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The roses that Maverick helps Mr. Wyatt plant in his garden symbolize Maverick himself. When Maverick helps Mr. Wyatt plant the roses on his first day of work in the fall, he’s dismayed to see that what Mr. Wyatt refers to as “rosebushes” actually just look like twigs. They don’t look at all like Maverick thinks roses should look, and they definitely don’t seem like they’re ever going to be luscious bushes with huge, bright flowers. This mirrors how Maverick sees himself for a majority of the novel. Though people like Mr. Wyatt, Lisa, and Ma constantly insist that Maverick can be something great and grow up to do amazing things with his life—just like the roses—Maverick finds it difficult to believe them when it doesn’t seem like it’ll ever be possible to do anything but deal drugs. Maverick sees himself as unpromising and without potential, just like how he sees the bareroot rosebushes.
But even though Maverick doesn’t believe that the roses are going to thrive, he nevertheless takes Mr. Wyatt’s instruction on how to care for them to heart. Mr. Wyatt tells Maverick that it’s important to prune roses and cut away everything that isn’t going to help them grow—and it’s important, he says, for people to do the same thing. Over the course of the novel, Maverick puts this advice into practice by pruning his own life. He eventually cuts dealing and his former best friend, King, out of his life, and he decides that someday, he’d also like to leave the King Lords gang.
It's significant that immediately after telling King he doesn’t want to sell drugs anymore, Maverick enters Mr. Wyatt’s garden to find the roses in full bloom, even though it’s the middle of winter. Maverick realizes Mr. Wyatt was right: roses can handle more than most people think and can overcome even the most difficult of circumstances to become beautiful. Seeing this, Maverick decides that it’s time to give himself a chance to bloom, just like he gave the roses. In this way, the roses show Maverick that he should believe in his own resilience and potential for success.
Roses Quotes in Concrete Rose
The Concrete Rose quotes below all refer to the symbol of Roses. 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:
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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 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.
Roses Symbol Timeline in Concrete Rose
The timeline below shows where the symbol Roses appears in Concrete Rose. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 8
...he remembers the electricity bill and Li’l Man. Mr. Wyatt says that today, they’re planting roses.
(full context)
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....
(full context)
Mr. Wyatt says that roses are amazing, and that they can take more than people think. They’ll have to prune...
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...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.
(full context)
Chapter 30
...put them in the wild. As Maverick watches King drive away, he notices Mr. Wyatt’s roses blooming and goes over to look. He lets himself into the Wyatts’ backyard and admires...
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...makes Maverick laugh. Maverick explains that he just stopped in to check out the blooming roses. Mr. Wyatt reminds Maverick that roses can bloom “in the hardest conditions.” Maverick suggests they...
(full context)
