Linked

Fourteen swastikas have now appeared on school grounds. Michael reflects that they need the paper chain project but worries that he will be blamed if it fails. If he were Link, he too would want “to connect to the heritage [he] never knew [he] had” (73). The police continue to suspect Michael. He wonders who the real culprit is while simultaneously not wanting to blame someone who is innocent, as the sheriff is doing to Michael himself. Nevertheless, worried about being the prime suspect, he makes a list of who he thinks could be responsible.

Christopher Solis is mean and known for having vandalized before. Clayton Pouncey is the son of a known “jerk” and “bigot,” and his grandfather is rumored to have ties to the KKK. Jordie Duros can be thoughtless, and the second swastika was painted in roofing tar. Caroline McNutt could be trying to “rally the troops” to get people more involved (76). The eighth graders are negative, generally. Mr. Kennedy was the custodian on site when the first swastika appeared and could be trying to get back at the rude kids he has to clean up after. Michael wonders if the swastikas are about racism or something else.

The paper chain project officially kicks off. Michael is appointed its art director and Caroline its project manager. Mr. Brademas credits Link, annoying Caroline, who complains that “cool people get credit for everything” (77). During school hours, the art room is overcrowded, and squabbles and frustrations occasionally erupt. Things move more smoothly after the crowd thins out. Pouncey comes running in to announce another swastika has been found burned into a lab table with acid. The news spurs the students into action, and they work with speed and precision until Mr. Brademas tells them it is time to go home. The students are deflated to learn they have constructed fewer than 1,000 links, but Mr. Brademas encourages them to be proud of what they have accomplished.

Dana receives a sympathetic text from her friend Angela in New York who heard about the swastikas at Chokecherry from Adam Tok. Dana reflects that Chokecherry “doesn’t feel like a racist place” (81). Though someone obviously must be, that person does not represent the majority. Larger numbers of volunteers show up every day to work on the chain, which now has over 6,000 links.

Dana’s father continues to drive her to school every day. As a parent, he supports the paper chain project but, as a scientist, notes that the math “doesn’t exactly seem realistic” (83). Dana reminds him that the point is for them to reflect on the number, whether or not they achieve the goal. The school gym has been made available to students working on the project, and it is pandemonium, with at least 100 volunteers. Dana overhears eighth-grade basketball player Erick Federov complaining about the gym “being hogged by a bunch of do-gooders” and referring to her as “the Jewish girl,” dousing cold water on the good feeling the project had given her (84).

Link is waiting for her at lunch and asks for help preparing for his bar mitzvah, which is proving more difficult than he had expected. Moved by his commitment, which goes against his reputation as a prankster, Dana vows to help as much as she can. They notice a commotion in front of the school. Adam has arrived to film them. Mr. Brademas has his car towed, but Adam is unconcerned. When he overhears Link talking to Dana about his bar mitzvah, he pulls out his camera and asks for the story.

In a transcript of Adam’s short interview with Link, Adam notes that Link’s father is suing him, but he likes being sued since it means headlines. He has already told his audience, “TokNation,” about Link’s grandmother. He asks Link about his “pretend bar mitzvah” (92), and when Link corrects him, he reveals that he has already spoken with Rabbi Gold. Adam announces that he will be live-streaming Link’s bar mitzvah. Link feels nervous but calls it “awesome” (91). Adam comments that Link is brave for choosing to be Jewish while the swastika incident is ongoing, but Link says, “You don’t pick who you are. You just are” (92).

The paper chain project has drawn hundreds of student volunteers. The gym is crammed full of workers and dominated by the massive paper chain. Caroline figures she deserved it since she has been wishing for an activity that would draw high participation. Her mother complains that Adam is too negative, only focusing on the swastikas rather than the good in town. Caroline notes that he has shared photos of the project in his videos, though he has not seen it for himself because he is banned from campus.

The audience response has been overwhelmingly positive, so when Caroline is called into Mr. Brademas’s office, she assumes that he wants to congratulate her. Instead, he reveals that the project has been ended because the entire district has run out of construction paper. No amount of pleading and promising to fundraise changes Mr. Brademas’s mind. Michael tries to cheer up Caroline, but she does not want to feel good about quitting.

In a transcript from Adam’s interview with Caroline, she complains that the paper chain project has been cancelled, noting that if the school board is willing to pay for sports equipment and field trips, it should be willing to pay for “something that’s a million times more important” (98). Adam encourages her angry ranting. However, when Adam accuses the town of “knuckl[ing] under to intolerance,” allowing “some lowlife” to “get away with drawing swastikas,” and trying to silence him and her, she questions his motives (98-99).

Pouncey’s rule is “Things are stupid. People are annoying” (100). He resents the paleontologists for what he perceives as their judgment of Chokecherry and thinks Link having a bar mitzvah is “the stupidest thing” he has “ever heard” (100). He blames it on getting “too mixed up with family” (100). He tries not to think about his own, especially his grandfather. He barely recognizes Link, whose bar mitzvah preparation is dominating his time. From googling “bar mitzvah,” Pouncey learns that it is about becoming a man and reflects that, in his family, “becoming a man usually involves shooting something” (102). He wonders whether, with his grandfather, it also meant “shooting someone” (102). Link insists that he wants to have the bar mitzvah because he wants his life to be about something important.

School has not been the same since the paper chain project has taken over everything. Pouncey thinks it is stupid, and the people obsessed with it are annoying, but he signs Caroline’s petition to protest the closure of the project. Adam has also become annoying, though Pouncey used to enjoy his videos.

When Caroline catches the custodians trying to cut down the paper chain, she makes a fuss, drawing the attention of the whole school. Kids storm the gym and refuse to leave. Teachers and Mr. Brademas try to disperse them to no avail. Pouncey joins Caroline, primarily to vex Mr. Brademas, and then Link rushes in to say a truckload of donated construction paper is outside, waiting for the principal to sign for it. Pouncey notes that the project is starting to grow on him.