Kermit never attends church growing up in South Chicago. His parents leave him and brother with Grandmother for several years. He steals and cuts school after parents split when he’s a teenager, and he does a year in bad boy’s school. He learns to drink with co-workers. Is drafted and sent to Vietnam where he works to be a good soldier. But back home, drinking controls him and leads to breakup with Mary, his true love. First part ends with his alienation.