Elmer Gantry · Chapter
Chapter XXXII explained
Elmer Gantry is caught in a blackmail scheme orchestrated by Hettie Dowler and her husband Oscar, who have obtained his letters.
What happens
Elmer Gantry is caught in a blackmail scheme orchestrated by Hettie Dowler and her husband Oscar, who have obtained his letters. Elmer turns to T. J. Rigg for help, who arranges a delay and plans to use detectives to counter the threat. Meanwhile, the blackmail plot is inadvertently exposed when Mannie Silverhorn, the Dowlers' lawyer, drunkenly reveals the scheme to a reporter.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy and Corruption in Religion
Elmer's secret affair and subsequent blackmail expose the hypocrisy of his public piety as a minister.
Manipulation and Showmanship in Evangelism
Hettie and Oscar's calculated scheme to blackmail Elmer mirrors the manipulative tactics often used in evangelistic circles.
Characters to notice
- Elmer Gantry
Elmer is caught in a blackmail plot by Hettie Dowler and her husband Oscar, panics, and seeks help from T. J. Rigg.
- Hettie Dowler
Hettie reveals she and her husband Oscar have been conspiring to blackmail Elmer, admitting she was initially targeting William Dollinger Styles.
- Oscar Dowler
Oscar confronts Elmer and Hettie, brandishes a gun, and demands a $10,000 settlement to avoid a lawsuit.
- T. J. Rigg
T. J. Rigg agrees to help Elmer by stalling for time and hiring detectives to investigate the Dowlers.
- Mannie Silverhorn
Mannie Silverhorn, the Dowlers' lawyer, drunkenly reveals the blackmail scheme to reporter Bill Kingdom.
Key passages
“Elmer was sitting beside Hettie on the damask couch, under the standard lamp, stroking her hand and explaining how unjust his mother was, when the door of her suite opened gravely and a thin, twitching-faced, gimlet-eyed man walked in.”
Elmer was comforting Hettie and complaining about his mother when her husband Oscar suddenly entered the room.
This moment marks the beginning of the blackmail confrontation.
“Oscar negligently produced an automatic. 'Shut up,' he said, almost affectionately. 'Now, Gantry, this ought to cost you about fifty thousand dollars, but I don't suppose you can raise that much.'”
Oscar pulled out a gun and calmly told Elmer that the affair would cost him a large sum of money.
Oscar uses a weapon to intimidate Elmer and demands a settlement.
“Rigg and Silverhorn did the talking. (And Elmer was dismayed to see how friendly and jocose Rigg was with Silverhorn, of whom he had spoken in most un-Methodist terms.)”
During the negotiation, Rigg and Silverhorn conversed amiably, surprising Elmer given Rigg's earlier harsh words about Silverhorn.
Elmer is shocked by the camaraderie between his ally and his adversary's lawyer.
“Bill had been speaking without affection of Dr. Gantry when Mannie leered, 'Say, jeeze, Bill, your Doc Gantry is going to get his! Oh, I got him where I want him! And maybe it won't cost him some money to be so popular with the ladies!'”
While Bill Kingdom was criticizing Elmer, Mannie Silverhorn drunkenly boasted that he had Elmer trapped and would make him pay for his womanizing.
Mannie's drunken indiscretion reveals the blackmail plot to a reporter.