Dear Martin

Dear Martin

by

Nic Stone

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Dear Martin makes teaching easy.

Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”) Character Analysis

Doc teaches Societal Evolution at Braselton Preparatory Academy and is the leader of the school’s debate team. As an educated black man, Doc is one of Justyce’s only positive male role models. However, he often lets students like Jared express flawed and racist opinions in class, ultimately wanting to let the class engage in dynamic discourses and work to conclusions on their own. Justyce finds it quite discouraging to hear such inconsiderate and insensitive opinions. When Manny and Justyce have a falling out at Blake’s party, Manny calls Doc and asks him to check on Justyce the next morning. As a result, Doc visits Justyce in is dorm room, and though he knows Justyce has been drinking, he doesn’t scold him. Instead, he tries to lend a sympathetic ear. Unfortunately, though, this kind of support apparently isn’t enough to keep Justyce from exploring the possibility of joining a gang in the aftermath of Manny’s death, though he ultimately doesn’t go through with this plan.

Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”) Quotes in Dear Martin

The Dear Martin quotes below are all either spoken by Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”) or refer to Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”). 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:
Privilege, Entitlement, and Implicit Bias Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

SJ: Sorry. It’s just—you’re completely oblivious to the struggles of anyone outside your little social group.

Jared: Whatever, SJ.

SJ: I’m serious. What about the economic disparities? What about the fact that proportionally speaking, there are more people of color living in poverty than white people? Have you even thought about that?

Jared: Dude, Manny drives a Range Rover.

Manny: What does that have to do with anything?

Jared: No beef, dude. I’m just saying your folks make way more money than mine.

Manny: Okay. They worked really hard to get to where they are, so—

Jared: I’m not saying they didn’t, dude. You just proved my point. Black people have the same opportunities as white people in this country if they’re willing to work hard enough. Manny’s parents are a perfect example.

Related Characters: Emmanuel (Manny) Rivers (speaker), Jared Christensen (speaker), Sarah-Jane (SJ) Friedman (speaker), Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”)
Page Number: 24
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

Jared: Can you believe that asshole? What kind of teacher has the nerve to suggest there’s racial inequality to a classroom full of millennials?

Kyle: Seriously, bro? He said that shit?

Jared: I kid you not, bro. The dean should fire his ass. I seriously might have my dad give the school a call.

Related Characters: Jared Christensen (speaker), Kyle Berkeley (speaker), Justyce McAllister, Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”)
Page Number: 30
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

Let’s observe, shall we? I’m ranked number two in our class, I’m captain of the baseball team, I do community service on weekends, and I got higher test scores than Justyce . . . yet he got into Yale early action, and I didn’t. I know for a fact it’s because I’m white and he’s black.

Related Characters: Jared Christensen (speaker), Justyce McAllister, Sarah-Jane (SJ) Friedman, Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”)
Page Number: 59
Explanation and Analysis:

Now say you have a black guy—not Justyce, but someone else—whose single parent’s income falls beneath the poverty line. He lives in a really crummy area and goes to a public school that has fifteen-year-old textbooks and no computers. Most of the teachers are fresh out of college and leave after a year. Some psychological testing has been done at this school, and the majority of students there, this guy included, are found to suffer from low self-esteem and struggle with standardized testing because of stereotype threat—basically, the guy knows people expect him to underperform, which triggers severe test anxiety that causes him to underperform.

[…]

Now erase the two backgrounds. We’ll keep it simple and say GPA-wise, you have a four-point-oh and he has a three-point-six. Test scores, you got a fifteen-eighty, right? Well, this guy got an eleven-twenty. Based on GPA and scores only, which one of you is more likely to get into a good college?

Related Characters: Sarah-Jane (SJ) Friedman (speaker), Justyce McAllister, Jared Christensen, Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”)
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“That’s what it was like for me at the new school. Every­body saw me as black, even with the light skin and green eyes. The black kids expected me to know all the cultural references and slang, and the white kids expected me to ‘act’ black. It was a rude awakening for me. When you spend your whole life being ‘accepted’ by white people, it’s easy to ignore history and hard to face stuff that’s still problematic, you feel me?”

“I guess.”

“And as for you, the only way you’re gonna thrive is if you’re okay with yourself, man. People are gonna disrespect you, but so what? Guys like Jared don’t have any bearing on how far you get in life. If you know the stuff they’re say­ing isn’t true, why let it bother you?”

