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Chapter 7
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
King is a legend at Garden High, but he’s no longer allowed on the grounds. He used to be on the football team, but the coach was racist and a “redneck.” When the coach told King to wash his car and implied that King was his slave, King beat him up. That coach never came back. Presently, King laughs as he and Maverick drive. King insists that they need to go to the mall like they usually do, but Maverick says he really just needs a nap before he goes to work for Mr. Wyatt. King is incredulous that Maverick gave up dealing to earn pennies from Mr. Wyatt, and he also dislikes Mr. Wyatt—the Wyatts were King’s last foster family.
Here, the novel confirms that the high school in Garden Heights is racist and exclusionary to its Black students. Hiring a racist coach shows that they value the staff over the safety and emotional well-being of their Black students. King, then, becomes a legend among the student body because he’s willing to stand up for himself and Black kids like him—even if it means he can’t go back to school. King also shows here that for him, making good money is more important than where that money comes from.
Themes
Maverick says he has to provide for Li’l Man somehow and the conversation stops. King answers Maverick’s questions with one-word answers. Maverick apologizes again for how things turned out with Li’l Man, but King insists that it’s fine. He asks how Li’l Man is doing and thinks it’s weird that Maverick is trying to rename the baby. Their conversation ends when King gets a page from a buyer who goes to Saint Mary’s Catholic School, which is where Lisa goes. Maverick knows he has to try to talk to her.
King’s comment about renaming Li’l Man hints that he’s at least a little bit upset about not being King Jr.’s biological father. Maverick, meanwhile, sees it as his fatherly duty to take a job that King sees as beneath him, which drives home how different Maverick and King are. Though they both prioritize making money, they have different concerns: King wants to make as much money as possible, even if he has to use illegal means. Maverick, on the other hand, seems to want to set a good example for Li’l Man by working a legitimate job.
Themes
In the parking lot, Maverick assures King that he’ll be quick. King points to Lisa across the parking lot: she’s leaning against a car and giggling with a white boy. Incensed, Maverick storms over and says that they need to talk. The white boy asks if this is the “asshole” who had a baby with someone else, making Maverick even angrier. Lisa assures the boy, Connor, that she can handle Maverick. Once Connor backs away, Lisa tells Maverick to go home. He apologizes again and asks to fix it, but Lisa refuses. A security guard approaches and tells Maverick to get off the school property, so Maverick leaves.
Maverick’s choice to continue trying to talk to Lisa read as somewhat entitled. He seems to believe that Lisa owes him the privilege of a second chance—when that’s not at all the case. It also becomes clear here that Lisa has a life of her own at school, with friends whom Maverick finds abhorrent. Though Iesha referring to Lisa earlier as a “bougie Catholic-school girl” was intended as an insult, Iesha may have been right to imply that Lisa is fundamentally different from Maverick.
Themes
King drives Maverick back to the Garden. Maverick mopes about Lisa, and King insists he can’t let a girl get to him like this. As they pass the shopping center, Maverick catches sight of Red selling out of his Impala’s trunk. He tells King about the fake sneakers, and King turns around immediately. Maverick approaches Red and says—in front of a woman checking out Red’s goods—that Red sold him fake sneakers. The woman leaves right away.
King’s advice to stop worrying about girls in general suggests that King sees friendships between men as more meaningful than romantic relationships. Despite the tension between King and Maverick right now, King is still loyal to his friend. It’s important to make sure that Maverick is able to get back at Red for selling him the fake sneakers—this is, in King’s understanding, what friends do for one another.
Themes
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Maverick says that he needs his games back, but Red reminds him that trades are final, and the games are gone. Maverick asks for the money instead. King walks up behind Maverick and says that they should respect Red’s policy, but that Red shouldn’t be able to make money. King and Maverick flip Red’s tables over, sending his merchandise crashing to the ground.
Again, King demonstrates his loyalty to Maverick here by flipping over Red’s tables, thereby taking revenge on the hustler. This makes Maverick feel secure in his friendship: it shows him he’ll always have King to rely on, even if their relationship is strained.
Themes
Maverick and King then head to King’s apartment, where Maverick takes a nap. This makes him 15 minutes late for work. King drops Maverick off at Mr. Wyatt’s house, and Maverick lets himself into the backyard. The yard is a garden with flowers, bird feeders, and fruits and vegetables; it’s shocking that something this beautiful exists in the neighborhood. Maverick approaches Mrs. Wyatt and Li’l Man and greets his drooling son. When Mr. Wyatt clears his throat, Mrs. Wyatt takes Li’l Man inside for a nap.
