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Dre
Iesha is Seven’s mother and King’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. Like Maverick and King, she’s 17. About a year before Concrete Rose begins, when Maverick and Lisa were temporarily broken up, King set Maverick and Iesha up to have sex to “take Maverick’s mind off things”—and the condom broke. This results in Seven. Before they take the DNA test to find out who Seven’s biological father is, Iesha desperately wants Seven to be King’s baby and to have a family with King. She’s distraught when the DNA test reveals that Maverick is the father. After this discovery, Iesha abandons Seven with Maverick, leaves her mother’s house, and lives with various friends. As time goes on and as Iesha evades Maverick’s attempts to talk to her, Maverick learns that Iesha has had a very rough time of motherhood. Her mother, Ms. Robinson, refused to help Iesha throughout her pregnancy and for the first three months of Seven’s life. Though Iesha refuses to see a doctor, Maverick and Ma suspect that Iesha is suffering from postpartum depression. When Maverick is able to get Iesha to talk to him, she talks about how Seven doesn’t deserve her when she’s in “that dark place” and she admits that she felt very overwhelmed as a single parent. Eventually, Ma insists that Iesha give Maverick full legal custody of Seven and settle for seeing her son once per week. Near the end of the novel, Maverick discovers that Iesha is happily pregnant again and this baby’s father is actually King.
Iesha Quotes in Concrete Rose
The Concrete Rose quotes below are all either spoken by Iesha or refer to Iesha. 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 2
Quotes
I study Iesha real hard. She got bags under her eyes she didn’t have before. “Anybody helping you with him?”
“Help?” her momma says, like I cussed. “Who supposed to help her? Me?”
“C’mon now, Yolanda,” says Ma. “This is a lot for anyone to handle, let alone a seventeen-year-old.”
“T’uh! She wanna act grown, she can deal with this like she grown. By. Her. Self.”
Iesha blink real fast.
I’m feeling real bad for her all of a sudden. “If he is mine, you won’t be doing this alone no more, a’ight? I’ll come over and help as much as I can.”
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Chapter 18
Quotes
“I felt bad for leaving him and not being able to handle it.”
“That don’t mean you disappear, baby,” Ma says. I’m sorry that your momma didn’t support you like she should’ve and that you had to go through so much yourself. But you have responsibilities now. Seven needs you as much as he needs Maverick.”
“Not if I get in that bad space again, he don’t,” Iesha murmurs.
[…]
Ma rub her shoulder. ‘If it’s not, you’re not alone. It takes a village to raise a child. Seven has a big one. That means that you do too.”
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Get the entire Concrete Rose LitChart as a printable PDF.
Iesha Quotes in Concrete Rose
The Concrete Rose quotes below are all either spoken by Iesha or refer to Iesha. 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 2
Quotes
I study Iesha real hard. She got bags under her eyes she didn’t have before. “Anybody helping you with him?”
“Help?” her momma says, like I cussed. “Who supposed to help her? Me?”
“C’mon now, Yolanda,” says Ma. “This is a lot for anyone to handle, let alone a seventeen-year-old.”
“T’uh! She wanna act grown, she can deal with this like she grown. By. Her. Self.”
Iesha blink real fast.
I’m feeling real bad for her all of a sudden. “If he is mine, you won’t be doing this alone no more, a’ight? I’ll come over and help as much as I can.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18
Quotes
“I felt bad for leaving him and not being able to handle it.”
“That don’t mean you disappear, baby,” Ma says. I’m sorry that your momma didn’t support you like she should’ve and that you had to go through so much yourself. But you have responsibilities now. Seven needs you as much as he needs Maverick.”
“Not if I get in that bad space again, he don’t,” Iesha murmurs.
[…]
Ma rub her shoulder. ‘If it’s not, you’re not alone. It takes a village to raise a child. Seven has a big one. That means that you do too.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
