Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Concrete Rose, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Masculinity and Fatherhood
Identity and Individuality
Loyalty, Gang Affiliation, and Family
Poverty
Summary
Analysis
Thanks to Mr. Wyatt, Maverick now knows that flowers, fruits, and vegetables can grow anywhere. When God made everything, he didn’t put plants in garden plots—He just put them in the wild. As Maverick watches King drive away, he notices Mr. Wyatt’s roses blooming and goes over to look. He lets himself into the Wyatts’ backyard and admires blooms that are as big as his palms. Crouching down, Maverick tells the roses that some of them need some canes cut.
The way that Maverick frames the beginning of this chapter suggests that he’s taken Mr. Wyatt’s advice to heart. Further, he also seems to accept that he’s a lot like the fruits, vegetables, and roses Mr. Wyatt talks about. Maverick may have been “planted” in a difficult situation, but this doesn’t mean he can’t improve his circumstances.
Themes
Mr. Wyatt comes out the back door and curses; he tells Maverick he can’t be going into people’s backyards this early in the morning. He pulls his robe tighter and says that Maverick is lucky he didn’t have his pistol on him, which makes Maverick laugh. Maverick explains that he just stopped in to check out the blooming roses. Mr. Wyatt reminds Maverick that roses can bloom “in the hardest conditions.” Maverick suggests they cut some of the dead-looking canes, and Mr. Wyatt says that Maverick is right—those canes won’t help the roses grow. People have to do the same thing in their own lives, discarding anything that doesn’t help.
Mr. Wyatt becomes a little more human and relatable in Maverick’s eyes when he learns that Mr. Wyatt owns a pistol. This makes Mr. Wyatt look less naïve—he clearly feels the need to protect himself from the dangers of the neighborhood. As they discuss the canes, Mr. Wyatt suggests that people should think of themselves as being like roses. They can grow anywhere, even in the harshest conditions—but it's also important to examine the parts of one’s life that aren’t helping them to grow.
Themes
Mr. Wyatt straightens up and says that he and Mrs. Wyatt have been talking. Jamal is going to a four-year college soon, and they’re going to need more help. So, they’d like to offer Maverick a full-time job, even though it won’t make Maverick as much money as dealing drugs. Maverick cuts Mr. Wyatt off and says that “fast money lead to a fast end.” Mr. Wyatt is shocked Maverick has been listening, but he says that he can start after he graduates if he wants.
Maverick has been listening—that’s why he chose to come into Mr. Wyatt’s garden in the first place after saying goodbye to King. He realizes that Mr. Wyatt’s advice, though sometimes annoying and hard to hear, is wise and necessary. Meanwhile, being offered a full-time job offers hope that Maverick will be able to make ends meet, even without the drug money.
Themes
Maverick takes a deep breath and admits that he flunked out, but he’s going to get his GED. Mr. Wyatt takes a deep breath; Maverick can’t tell if he’s disappointed or not. But Mr. Wyatt suggests that Maverick head downtown, sign up for the GED classes, and then return to the store to start full-time. He reminds Maverick that Maverick needs to worry about Ma’s reaction more than anything else.
When Mr. Wyatt doesn’t react poorly to Maverick admitting that he flunked out, it again shows that he takes his role as Maverick’s mentor seriously. Once again, he realizes that Maverick needs support right now—not to be yelled at. He also notes that Ma is going to yell at Maverick anyway, so it’s not something he needs to do too.
Themes
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Maverick heads home and tells Ma that he flunked out of school. She’s angry and leaves for work without speaking to him. Maverick is glad Moe is there—she probably saved his life. Then, Maverick gets dressed to head downtown. Before he can leave, though, the phone rings—it’s Pops. Pops asks if Maverick is good, and Maverick tells him that nothing went on. Pops takes a deep breath of relief. Maverick admits that he feels a bit like he let the family down, but Pops says that the family needs him.
When Maverick is happy that Moe was there to protect him from Ma’s wrath, it shows how well Maverick is adjusting to his growing family and community. Though he may still have confusing feelings about the relationships between Ma, Pops, and Moe, he nevertheless trusts that all three of those people are going to be there for him when he needs them.
Themes
Maverick says that his main goal is to be around for his family, but he’s not sure he can do that as a King Lord. He thinks he wants to get out of the gang. Pops is silent. Maverick starts to justify his thinking, but Pops interjects that he doesn’t need an explanation. He says that lots of grown men don’t want to be in gangs anymore, but they end up stuck because they’re too afraid of what people think. Maverick wonders if Pops is describing himself. Pop continues and says that the fact Maverick can voice that he wants to leave shows that Maverick is thinking for himself, like a man. He says that people should call him Big Mav instead of Li’l Don, and he tells Maverick he loves him no matter what.
It's a mark of how much Maverick and Pops’s relationship has changed that Maverick feels at all comfortable telling Pops he wants out of the gang. This shows Maverick is, as Pops has said before, becoming his own man. And importantly, Pops makes it clear that growing up and becoming an adult means realizing that choices like this always exist. It’s brave, Pops insists, to be willing to make them—and most men don’t. Finally, Pops’s suggestion that Maverick should be called Big Mav signals that Maverick’s process of growing up is complete. Now, he has his own identity, separate from Pops’s.
Themes
Signing up for GED classes isn’t too bad; Maverick is going to be in classes with “kids” 19 and under. Nobody has called Maverick a kid in a while, and he wants to enjoy it—he won’t be a kid anymore when he has two kids of his own. In addition to the GED classes, Maverick also signs up for some landscaping classes so he can get a certificate along with his GED. Then he gets the bus back to Mr. Wyatt’s and works the register while Mr. Wyatt hangs out with Mr. Reuben and Mr. Lewis across the street.
Even if Maverick is grown in Pops’s eyes, he’s still a kid according to the GED classes—and Maverick now realizes this is a privilege he’s not going to be able to enjoy for much longer. Soon, he’s going to have even more responsibility with his and Lisa’s new baby in addition to Seven. Now, he understands why Ma always told him to enjoy being a kid: he’s going to miss it one day.
Themes
Maverick works diligently through the midday rush, and when the rush is over, Mr. Wyatt returns. Maverick asks if Mr. Wyatt didn’t think he’d survive—and with some prodding, Mr. Wyatt reveals that he, Mr. Reuben, and Mr. Lewis all bet that Maverick wasn’t going to make it more than 10 minutes without help. But they all lost. Mr. Wyatt says that Maverick surprised him, and he's also surprised Maverick hasn’t gotten his third strike yet. Maverick thinks that he’s surprised too, but it seems like it’s time for him to start surprising himself.
Maverick shows himself and Mr. Wyatt that he can handle whatever life throws at him—even though people are going to underestimate him. And in this moment, Maverick also realizes that he can’t underestimate himself anymore. He may have made mistakes, but now he’s committed to doing everything in his power to make good decisions—and through doing that, he should be able to surprise himself.
Themes
