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Chapter 23
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Concrete Rose, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Masculinity and Fatherhood
Identity and Individuality
Loyalty, Gang Affiliation, and Family
Poverty
Summary
Analysis
For the rest of the week, Maverick tells Ma that he’s going to school, but really, he’s watching Red. Today, though, Maverick is getting ready to take Lisa to tour Markham. Ma lectures him about how to properly drive and care for her car. She asks if he needs gas money, but he doesn’t (the drug money has been life-changing).
Again, the aside that the drug money is “life-changing” speaks to how important it is to Maverick to be able to support himself and his family. Now, he can borrow Ma’s car without having to ask her for gas money, which likely makes him feel competent and in control.
Themes
Ma asks if he’s okay, since he seems like he has “a heavy heart,” but Maverick insists that he’s fine. Ma notes that someday, Maverick could go to Markham too. Maverick can barely look her in the eye. When Ma suggests that she just drive them herself, so she doesn’t have to worry, Maverick protests—but Ma tells him it’s normal for parents to worry about their kids. He’ll understand when Seven starts walking. Maverick asks if soon, he could borrow the car to visit Pops. Ma smiles and says she’ll set up a visit.
Just like Mr. Wyatt, Ma can tell that something is wrong with Maverick. Suggesting that he could accompany Lisa to Markham suggests that a college education is Ma’s dream for him as well—but she doesn’t know yet that Maverick has dropped out of high school. Ma also shows Maverick that parenting doesn’t get any easier as the kids get older—parents still worry, just about different things.
Themes
By eight o’clock, Ma lets Maverick leave. Before he picks Lisa up, Maverick stops by where Red spends his mornings. Sometime today, King is going to get Maverick a gun—and hopefully, Keisha will confirm that Red killed Dre. At Ms. Rosalie’s house, Lisa comes out, still mostly dressed for bed. She says the baby kept her up all night, and she puts Maverick’s hand on her quivering stomach. They argue again about whether the baby is a girl or a boy, and Lisa says she wants extra sauce on her ribs when she wins the bet. Maverick helps her into the car, refuses to tell her where they’re going, and heads onto the highway.
Maverick makes it clear that he’s not totally focused on Lisa and the Markham visit. On some level, he’s going to spend the entire trip thinking about killing Red. The fact that Lisa is so willing to go on this trip with Maverick shows that she does trust him, and she might be more open to a relationship with Maverick than she lets on.
Themes
As Maverick drives through the suburbs surrounding the Garden, Lisa remarks at how different this is from the Garden. Maverick says it’s too “sophisticated” and “bougie” for him, but Lisa asks what he’d do if he had a trillion dollars and could do anything. Maverick says he’d live on a private island, but he’d also rebuild the Garden and start a business so he could hire locals. He explains he’d live on the island so jealous people couldn’t kill him. He offers to let Lisa come and decorate his mansion, and Lisa smiles.
It's telling that although everything Maverick wants to do would benefit Garden Heights, he still fears that someone would kill him out of jealousy. This reflects his lived reality: successful people who help others, like Dre, get killed. But it also makes it clear that Maverick wants to help better his hometown, and he recognizes that poverty is the city’s main problem.
Themes
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Maverick asks Lisa what she’d do with that kind of money. She shrugs and says that she’d end world poverty and hunger, and then build a house like everyone else. As they drive past the suburbs, Maverick again refuses to tell her where they’re going. Lisa opens the sunroof and tells Maverick to smell the air out here—it smells like pine trees. She puts her head back and quickly falls asleep. Maverick whispers to the baby to let Lisa stay asleep, and Lisa’s stomach stops quivering.
Lisa would do much the same thing as Maverick if she had the money, but she’d do it on a much grander scale. In this way, she’s thinking bigger than Maverick is. Pointing out how different the air smells outside the city also hints that Lisa wants to get out of Garden Heights. She, perhaps, doesn’t feel that Garden Heights is the best place to raise her baby.
Themes
The Markham campus is beautiful. Maverick wakes Lisa up as soon as they get there and tells her they’re taking a private tour of the campus. She throws her arms around Maverick's neck and then fixes her hair. Maverick leads Lisa to the quad, where they’re supposed to meet their tour guide. On their walk, Lisa reminds Maverick that he could go to college here too. Maverick is too nervous to tell her he can’t graduate, so he reminds Lisa that this is her tour.
Lisa seems to believe, on some level, that Maverick could move on from the King Lords and attend college, if only he’d try. In other words, she believes he has more control over his life than he does. Maverick, though, feels like his control is lessening, especially now that he can’t graduate high school.
