiliation...but not softness and pleasure. She had not prepared for it."
As the scene transitions from Shorty's giving Debbie some surprisingly pleasant feeling oral sex to the moment before she is roughly penetrated, the dark political and sociological motives of Shorty's mind are revealed:
"Shorty could feel the thoughts running through her body and knew that he had won...He pried [her] wide open until all her crotch stood open and unprotected before him...his for the taking. ... He wanted to explode inside her white little belly with himself in rhythm to her own cries of fulfillment. He wanted to fill her with his hot nigger cum until she would never forget tonight as long as she lived. The spoiled little bitch, he'd stretch her so wide, she'd never even be able to feel one again. All the years he had spent in bitter subjugation himself began to bubble over in a boiling cauldron of hate and lust and the desire to hurt...
He ached all over from the thought of the lovely young white girl kneeling in abject servitude in front of him to be used as he would for as long as he could..."
Debbie's violation then mostly unfolds in the same manner of the book, although Coke watches Shorty for awhile before filling her mouth with his manhood.
"She could feel him thrusting more sadistically now, the sight of her bucking body incited him to greater and greater effort. Her breath had become one long continuous groan that was no longer muffled by the filthy sheet. She was droning on the mattress so that he could look down on it and see with lust-gleaming eyes the effect he was having on her. Her lips opened and closed fishlike in torment, half in humiliation and shame from the sudden uncontrollable feeling surging through her, and half in fear she would be ripped asunder by the cruel hands coursing brutally over body..."
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When Coke joins in we learn that his penis he's cramming into Debbie's mouth is between 7 and 8 inches long. Shorty and Coke climax inside Debbie's womb and mouth respectively, unlike the movie where external cum shots were seen, as common with X-rated movies of the time. The final moment involving Stitch is slightly different, as book Stitch begins to penetrate Debbie in the missionary position but is then thrown off of her by Shorty. Debbie then suffers one final indignity, watching through exhausted, hazy eyes, Shorty masturbate a load of his desire onto her breasts.
"And then, there was nothing. As she drifted down into a welcome, protective cloak of sleep and exhaustion, just as she lay, too battered and lost to even put her legs together."
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