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Regina is a Black student whom Barack meets at Occidental College. She’s a few years older and beautiful; she wears homemade dresses and tinted glasses. Regina is the first person Barack meets at college who makes him feel like he doesn’t have to hide who he is, and she’s the first person who calls him Barack instead of Barry. They become close and Regina tells him a lot about her upbringing in Chicago, which Barack envies—though she envies his idyllic childhood in Hawaii. She’s very involved with organizing Black student events and doesn’t go out a lot. Despite making Barack feel more comfortable being himself, Regina also calls Barack out on his selfishness and bad behavior.
Regina Quotes in Dreams from My Father
The Dreams from My Father quotes below are all either spoken by Regina or refer to Regina. 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:
).
Chapter 5 Quotes
Except now I was hearing the same thing from black people I respected, people with more excuses for bitterness than I might ever claim for myself. Who told you that being honest was a white thing? they asked me. Who sold you this bill of goods, that your situation exempted you from being thoughtful or diligent or kind, or that morality had a color?
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Regina Character Timeline in Dreams from My Father
The timeline below shows where the character Regina appears in Dreams from My Father. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
...after a party he and his roommate, Hasan, threw—and listens to Billie Holiday. Everyone but Regina enjoyed the party. Regina accused Barack of being self-centered and, in Barack’s understanding, implied that...
(full context)
...a 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...
(full context)
...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.
(full context)
That night, Regina congratulates Barack on his speech, but Barack cuts her off and says he has “no...
(full context)
Barack thinks about what Regina said. He realizes that he’s heard her words—don’t make others clean up after him, don’t...
(full context)
Chapter 6
...up for a transfer program with Columbia University. There’s little keeping him in L.A., as Regina and Hasan have graduated and Marcus dropped out.
(full context)
Chapter 8
...came to Chicago during the Great Migration. He imagines Frank watching Ella Fitzgerald perform and Regina skipping rope. He tries to make the city his own. On the third day, he...
(full context)
