Poverty Theme Analysis

The novel’s 17-year-old protagonist, Maverick, isn’t sure what he wants to do with his life, but he knows one thing: he has to make money. He and his family are struggling to make ends meet—and though Maverick nurses secret dreams of going to college and owning a business, he knows that in reality, that’s not an option for him. In order to support his family, he needs to stay in his home city of Garden Heights and deal drugs, as he knows he isn’t going to graduate high school and doesn’t have any other opportunities on the horizon. In Maverick’s impoverished neighborhood, drug-dealing and gang affiliation seem like the only ways to make ends meet, even as these things put people at risk of imprisonment or death. And when a person goes to prison or is killed, it plunges their family even deeper into poverty. Thus, through Maverick and his loved ones’ struggles with money, Concrete Rose illustrates how growing up in poverty creates a cycle that is difficult to escape—though it also suggests that to some extent, it is possible to break the cycle and overcome poverty.

The economic opportunities the King Lords gang offers are some of the most important reasons Maverick sees for valuing his gang affiliation. He explains that although his older cousin Dre (the second in command of the gang) doesn’t really want him dealing drugs, Dre ultimately gave in and allowed Maverick to start selling cannabis some time before the events of the novel. He allowed Maverick to sell because both he and Maverick understand that the money earned from selling drugs is a necessity: it gives Maverick the extra cash he needs to help Ma with the bills, and it also allows him to maintain his wardrobe of designer shoes and clothes. Dre and Shawn, as “big homies” in charge of the gang, also show Maverick what’s possible financially if he sticks with the gang and works his way up the ranks. They both drive luxury cars with expensive sound systems, and Dre is able to provide for his fiancé, Keisha, and his three-year-old daughter Adreanna with the money he makes selling drugs. They make selling drugs seem not just profitable, but the only way to get by in Garden Heights.

In contrast, Maverick discovers that making “clean money” (that is, money not from drugs or other illicit activities) barely gives families enough to scrape by. Ma, for instance, has to work two jobs just to keep up with rent and the utility bills—and though things are tight to begin with, the family’s financial situation gets even worse when Maverick takes custody of Seven. With the added expenses of diapers, formula, and baby furniture, Ma’s two jobs don’t give her and Maverick nearly enough to scrape by. Even when Maverick takes a part-time job with Mr. Wyatt, the local grocer, he’s dismayed by how little money he earns—his first paycheck gives him just enough for diapers and the light bill. This, for Maverick, feels like he’s in an impossible situation. Before Dre died, he desperately wanted Maverick to make “clean money” so he could be a better father to Seven—but that “clean money,” Maverick finds, isn’t enough to actually support his family. Dealing drugs seems like his only option to do more than just survive, given these circumstances.

Concrete Rose suggests that a major reason for this state of affairs is shame and a universal desire for dignity. It’s extremely shameful for Maverick when he goes to a football game with his friends and only has $10 from Ma to buy his ticket and a snack. It’s even worse when he doesn’t have the money to buy his girlfriend Lisa a pregnancy test or pay for her copay at her first prenatal appointment after she confirms her pregnancy. Financial security, the novel shows, allows people to move through the world with dignity, and without having to fear embarrassment when they can’t come up with the money for a necessary expense. But the novel suggests that dignity can come from many sources—including being able to make “clean money.” Though Maverick initially sees his job with Mr. Wyatt as shameful and embarrassing, he eventually realizes that the job can help him accomplish his dream at the end of the novel: becoming an entrepreneur and a small business owner, and ultimately leaving the King Lords. Achieving this goal, he realizes, will mean throwing himself into getting his GED, taking his education seriously, and continuing to work for Mr. Wyatt for far less money than he’d make selling drugs.

However, Concrete Rose also makes it clear that Maverick’s desire to leave the gang, stop selling drugs, and make money legally is perhaps the exception rather than the norm. Indeed, there’s no indication that Maverick’s friends Junie and Rico intend to do anything but move up in the King Lords after they graduate high school. And Maverick’s best friend King—who, like Maverick, has a baby on the way—insists that he has to continue dealing to support his new family. But through King’s reasoning in particular, the novel encourages readers to recognize that Maverick, King, and other gangsters in Garden Heights have very similar goals. They’re all trying to do what’s best for their families—and given the economic situation in Garden Heights, it’s not always possible to do that through legal means.