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Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Dear Martin, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Privilege, Entitlement, and Implicit Bias
Appearances and Assumptions
Support, Acceptance, and Belonging
Opportunity and Upward Mobility
The Media and Public Discourse
Summary
Analysis
“Martin, I think I’m losing it,” Justyce writes in his diary. He goes on to explain a confusing interaction he had with SJ right after they won the debate tournament. When they went backstage, he leaned in to kiss her. “AND SHE TURNED AWAY!” Justyce writes. Pretending to look for Doc, SJ asked if Justyce had seen him, clearly wanting to pretend like nothing happened. In the ensuing hours, she completely avoided Justyce, and she has continued to ignore him ever since. Now he doesn’t know what to do, and he keeps reviewing the situation over and over in his head. No matter how much he thinks about it, though, he can’t figure out why she turned away from him.
Although his relationship with SJ has given him the confidence to talk openly about racism, the support she gives him in this regard is undermined by their complicated relational dynamic. Confused about why she snubbed him, Justyce most likely feels like he can’t actually rely on her in any significant way, since their relationship is no doubt going to be awkward in the aftermath of this strange encounter. As a result, he’s once again left feeling relatively alone and misunderstood.
Themes
