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Mr. Wyatt is an elderly Black man who owns the local grocery store in Garden Heights along with his wife, Mrs. Wyatt. He’s stern and has very specific ideas about how young men should conduct themselves; for instance, he doesn’t tolerate any gang activity in his store and believes that young men don’t need to associate with a gang to get ahead in the world. Maverick recognizes that Mr. Wyatt feels this way because he cares, even though he’s sometimes annoying. But this becomes more difficult for Maverick to deal with when he agrees to take a job in Mr. Wyatt’s grocery store. Mr. Wyatt is a strict boss: he doesn’t tolerate Maverick coming in late, lying, or coming to work intoxicated. Though Maverick resents Mr. Wyatt’s strictness and how minimal his paychecks seem, Mr. Wyatt becomes an important mentor to Maverick. Unlike everyone else in Maverick’s life, Mr. Wyatt asks Maverick if he wants to talk about difficult subjects and asks Maverick how he feels about things. He insists that it’s a lie that Black men don’t have feelings and shouldn’t express them, and he encourages Maverick to cry in the aftermath of Dre’s murder. Most importantly, Mr. Wyatt encourages Maverick to see the value in education, legal work, and insists that it’s necessary to get rid of anything in his life that isn’t helping him grow. Maverick takes this advice to heart when, at the end of the novel, he decides to pursue his GED, become a business owner, and realizes he’d like to leave the King Lords.
Mr. Wyatt Quotes in Concrete Rose
The Concrete Rose quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Wyatt or refer to Mr. Wyatt. 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 8
Quotes
“You only putting roses in this bed?”
“That’s the plan. Roses need space to grow. Why you ask?”
He got greens, green beans, tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries—all kinds of fruits and vegetables out here. “Seems like a lot of space to give something you can’t eat.
“You might be right,” he admits. “I like to be reminded that beauty can come from much of nothing. To me that’s the whole point of flowers.”
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Chapter 13
Quotes
“Son, one of the biggest lies ever told is that Black men don’t feel emotions. Guess it’s easier to not see us as human when you think we’re heartless. Fact of the matter is, we feel things. Hurt, pain, sadness, all of it. We got a right to show them feelings as much as anybody else.”
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Chapter 21
Quotes
“No offense, Mr. Wyatt, but your nephew seem like a nerd. As for Carlos, his momma kept him and Lisa in the house. Of course they didn’t need protection. Anyway, I’m Li’l Don. Everybody expected me to join.”
“Because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree?” Mr. Wyatt asks. “However, it can roll away from the tree. It simply need a little push.”
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Chapter 24
Quotes
Lisa stare at me real hard. “You’re selling drugs with King again, aren’t you?”
I sigh. “Man, look—”
“You know what? Don’t answer that,” she says. “Do whatever you want, Maverick. Me and my baby will be all right.”
“There you go, acting like I won’t be around.”
“Because you won’t!” Lisa says. “I make plans, knowing that. My baby needs one of us to think about the future.”
She don’t get it. She really don’t get it.
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Chapter 30
Quotes
“Looks like you’re right. These canes need to be snipped.”
“Because they won’t help them grow, right?”
“Mmm-hmm. It’s kind like how we have to do with ourselves. Get rid of things that don’t do us any good. If it won’t help the rose grow, you’ve gotta let it go.”
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Get the entire Concrete Rose LitChart as a printable PDF.
Mr. Wyatt Quotes in Concrete Rose
The Concrete Rose quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Wyatt or refer to Mr. Wyatt. 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 8
Quotes
“You only putting roses in this bed?”
“That’s the plan. Roses need space to grow. Why you ask?”
He got greens, green beans, tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries—all kinds of fruits and vegetables out here. “Seems like a lot of space to give something you can’t eat.
“You might be right,” he admits. “I like to be reminded that beauty can come from much of nothing. To me that’s the whole point of flowers.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13
Quotes
“Son, one of the biggest lies ever told is that Black men don’t feel emotions. Guess it’s easier to not see us as human when you think we’re heartless. Fact of the matter is, we feel things. Hurt, pain, sadness, all of it. We got a right to show them feelings as much as anybody else.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21
Quotes
“No offense, Mr. Wyatt, but your nephew seem like a nerd. As for Carlos, his momma kept him and Lisa in the house. Of course they didn’t need protection. Anyway, I’m Li’l Don. Everybody expected me to join.”
“Because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree?” Mr. Wyatt asks. “However, it can roll away from the tree. It simply need a little push.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24
Quotes
Lisa stare at me real hard. “You’re selling drugs with King again, aren’t you?”
I sigh. “Man, look—”
“You know what? Don’t answer that,” she says. “Do whatever you want, Maverick. Me and my baby will be all right.”
“There you go, acting like I won’t be around.”
“Because you won’t!” Lisa says. “I make plans, knowing that. My baby needs one of us to think about the future.”
She don’t get it. She really don’t get it.
Related Characters:
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30
Quotes
“Looks like you’re right. These canes need to be snipped.”
“Because they won’t help them grow, right?”
“Mmm-hmm. It’s kind like how we have to do with ourselves. Get rid of things that don’t do us any good. If it won’t help the rose grow, you’ve gotta let it go.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
