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Mr. Clayton is the counselor at Maverick’s high school. He’s an imposing Black man, but he seems to genuinely care about his students. Mr. Clayton defies Maverick’s expectations by not talking down to him about having two kids—though he does annoy Maverick by insisting that he needs to get his diploma or GED in order to best support his kids.
Mr. Clayton Quotes in Concrete Rose
The Concrete Rose quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Clayton or refer to Mr. Clayton. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 22 Quotes
“Word around the school is that you’ve had some life-changing developments this year,” he says.
I wait for the look. I swear, when grown folks know I got two kids, I see myself become trash in their eyes. It’s like they see my babies as trash, too, just ‘cause I made them so young. Hell nah.
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What’s the point of a high school diploma or a GED? Nah, for real. People claim they’ll make my life easier, but all a high school diploma did for Ma was help her get two jobs that don’t pay enough.
Nah, man. I’m done with this school shit. It’s time to put my focus on making money.
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"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Mr. Clayton Character Timeline in Concrete Rose
The timeline below shows where the character Mr. Clayton appears in Concrete Rose. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 13
...his way into the classroom and asks how he is. Then, she tells him that Mr. Clayton wants to talk and gives Maverick a hall pass. Ant calls Maverick “weak ass” and...
(full context)
Chapter 22
...can’t get Red out of his mind. At school, as he waits to meet with Mr. Clayton to discuss his “future,” he thinks about Red—and about the fact that his future will...
(full context)
Mr. Clayton pulls out a file folder and says he’s heard Maverick has experienced some “life-changing developments.”...
(full context)
Maverick protests, but Mr. Clayton asks why he cares so much now, when he didn’t care the rest of the...
(full context)
Chapter 23
...she greets Maverick when she sees he’s still up. She asks how his conversation with Mr. Clayton went. Maverick wants to tell the truth, but instead, he tells Ma a half-truth: that...
(full context)
