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Chapter 4
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
Around noon, Dre stops by in his BMW to take Maverick and Li’l Man to the store. He helps Maverick strap in the car seat and puts on music, but Maverick is too exhausted to nod along to the beat. Maverick couldn’t sleep because he was thinking about his conversation with King. He tells Dre that King stopped by and was upset, but he says King promised to stop dealing. Dre seems pleased and asks what else is going on.
This passage makes it clear how exhausting it is to be a parent—and it shows how Iesha may have gotten to the point that she was willing to abandon Li’l Man. When Dre takes Maverick at his word that King agreed to stop dealing, it shows how much he trusts Maverick. But this is, of course, a lie—King has no intention to stop selling—and so it may come back to bite Maverick later.
Themes
When Maverick asks when Adreanna started to sleep well, Dre laughs and says it’ll be bad for a while. He asks if Maverick has told Lisa yet, but Maverick hasn’t, and he scoffs at the suggestion that Lisa will find out some other way if Maverick doesn’t tell her. Maverick knows Lisa will be hurt and says he doesn’t want to break her heart, but Dre encourages him to tell Lisa soon. They discuss Dre’s upcoming wedding, and then Tupac comes on the radio. Maverick tells Dre his theory: Tupac is actually alive and will return in 2003 after faking his death for seven years. Tupac is obsessed with the number seven because it’s supposed to be holy. Dre says that sounds interesting, but only cowards fake their deaths, and Tupac wasn’t a coward.
At this point, all the other aspects of having a baby don’t seem nearly as important to Maverick as his sleep. To Dre, who’s been a parent longer, this is funny—but he does assure Maverick that the sleeplessness will get better. Though Maverick scoffs at the suggestion that Lisa will find out about Li’l Man somehow, Maverick, Dre, and Li’l Man are on the way to the grocery store. They could run into other people they know in public, and those people might then tell Lisa. It seems likely, then, that Maverick still wants to think of himself as being in control of his life and particularly his relationship, even in the face of evidence that he’s not.
Themes
Dre pulls into Wyatt’s Grocery, the Garden’s oldest grocery store. Mr. Wyatt and Mrs. Wyatt are at the register, and Mrs. Wyatt immediately starts fussing over Li’l Man. She and Mr. Wyatt used to foster children, so she loves babies. She reminds Maverick that she’s around if he needs anything. Mr. Wyatt comes over, confirms that Maverick isn’t making Ma take care of Li’l Man, and reminds Maverick to apply himself to school. Though Mr. Wyatt gets on Maverick’s nerves, he knows the old man cares. When the feds came to arrest Pops, Mr. Wyatt looked after Maverick until they released Ma after questioning her.
Mrs. Wyatt, like Ma and like Dre, want Maverick to know and to trust that if he needs help, the community will be there to help him with Li’l Man. Mr. Wyatt offers his support in a different way, by making sure that Maverick is taking responsibility for his son and not forcing Ma to do all the hard, sleepless work of caring for an infant. Maverick understands that Mr. Wyatt does this out of care, which shows that Maverick is able to recognize and appreciate people’s intentions, even if their actions annoy him.
Themes
Mr. Wyatt tells Maverick he needs to support his son and asks what he’s going to do for work. Dre says that Maverick is looking, and Mr. Wyatt says that his nephew Jamal is cutting his hours to attend community college, and so he needs someone to take a part-time gig. Maverick insists that it won’t pay enough, but Dre says Maverick will take it. Mrs. Wyatt offers to take Li’l Man during the day, but Maverick refuses again.
Maverick implies at various points throughout the novel that dealing drugs is lucrative, making any other job seem ridiculously low-paying in comparison. But it’s significant that Dre pushes Maverick so hard to take this job with Mr. Wyatt. It shows that Dre is taking his role as Maverick’s mentor seriously—and he wants Maverick to earn “clean money” to support his son.
Themes
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Dre repeats that Maverick will take the job, but Mr. Wyatt stares at Maverick and asks if he wants the job. Maverick doesn’t, but he knows Ma needs help with the bills, so he says he’ll take it. Mr. Wyatt says that Maverick will start on the first day of school and will work some in the store, some in his garden. He adds that he doesn’t tolerate “gang drama.”
Though Maverick has many reservations, he also feels immensely loyal to his family. So, in the end, he takes the job because he can’t bear the thought of Ma trying to support the family on her own. This, he’s beginning to realize, is what Dre means by “man[ning] up.”
Themes
Annoyed, Maverick agrees to leave Li’l Man with Mrs. Wyatt and grabs a cart. Once he and Dre are out of the Wyatts’ hearing, Maverick hisses that this is awful. Dre insists that Mr. Wyatt is cool, and it could be worse—Maverick could be working for Mr. Lewis, the cranky barber next door. He also reminds Maverick that he has to man up.
Given Maverick’s suspicions that Dre would ideally like to leave the King Lords, it’s possible that Dre pushes Maverick so hard to take this job because it’s what he’d rather be doing. He also sees it as the best way to care for a child—something he wants to impress on Maverick.
Themes
Maverick gets everything on Ma’s list, which uses up all of his money. As he, Dre, and Li’l Man leave the store, they run into Ms. Rosalie and Tammy, Lisa’s best friend. Maverick realizes Dre is right: he has to tell Lisa before someone else does. Tammy’s eyes are huge, and she asks who the baby belongs to. She seems to know the baby is Maverick’s. Maverick knows he has to talk to Lisa now.
Acknowledging that Dre was right shows that Maverick is becoming more willing to accept that he doesn’t know everything. And when he realizes he has to talk to Lisa right away, he demonstrates that he’s learning the importance of doing the things that are difficult but are ultimately for the best.
Themes
