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Officer Tommy Castillo
Tay is Quan’s counselor while he’s in prison. She’s a Black woman and is much easier for Quan to connect with than his last white counselor was. This is in part because she seems genuinely interested in helping Quan process his emotions and learn coping mechanisms to get him through his episodes. These episodes, Tay realizes, are actually panic attacks and are the result of clinical anxiety and PTSD. She also identifies Quan’s sleep paralysis (nightmares from which Quan can’t wake up). Her willingness to diagnose all of this impresses upon Quan that Tay actually cares about him and empathizes with his situation.
Tay Quotes in Dear Justyce
The Dear Justyce quotes below are all either spoken by Tay or refer to Tay. 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 11: Debt
Quotes
What if it wasn’t me? What if it was a kid
LIKE you? One with your exact history?
Quan had to think then. But not for long. Because that answer was obvious too. “I’d still invest.”
Invest what?
“Time. Energy. Resources...” The next word shocked him as it popped off his tongue; it bounced around the room in an echo-ish way the others hadn’t: “Belief.”
Belief?
“Yeah. Everyone should have somebody who believes in ‘em. Like no matter what they’ve done. Somebody who won’t give up on them.”
Then:
“No strings attached.”
He did get the point then. HE was willing to do for someone else what was being done for him. At no cost and with no strings. It was the right thing to do.
Period.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Dear Justyce LitChart as a printable PDF.
Tay Quotes in Dear Justyce
The Dear Justyce quotes below are all either spoken by Tay or refer to Tay. 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 11: Debt
Quotes
What if it wasn’t me? What if it was a kid
LIKE you? One with your exact history?
Quan had to think then. But not for long. Because that answer was obvious too. “I’d still invest.”
Invest what?
“Time. Energy. Resources...” The next word shocked him as it popped off his tongue; it bounced around the room in an echo-ish way the others hadn’t: “Belief.”
Belief?
“Yeah. Everyone should have somebody who believes in ‘em. Like no matter what they’ve done. Somebody who won’t give up on them.”
Then:
“No strings attached.”
He did get the point then. HE was willing to do for someone else what was being done for him. At no cost and with no strings. It was the right thing to do.
Period.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
