Marcus is one of Barack’s best friends in college, whom Barack describes as “the most conscious of brothers.” He’s tall, elegant, and comfortable with his identity as a Black person. All of this makes Barack feel one step behind. Marcus is, in Barack’s opinion, undeniably Black—he has friends in prison, family members who were part of the Black Panthers, and others who are single mothers. Barack admires Marcus and wants to impress him, but his efforts tend to fall flat. Eventually, Marcus becomes disillusioned with college and drops out.
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Marcus Character Timeline in Dreams from My Father
The timeline below shows where the character Marcus appears in Dreams from My Father. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
...to prove his loyalty to his Black friends. One day, Barack chats with Reggie and Marcus. Marcus is “the most conscious of brothers”—he’s proudly Black and has had “authentic” Black experiences,...
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...lie his first year of college. The one person he didn’t lie to was Regina. Marcus introduced them at a coffee shop one day and enlisted Regina to help him convince...
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...to listen, Barack’s friends yank him away. Part of him really wants to keep talking. Marcus and Regina both speak and then Barack decides that they’re all amateurs.
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...important. Barack also calls Regina naïve for thinking he cares, but Regina insists that Barack, Marcus, and the other guys are all the same—they think everything is about them. Reggie drunkenly...
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Chapter 6
...Columbia University. There’s little keeping him in L.A., as Regina and Hasan have graduated and Marcus dropped out.
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