Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Dear Martin, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Privilege, Entitlement, and Implicit Bias
Appearances and Assumptions
Support, Acceptance, and Belonging
Opportunity and Upward Mobility
The Media and Public Discourse
Summary
Analysis
On Tuesday of the following week, Justyce notices both Manny and Jared are absent. He sees Tyler, Kyle, and Blake grouped closely together and whispering, throwing him dirty looks. After school, he finally sees Jared in the parking lot. He’s standing by his car with the rest of his friends, and he gives Justyce a ruthless look. Strangely enough, Jared’s face is even more battered than Justyce would have expected. When he returns to his dorm room, he’s surprised to find Manny lying on his bed and waiting for him. Immediately, Justyce begins to apologize, but Manny cuts him off, saying, “Save it. I know you didn’t mean it.” Pausing, Justyce admits that he did mean everything he said, but that he “didn’t really consider the bigger picture.” Manny accepts this and also admits that he didn’t have Justyce’s “best interests in mind,” and the boys decide to “call it even.”
It’s clear that Justyce has heeded what Doc told him about what it’s like to grow up as a black child amongst wealthy white families. Now that he has considered what it must have been like for Manny to spend his entire life surrounded by people like Jared and Blake, Justyce finds it easier to understand why he doesn’t call out his friends’ bigotry. However, this doesn’t mean that Justyce agrees with this worldview. Rather, it simply means that he recognizes that Manny experiences racism in his own way, and though Justyce doesn’t like how he responds to adversity, he has learned to accept that people process discrimination differently.
Themes
Justyce notices that Manny has a swollen lip, so he asks what happened. Manny explains that he went to a “festival” on Saturday night with Jared, Blake, and the others. He admits that what Justyce said about him being a “sellout” got him thinking, which made it hard to remain quiet every time Jared said something insensitive at the festival. Finally, Jared made a racist joke about a black woman walking nearby, and Manny “called him on it.” Jared only rolled his eyes and told Manny to “stop being so fucking sensitive.” Manny spent the entirety of the following day stewing over this incident, thinking about how Justyce was right all along.
In the same way that Justyce has come to see Manny’s perspective about how to deal with racism, Manny has started considering Justyce’s point of view. In fact, Justyce’s anger has helped him recognize just how problematic his peers are when it comes to racism and bigotry. In this moment, then, readers see how helpful it is for Manny and Justyce to have each other, since they’re otherwise surrounded by white people who don’t spend time thinking about their own biases.
Themes
Continuing his story about his swollen lip, Manny says that he decided to quit the basketball team after realizing Justyce was right about his friends being racist. This shocks Justyce, but Manny admits that he actually hates basketball. “Only reason I started is cuz when you’re the tall black kid at school, that’s what people expect you to do.” Resolved to quit the team, Manny went to the coach’s office that morning to break the news. When he arrived, Jared was in the office, too. “When I said I was quitting, he made a ‘joke’ about how I couldn’t until Massah set me free.” Hearing this, Manny attacked him. Finishing this story, Manny thanks Justyce for helping him see the truth about his racist friends. He then embraces Justyce, enveloping him in a hearty hug.
The fact that Manny only played basketball because everyone expected him to is a perfect example of how the assumptions white people set forth about black people can actually enter into the way black people conceive of themselves. This demonstrates why it’s dangerous to perpetuate certain narratives, even in jest, ultimately clarifying just how destructive it is for people like Jared to make racist jokes. Fortunately for Manny, he has Justyce’s friendship to help him recognize how detrimental certain narratives are to his own sense of self.
Themes