Related Characters: Justyce McAllister (speaker), Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”) (speaker), Emmanuel (Manny) Rivers , Jared Christensen, Blake Benson
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

“[…] Look, Jus, people need the craziness in the world to make some sort of sense to them. That idiot ‘pundit’ would rather believe you and Manny were thugs than believe a twenty-year veteran cop made a snap judgment based on skin color. He identifies with the cop. If the cop is capable of murder, it means he’s capable of the same. He can’t accept that.”

Related Characters: Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”) (speaker), Justyce McAllister, Emmanuel (Manny) Rivers , Officer Garrett Tison
Page Number: 151
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Dear Martin LitChart as a printable PDF.
Dear Martin PDF

Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”) Quotes in Dear Martin

The Dear Martin quotes below are all either spoken by Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”) or refer to Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”). 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:
Privilege, Entitlement, and Implicit Bias Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

SJ: Sorry. It’s just—you’re completely oblivious to the struggles of anyone outside your little social group.

Jared: Whatever, SJ.

SJ: I’m serious. What about the economic disparities? What about the fact that proportionally speaking, there are more people of color living in poverty than white people? Have you even thought about that?

Jared: Dude, Manny drives a Range Rover.

Manny: What does that have to do with anything?

Jared: No beef, dude. I’m just saying your folks make way more money than mine.

Manny: Okay. They worked really hard to get to where they are, so—

Jared: I’m not saying they didn’t, dude. You just proved my point. Black people have the same opportunities as white people in this country if they’re willing to work hard enough. Manny’s parents are a perfect example.

Related Characters: Emmanuel (Manny) Rivers (speaker), Jared Christensen (speaker), Sarah-Jane (SJ) Friedman (speaker), Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”)
Page Number: 24
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

Jared: Can you believe that asshole? What kind of teacher has the nerve to suggest there’s racial inequality to a classroom full of millennials?

Kyle: Seriously, bro? He said that shit?

Jared: I kid you not, bro. The dean should fire his ass. I seriously might have my dad give the school a call.

Related Characters: Jared Christensen (speaker), Kyle Berkeley (speaker), Justyce McAllister, Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”)
Page Number: 30
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

Let’s observe, shall we? I’m ranked number two in our class, I’m captain of the baseball team, I do community service on weekends, and I got higher test scores than Justyce . . . yet he got into Yale early action, and I didn’t. I know for a fact it’s because I’m white and he’s black.

Related Characters: Jared Christensen (speaker), Justyce McAllister, Sarah-Jane (SJ) Friedman, Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”)
Page Number: 59
Explanation and Analysis:

Now say you have a black guy—not Justyce, but someone else—whose single parent’s income falls beneath the poverty line. He lives in a really crummy area and goes to a public school that has fifteen-year-old textbooks and no computers. Most of the teachers are fresh out of college and leave after a year. Some psychological testing has been done at this school, and the majority of students there, this guy included, are found to suffer from low self-esteem and struggle with standardized testing because of stereotype threat—basically, the guy knows people expect him to underperform, which triggers severe test anxiety that causes him to underperform.

[…]

Now erase the two backgrounds. We’ll keep it simple and say GPA-wise, you have a four-point-oh and he has a three-point-six. Test scores, you got a fifteen-eighty, right? Well, this guy got an eleven-twenty. Based on GPA and scores only, which one of you is more likely to get into a good college?

Related Characters: Sarah-Jane (SJ) Friedman (speaker), Justyce McAllister, Jared Christensen, Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”)
Page Number: 62
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“That’s what it was like for me at the new school. Every­body saw me as black, even with the light skin and green eyes. The black kids expected me to know all the cultural references and slang, and the white kids expected me to ‘act’ black. It was a rude awakening for me. When you spend your whole life being ‘accepted’ by white people, it’s easy to ignore history and hard to face stuff that’s still problematic, you feel me?”

“I guess.”

“And as for you, the only way you’re gonna thrive is if you’re okay with yourself, man. People are gonna disrespect you, but so what? Guys like Jared don’t have any bearing on how far you get in life. If you know the stuff they’re say­ing isn’t true, why let it bother you?”

Related Characters: Justyce McAllister (speaker), Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”) (speaker), Emmanuel (Manny) Rivers , Jared Christensen, Blake Benson
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

“[…] Look, Jus, people need the craziness in the world to make some sort of sense to them. That idiot ‘pundit’ would rather believe you and Manny were thugs than believe a twenty-year veteran cop made a snap judgment based on skin color. He identifies with the cop. If the cop is capable of murder, it means he’s capable of the same. He can’t accept that.”

Related Characters: Dr. Jarius Dray (“Doc”) (speaker), Justyce McAllister, Emmanuel (Manny) Rivers , Officer Garrett Tison
Page Number: 151
Explanation and Analysis: