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Chapters Twelve–Nineteen

PART 2: GROWTH

Summary: Chapter Twelve

Mav jumps out Lisa’s window to avoid getting caught by her mother, who just got home. Over the next few days, Mav calls Lisa several times, but she’s blocked his number. While working at Wyatt’s Grocery, Mav observes Mr. Wyatt laughing and talking with the other business owners on the block and thinks to himself that he’s trying to be like them someday. One afternoon, Mav sees Iesha and races to catch up with her and talk about Seven. But before Mav can ask her anything, Iesha tells him she’s homeless and runs off.

Summary: Chapter Thirteen

Mav’s emotional struggles begin to take a toll. Mav’s teacher wants him to visit the school counselor. As she explains her idea, Ant loudly declares that Dre got what was coming to him, an insult that only solidifies Mav’s belief that Ant murdered Dre. Enraged, Mav ditches school and meets up with Shawn, who offers him a joint. After cruising around for a bit, Shawn drops Mav off at Mr. Wyatt’s to work in the garden. Noticing that Mav is high, Mr. Wyatt makes him work extra hard. After several hours of work, they sit to rest and talk. At one point, Mr. Wyatt firmly but lovingly grabs the back of Mav’s neck. This gesture seems to unlock something in Mav’s heart, and within seconds, Mav is sobbing in Mr. Wyatt’s arms.

Summary: Chapter Fourteen

Faye insists that Mav go to the high school football game with King, Rico, and Junie, a friend and King Lords member. While there, they notice Ant angrily staring at them from the stands. Mav wants to tell them he thinks Ant killed Dre, but intending to keep his promise to Shawn, he says nothing. Later, while Mav is at the snack stand, gunshots ring out in the parking lot. People scream and run in all directions, and Ant lays dead on the pavement.

Summary: Chapter Fifteen

It's three weeks after Ant’s shooting, and Mav doesn’t know how to feel about Ant’s death, which brings him no satisfaction. Mav has been working hard to live the way Dre wanted him to—clean, straight, and focused on Seven. Just as Mav is getting ready to put Seven down for a nap, the doorbell rings. It’s Lisa. Mav hasn’t seen or spoken to her since Dre’s funeral. The moment she walks through the door, Mav knows something is wrong. It’s only after they get Seven to sleep that Lisa tells Mav her news: She thinks she’s pregnant.

Summary: Chapter Sixteen

Mav purchases two pregnancy tests at Wyatt’s Grocery; he wants to know for sure whether Lisa is pregnant. Lisa takes both tests, and five minutes later, both read positive. Despite feeling shock and fear, Mav assures Lisa he’ll be there for her, no matter what she decides to do. When Faye gets home, she immediately knows something is wrong. After hearing the situation, Faye tells Mav it’s time for them to visit Adonis at Evergreen Prison.

Summary: Chapter Seventeen

It's the day before Thanksgiving, the day of the prison visit. At first, things go well, and everyone is happy to see each other. But when Mav tells Adonis he’s going to have another baby, tensions rise, arguments ensue, angry words are spoken, and Mav leaves the prison, angry with Adonis. Back in the car, Mav calls Lisa, who reveals that her mother threw her out and she’s now staying with Tammy. Before going home, Mav visits Lisa at Tammy’s to invite her to live with him. Lisa responds to his offer by explaining that not only are she and Mav not a couple, but she views him as not dependable and she needs some space.

Summary: Chapter Eighteen

On Thanksgiving Day, Mav’s grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins gather at Mav’s for dinner. When King arrives, he has Iesha with him. They are a couple now and have been living together for several months. Mav feels betrayed that King never told him, because King knew Mav had been looking for Iesha to help with the baby. When Mav and Iesha start to argue about Seven, Faye takes them into a bedroom for a talk. There, she tells Iesha to give Mav legal custody of Seven and says she needs to visit Seven once a week to prove she can be trusted. Later, while King and Mav eat on the front porch, Lisa’s brother Carlos arrives, attacks Mav, and drives away.

Summary: Chapter Nineteen

Now back at school, Mav discovers that Shawn was arrested on Thanksgiving Day. Rico and Junie tell Mav that with Dre and Shawn gone, all the big homies are vying to be in charge of the gang. After school, Mav meets Lisa at the doctor’s office for Lisa’s first ultrasound. They are surprised to run into Moe, but she is not surprised to see them. When Mav asks her why she didn’t stop by on Thanksgiving, she tells him that she didn’t want to cause any problems. When it’s time to check out, Mav doesn’t have money for Lisa’ co-pay. Carlos pays the bill, which embarrasses Mav so much he makes up his mind to start dealing again.

Analysis: Chapters Twelve–Nineteen

Mr. Wyatt’s presence helps Mav to see that it’s possible to have status and pride without living in the confines of the gang’s rules and hierarchy. The gang designations of big and li’l homie ensure that only those at the top enjoy autonomy, authority, and financial gain. Mav starts to gain a different perspective on authority and status, however, as he observes the dynamic between Mr. Wyatt and his neighborhood friends. As business owners, Mr. Wyatt and his friends have an elevated status like the big homies in the gang. They have the autonomy and authority to do what they please, but without the rigid rules that govern the gang’s interactions or the threat of violence that shadows every aspect of their lives.

When Mav begins to falter, the adults in his life dole out tough love to help right his course. Mr. Wyatt is disappointed in Mav for showing up to work high, but the toughness he shows Mav is juxtaposed with tenderness when he encourages Mav to talk about losing Dre, show his emotions, and cry over his loss. When Faye insists that Mav go to the game with his friends, she offers him the opportunity to be a normal kid for an evening because she feels that it will provide a distraction from his grief. Mav needs both firmness and emotional support from people who care for his well-being, not just what he gets from or can bring to the gang, and Mr. Wyatt and Faye provide this.

When tragedy intervenes at the football game Mav must learn to contend with conflicting emotions at once, a skill that will be essential to his growth and maturity. Just as Mav’s last night with Dre begins in a lighthearted context only to end in tragedy, so does his outing to the football game, and it reminds Mav that he is a young man with adult concerns. When Mav realizes that Ant was not just an adversary to the King Lords, but rather he was a person with parents and friends like Dre was, it is another lesson for Mav on how to live with conflicting emotions. Mav also experiences mixed emotions with the news of Lisa’s pregnancy. When the two main characters learn the outcome of the pregnancy test simultaneously, it reinforces how deeply Mav’s ability to balance complex emotions will affect his character development.

When Mav learns that Lisa will keep the baby, he finally recognizes that he’s not a kid anymore and begins to respond in a more adult manner. Mav is shocked, but his worries center on how a second baby will increase his academic and financial struggles, not just how they will stifle his social life. This is a sharp and distinct change in his behavior from his early days of parenting Seven. The worry drives Mav to tears, but he also realizes he is growing up and has an opportunity to figure out what and who he wants to be. He begins to look to the future not with despair, but rather with hope, which shows that Mav is overcoming weaknesses that have hindered his growth up until now.

Mav’s realization that he can rely on his support network foreshadows that it will remain intact even with the arrival of a second baby. When Faye reclaims her role as the adult in charge by insisting that Mav and Iesha formalize the details of their custody arrangement, she shows Mav how strong his support network remains. Faye’s actions demonstrate that she will continue to be the cornerstone of support for both Mav and Seven. Faye knows that Seven will benefit most by having a connection with both parents, and with Seven’s support network established, Mav can finally visualize his parenting role moving forward and be a more effective father to his son.

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