Themes
Their tour guide is Deja McAllister, a Black senior who’s also pregnant. She’s due with a boy in June, and she tells Maverick and Lisa that she and her husband are going to name him Justyce, with a y. They discuss Lisa’s plans for a major, and Deja suggests that she look into nursing, since it doesn’t require the time commitment that medical school does. Maverick keeps his mouth shut as the women discuss their pregnancy complaints. He also looks in awe at all the Black people, many of whom aren’t much older than Maverick. Some of the guys could easily be Maverick, King, Junie, and Rico, and Maverick can imagine himself here.
Whereas Maverick sees the Black residents of Garden Heights struggling to get by, he sees the Black students at Markham thriving. This might suggest that the answer to the problems plaguing Garden Heights is education—but as Maverick has demonstrated, it’s hard to focus on school when there’s so much else going on that requires one’s attention. But still, it’s significant that Maverick could see himself attending Markham, as this could motivate him to apply himself to his education again.
Themes
Maverick lets himself imagine joining a fraternity until he gets the page from King notifying him that King got the gun. Markham, he thinks, isn’t for drug dealers who flunk out of high school and kill people. The tour ends around noon, and then Maverick drives to a Chinese restaurant near campus. Inside, as Maverick looks for Keisha, Adreanna runs to him and asks where her “Sevy” (Seven) is. Lisa laughs. Maverick and Lisa follow Adreanna back to Keisha, who admits to helping plan the tour. She notes that she didn’t realize Maverick and Lisa were back together. Maverick says they’re not together—but he’d do anything for Lisa.
Maverick has a very specific idea of what kind of people go to college—and in his mind, he’s not the kind of person who goes. But, importantly, this is a limitation Maverick has placed on himself—there’s no rule barring him from pursuing higher education. Meeting Deja seems to have shown Maverick that college isn’t just for those who stick to the straight and narrow path.
Themes
After everyone orders, Adreanna tells Maverick all about preschool and her boyfriend. Maverick jokes that he’ll have to talk to this boy, and Keisha starts to say that he’s as bad as Dre, but she stops and looks down. Keisha says she misses Dre—they should have been getting ready for their wedding now. Lisa excuses herself to the bathroom, and while she’s gone, Maverick asks if Keisha remembers anything else about the night Dre died. He lies that the gang wants to find out who did it. With some coaxing, Keisha says that Bus Stop Tony had been nearby—and she could hear that the robber’s voice was raspy, like Red’s.
Keisha has gone through an immense loss—but the way she’s able to open up to Maverick and Lisa shows that she isn’t alone. This is also why Maverick asks about Dre’s killer by noting that the gang wants to find out who committed the murder. This is a coded way for him to tell Keisha that she still has the King Lords’ support, even with Dre no longer around.
Themes
Maverick is too caught up in thinking about Red, Tony, and Dre to talk for the rest of the meal. Finally, Maverick helps Lisa into Ma’s car. As he pulls out of the parking lot, Lisa asks what’s wrong—Maverick is never quiet like this. He insists he’s fine and asks if, after this surprise, Lisa will give him another chance. Sighing, Lisa says they’re not getting back together.
Again, Maverick seems to think that he’s entitled to another chance with Lisa, just because he’s being nice to her. But he’s quickly learning that this isn’t how relationships work—Lisa gets to choose whether or not she’s willing to tie herself to Maverick, regardless of how he treats her.
Themes
Maverick angrily asks if he’s going to get nothing for all of this, while Connor wins Lisa over with a teddy bear. Lisa snaps that she’s not a “gold digger” like Iesha is and asks if he really thought he could convince her to have sex with him by doing nice things. She says the nice gestures don’t matter when he’s still in a gang and not doing anything with his life. Maverick snaps that she doesn’t understand what life is like on the streets; he can’t get out of the gang. Taking a beating that might leave him dead isn’t worth it, and Junie, Rico, and King are his friends. Lisa snaps that someone has to think about their baby’s future, and she’s silent for the rest of the drive.
To Lisa, the fact that Maverick is willing to stay in the King Lords and deal drugs shows her that he’s not prioritizing her and their baby, though he might think he is. She knows as well as Maverick that being in the gang is dangerous for them—indeed, at lunch, they were just discussing that Dre died because of his involvement in the gang. But Maverick isn’t willing to consider that Lisa might have a point because, for now, drugs and gang affiliation are the only way for him to make money.
Themes
