All American Boys: 13. Thursday: Quinn Summary & Analysis

On Thursday, Quinn wakes early, his thoughts “racing.” He looks out the window at the Galluzzos’ house, and remembers the day he stood there during his father’s funeral. Paul had told him that if he ever needed anything at all, he should come to him. Quinn had felt so relieved. Until Rashad’s arrest, everyone had only been thinking about the basketball scouts, but now Quinn feels like he is in the midst of something much bigger: a historical moment. He curses himself for previously running away from the reality of racism.

Quinn goes into his room and grabs a plain white t-shirt. On the front, he writes: “I’M MARCHING,” and on the back, “ARE YOU?” At school, some kids react to the shirt with disdain, while others smile and give Quinn high-fives. Dwyer grabs Quinn and asks, “What the hell, man?” and reminds him that Coach banned them all from going to the protest. When Quinn insists that the march is “important,” Dwyer calls him “wack.” In Mrs. Erlich’s trigonometry class, she writes statistics about police violence on the white board, telling the class: “The numbers don’t lie.”

Guzzo avoids Quinn all day, and at basketball practice refuses to look Quinn in the eye. As English aces a new play for the third time in a row, he raises a fist in the air and says: “Rashad.” After, Quinn and Guzzo end up colliding and wrestling each other on the floor. Minutes later, Guzzo whacks Quinn in the face with his elbow. Guzzo apologizes, claiming it was an accident, but Quinn thinks no one probably believes him. In the locker room, Quinn suggests that they call the new play the Rashad, and English happily agrees.

Once Quinn gets changed back into his normal clothes, Coach Carney points to his shirt and says, “This bullshit… has to stop.” He threatens to call Ma, which terrifies Quinn. Quinn leaves the locker room and runs into Guzzo, who immediately punches him in the face. He tells Quinn that he never wants to see him in his house or talk to him ever again. Quinn rushes to the bathroom so no one sees his bleeding nose. It strikes him that within a week, both he and Rashad have been beaten up by members of the same family. At the same time, he knows there is “no comparison” between the two incidents.

That night, Ma freaks out at Quinn’s busted-up face and asks what he did. Willy points out that it was Guzzo who beat Quinn, but Ma does not care. She says that after Coach Carney called her, she called Mrs. Galluzzo. She urges Quinn to think of the Galluzzos, and forbids him from going to the protest. Quinn asks if Ma has seen the video; she hasn’t, and claims that the video has been released to make Paul look like a “fool.” She asks what Quinn’s father would think, and Quinn replies that he doesn’t know, but that he thinks he would have stood up for his beliefs. Quinn and Ma hug.

Paul had announced that he was going to become a cop when Quinn was in ninth grade. He claimed to have been inspired by the example set by Quinn’s father, and wanted to be “a hero” and “somebody who makes a difference.” Quinn had told him that he already made a difference. Now when Quinn thinks about that moment, he feels conflicted. The person who had been his hero has put a kid in hospital. Everyone keeps telling Quinn to be “loyal,” on the basis that his father was “loyal to the end.” However, now Quinn realizes that his father wasn’t loyal—he was principled; someone who believed in fighting for “a better world.”