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Papi
Mama, who in Pride’s “remix” of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice corresponds to Mrs. Bennet, is wife to Papi and mother to Janae, Zuri, Marisol, Layla, and Kayla Benitez. Unlike her introverted and bookish husband and oldest two daughters Janae and Zuri, Mama is loud, extroverted and gossipy like her youngest three daughters. Mama gave birth to Janae when she was only a teenager. Though she attended several semesters of college, she dropped out after getting pregnant with Zuri and having two children to care for. An excellent cook, Mama is also “the one-woman planning committee of the block association” on the Benitez family’s block in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Nevertheless, after a developer buys the apartment building where the Benitez sisters have lived all their lives, Mama and the rest of the Benitez family are forced to leave Bushwick for Canarsie, a neighborhood in southern Brooklyn that has not yet gentrified.
Mama Quotes in Pride
The Pride quotes below are all either spoken by Mama or refer to Mama. 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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Chapters 11–15 Quotes
I recognize that look. It’s that same look people used to give us when Mama would get on a crowded train with a double stroller holding the twins, me, Marisol, and Janae with our messy hair, runny noses, and each with a bag of chips to keep us occupied while Mama quieted down the babies. It’s the look that assumes Mama is a single mother, that she’s on government assistance, that she beats us when she’s tired, that we all have different fathers, that we live in the projects, and that we’re ghetto. Everybody used to look at us like that—white, black, other mothers with kids who thought they were being responsible by only having two or three. I’d look back at them with defiance and a little pride; a look that says that I love my family and we may be messy and loud, but we’re all together and we love each other.
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Chapters 16–20 Quotes
“Let me guess,” Darius says. “You thought those hors d’oeuvres at our party are what we eat for dinner every night?”
I shake my head and try very hard not to laugh again. “No, I didn’t think that at all.”
“Yes, you did, Zuri,” he says. “And do you eat those fried pork chunks for dinner every night?”
“No of course not,” I say, and let out another laugh because he’s right. And I was wrong. For the first time since meeting him, since hating him, I hear him laugh, too.
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Chapters 21–25 Quotes
I hold Mama’s EBT card in my fist. I really don’t want to pull it out in front of Darius.
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Mama Character Timeline in Pride
The timeline below shows where the character Mama appears in Pride. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapters 1–5
...the day: her sister Janae is coming home after her freshman year of college. Zuri’s Mama and her three younger sisters, Marisol, Layla, and Kayla, are working to prepare a celebratory...
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Layla and Kayla are about to run and introduce themselves to the new neighbors when Mama assigns all the sisters chores. Then she looks out the window and changes her mind,...
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...makes Zuri feel that the neighborhood is “slipping away,” just like her childhood and Janae. Mama has invited the whole apartment building to Janae’s welcome back dinner. The building’s owner, Madrina,...
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...“any woman” might do the same. When Janae suggests Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez as examples, Mama condescendingly suggests that Janae is a know-it-all now that she’s been to college. This remark...
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That evening, Mama is cooking for a neighborhood block party while Zuri and her sisters help. Once the...
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Chapters 6–10
Chapter 9. As Zuri leaves for her date that night, Mama calls from the couch that she should return by 10 p.m.—and Zuri feels suddenly that...
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Chapters 11–15
Chapter 11. Early one morning, Mama barges into the sisters’ shared bedroom and announces that the Darcys have invited the whole...
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...some girl named Alana. When he suggests they hang out elsewhere, Zuri explains that her Mama and Papi are not going to let her leave the neighborhood with Warren before they’ve...
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...a standard essay. Janae says no, claiming that Zuri must express herself straightforwardly sometimes. When Mama orders Zuri to run an errand for her, Zuri asks Janae to come with her....
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Chapters 16–20
...her parents that her plans changed, and Darius is driving her home. To her annoyance, Mama texts her back with heart emojis.
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Chapter 20. Zuri gets home after midnight. Mama, Layla, and Kayla all try to grill her about whether she’s dating Darius now—which she...
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Chapters 21–25
...Zuri asks whether Darius is aware that she and Carrie dislike each other, while holding Mama’s EBT card in such a way that Darius can’t see it. Darius tells her she...
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Chapters 26–30
Chapter 27. Zuri reads a poem she composed for Madrina at Madrina’s funeral. Afterward, Mama hosts an enormous meal out of the Benitez apartment while people gather outside. When Zuri...
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Chapter 29. As the Benitez family packs to move, Mama tries to hoard everything while Papi tries to get rid of everything. The day before...
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