101 pages • 3 hours read
Nic StoneA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Throughout the novel, Stone explores the difficulties for young people, particularly black males, in navigating their lives with the constant opposing forces of outside influences. Stone's case study focuses on Justyce, who by all accounts is a good kid with the intelligence and drive to do great things. However, as Justyce laments to Dr. King in one of his letters, "It's like I'm trying to climb a mountain, but I've got one fool trying to shove me down so I won't be on his level, and another fool tugging at my leg, trying to pull me to the ground he refuses to leave" (66).
Stone explores the forces that Justyce encounters that push him down to keep him from achieving true equality. First, Castillo's assumption that Justyce's Blackness meant he was a criminal stirs anger and frustration in Justyce. Quan expresses a similar frustration when he explains that he stopped trying to do the right thing when the criminal justice system treated him differently because of the color of his skin. In these moments, Stone offers insight into some of the negative impacts that law enforcement and racial profiling can have on black youth, causing them to believe they are not equal and prompting them to act in frustration or defeat.
By Nic Stone
Blackout
Blackout
Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon
Clean Getaway
Clean Getaway
Nic Stone
Dear Justyce
Dear Justyce
Nic Stone
Fast Pitch
Fast Pitch
Nic Stone