Summary



The Rockpile- James Baldwin

The Rockpile takes place in a small part of town where you can see the whole street from your balcony or fire escapes. Roy is part of a large family, and they are very strict. Across the street from their house in an empty lot in between a couple of houses is where the rockpile is located. It is a massive pile of natural rock coming right out of the ground, and nobody really knows what it is there for. Everyday after school and on Saturday and Sunday, boys would be found there fighting on the rockpile. Roy's mother, Elizabeth, is religious and strict with her boys and this guarantees that the boys are never allowed outside to fight on the rockpile with the others. One day while on the fire escape, Roy and his older brother John sat watching the other boys fight on the rockpile. Roy got very tempted when some boys he knew called him to go play on the pile. He got up, told John he would be back in five minutes, and left. John was drawing an electric locomotive and did not pay much attention to Roy as he played on the rockpile. When he did look up, he realized that the fighting was getting out of hand, anything that could be picked up around the pile was being thrown at each other. John scanned the pile for Roy and finally spotted him as he moved to the top of the pile while laughing. Then, out of nowhere, a tin can flys through the air and hits Roy right above his eye and cuts him enough to make him bleed all over the side of his face. After Roy gets back in the house crying and screaming, being carried in by Sister McCandless, they take him up and start to wash the blood away from his face. Everybody is afraid that Roy's father is going to get mad at John when he comes home. When Roy's father does come home, he quickly goes to Roy and babies him, telling him its ok, daddy is here, and asking him what happened. Because Roy's dad keeps favoring Roy and hinting that John may be in big trouble, Elizabeth, his wife, decides to defend John. An argument starts, Elizabeth gives Roy's dad a reality check, and leaves him there by telling John to pick up daddys lunchbox. Then the story is over, with Roy's father not doing anything.