The Plot Against America

Philip reveals that on October 12, Seldon had made a collect call to the Roths. He says his mother hasn’t come home from a trip to Louisville and he is worried that she is dead. The next day, they will learn that she was beaten, robbed, and killed during the initial rioting. After hanging up with Seldon, Mrs. Roth calls Mr. Mawhinney, who agrees to go get Seldon. On October 19, Sandy and Herman go to pick him up and bring him to Newark. 

On the October 15, the day of Bengelsdorf’s arrest, Evelyn had shown up at the Roth’s door, saying that “they’re after me!” (338) and that she will be tortured because she “knows the truth” (338). Bess tells her that she can’t stay there, and to turn to her friend von Ribbtrop for help, before slamming the door. Then Bess cries, asking herself how she could have turned her sister away. 

Philip decides he will run away. He wants to go find a man named Mr. Kuenze, a famous pretzel maker. He hopes he will teach him the trade. He goes into the cellar and whispers, “That was a mistake. I’m not really who’s responsible. I didn’t mean to make Seldon the target” (350). He hears a noise in the storage bin, and when he opens it, Aunt Evelyn is hiding there. He takes her upstairs and watches her eat. She tells him again that they are going to kill her because she knows the truth. He hides her downstairs again. When his mother comes home, Herman and Sandy have still not returned from the trip to fetch Seldon. That night, Bess catches Philip taking a bedpan down to Evelyn. She and Bess go into Philip’s room to talk. 

After a long, frightening trip through cities filled with emboldened KKK members, Sandy, Herman, and Seldon make it back. The novel concludes with the lines, “There was no stump for me to care for this time. The boy himself was the stump, and until he was taken to live with his mother’s married sister in Brooklyn ten months later, I was the prosthesis” (361).