Allowing Maverick to nap instead of going to the mall shows that King is trying to be understanding of Maverick’s new life as a father. Noting that Mr. Wyatt’s beautiful garden is an oddity in the neighborhood suggests that few people in Garden Heights take the time to beautify their homes. They likely have other concerns, like simply earning enough money to survive.
Themes
Alone with Mr. Wyatt, Maverick explains that he had to stay late for school. Mr. Wyatt calls Maverick on the lie and says he knows what King is up to: gang stuff. Maverick backpedals and assures Mr. Wyatt that they were just hanging out. Mr. Wyatt accepts this, but he tells Maverick this is his first strike—he can’t show up late and lie on his first day of work. He insists that Maverick stay an extra hour without the extra pay. Maverick wants to curse, but Mr. Wyatt insists that life isn’t fair, and he reminds Maverick that he can always quit. Maverick wants to, but he remembers the electricity bill and Li’l Man. Mr. Wyatt says that today, they’re planting roses.
Though Maverick finds Mr. Wyatt’s insistence on punctuality and honesty annoying, he recognizes that he doesn’t have much choice here. If he’s going to make Dre proud, help Ma, and support Seven, he has to put up with Mr. Wyatt. The fact that Maverick lies about being at school, though, shows that he understands what Mr. Wyatt wants to hear. He understands, in other words, what responsibility and maturity look like, and he wants to look like he’s pursuing that path.
Themes
Maverick spends all afternoon digging up a plot for the roses and adding bagged soil; he’s still working when the sun goes down. Everything smells fresh. Finally, it’s time to plant the rosebushes. Maverick thinks the roses look like twigs, not bushes, and notes that the plot seems awfully big for something that isn’t food. Mr. Wyatt says that flowers remind him that beauty can come from almost nothing, and he tells Maverick that the roses will be fine through the winter. They’ll grow some roots and go dormant, though Mr. Wyatt has had roses bloom in an ice storm before.
The bareroot roses don’t look like much to Maverick, but Mr. Wyatt encourages Maverick to understand that beautiful, meaningful things can come from even the unlikeliest of circumstances. This begins to symbolically associate the roses with Maverick himself. Right now, Maverick doesn’t have high self-worth—but given the way that Mr. Wyatt talks about the roses, Maverick has the potential to bloom and thrive if he puts his mind to it.
Themes
Mr. Wyatt says that roses are amazing, and that they can take more than people think. They’ll have to prune them, which means they’ll cut away what the bush doesn’t need and won’t help it grow. Mr. Wyatt plants two rosebushes himself and recites some scripture—he’s a deacon at the Christ Temple Church. Then, he tells Maverick to plant the rest of the roses, so Maverick sets right to work. Mr. Wyatt says he thought Maverick would get upset about getting his clothes dirty, but Maverick explains that Li’l Man already pooped on him today.
Saying that it’s essential to remove anything that doesn’t help the roses grow asks readers to consider what Maverick (whom the roses symbolize) might need to cut out of his own life. It implies that Maverick is going to have to leave some things behind if he wants to thrive. Maverick is already becoming more easygoing, as evidenced by his lack of concern about getting dirty.
Themes
With a laugh, Mr. Wyatt says that Maverick had a tough morning. Maverick replies that it’s been a tough day, and Mr. Wyatt asks if he wants to talk about it. No one has asked Maverick that before. Maverick says he’s alright, but then he tells Mr. Wyatt that Lisa refused to give him another chance. Mr. Wyatt notes that this is a lot to ask of her, and he asks if Maverick has considered how Lisa feels. He asks how Maverick would feel if Lisa had had a baby with someone else. Maverick knows he’d be upset, just like Lisa is now. Noticing Maverick’s silence, Mr. Wyatt advises him to let Lisa go, and he leaves Maverick to finish the roses. Maverick plants one twig, thinking that it deserves a chance—unlike him.
When Maverick reflects that nobody has asked him if he’d like to talk about what’s going on in his life, it suggests that he might not be getting the emotional support he really needs. He’s getting practical support from Ma and Dre, but neither of them has actually sat down with Maverick and asked him how he’s feeling about things. By asking this question, Mr. Wyatt steps into a fatherly role and helps Maverick develop some empathy for Lisa. It’s important, he suggests, to consider how one’s actions make others feel, and to be respectful of people’s wishes.
Themes
