You Can’t Win · Chapter
XXII explained
Jack Black recounts his partnership with a young man he calls 'Spokane,' who helps him dispose of stolen jewels.
What happens
Jack Black recounts his partnership with a young man he calls 'Spokane,' who helps him dispose of stolen jewels. After sending Spokane to retrieve a buried cache of watches and rings, the package goes missing and Spokane is arrested. Black decides to stay and face arrest rather than flee, ensuring Spokane remains loyal. They are repeatedly arrested and released on habeas corpus, eventually extradited to Canada. Black is convicted and sentenced to eight years at Folsom, while Spokane dies of tuberculosis. Black reflects on the far-reaching consequences of his crime, noting how everyone involved—judges, police, witnesses, lawyers—corrupted justice.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Rising action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
The emotional peak occurs when the narrator’s carefully constructed facade of helpless invalidism is shattered…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Underworld Code and Loyalty
Spokane's refusal to inform on Black despite intense police pressure, and Black's decision to stay and protect him, exemplify the code of loyalty among criminals.
- Class and Moral Ambiguity
Black reflects on the corruption of everyone involved in his case—judges, police, lawyers—and the disproportionate harm caused by his crime, blurring lines of guilt and innocence.
- Addiction and Self-Destruction
Black and Spokane smoke opium daily in elegant hop joints, and Black continues using opium in jail, highlighting addiction's role in their lives.
Characters to notice
- Spokane
Black's young partner who retrieves the buried watches, is arrested, remains loyal, and later dies of tuberculosis.
- Jack Black
Narrator who orchestrates the burglary, decides to face arrest, is convicted, and sentenced to eight years at Folsom.
Key passages
“The young fellow that helped me dispose of the stones was the wayward son of a fine family and it would not be right to them to use his name. I will call him 'Spokane,' the monoger he was known by among his associates.”
Black protects the identity of his accomplice, a young man from a good family, referring to him by his underworld alias 'Spokane.'
Introduces Spokane and Black's discretion regarding his real name.
“I decided to stay and take a pinch and have the business settled while I had money to fight.”
Black chooses to remain and face arrest rather than flee, wanting to resolve the case while he still has funds for legal defense.
Black's strategic decision to stay and protect Spokane's loyalty.
“It seemed to me that the blind goddess got a tough deal herself. Everybody connected with the case outraged her.”
Black reflects that justice itself was victimized, as every party involved—judges, police, witnesses, lawyers—acted corruptly.
Black's cynical view of the justice system after his conviction.
“Yet this burglary is by no means unique. It frequently happens that the initial loss in dollars and cents is as nothing compared to the wrong and injury that radiate from such crimes like ripples on a pond.”
Black observes that the financial loss from a crime is trivial compared to the cascading harm it causes, like ripples spreading outward.
Black's moral reflection on the far-reaching consequences of his actions.
