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The hooded sweatshirt Justyce wears in the first scene of Dear Martin comes to represent the fact that some police officers jump to conclusions about young black men based on their appearances. Shortly after Officer Castillo violently throws Justyce to the ground, he says, “I knew your punk ass was up to no good when I saw you walking down the road with that goddamn hood on.” This illustrates the extent to which Castillo has imbued Justyce’s hoodie with meaning, referencing it as a sign that Justyce is “up to no good.” Of course, the sweatshirt itself is from Justyce’s prestigious preparatory school and thus marks him not as a troubled criminal, but as high-achieving young man. Nevertheless, Castillo assumes that any young black man wearing a hoodie at night is a “punk,” so he doesn’t even stop to entertain the idea that Justyce is innocent. In this way, the hoodie stands for the biases and assumptions Justyce has to deal with simply because of the way he looks.
The Hoodie Quotes in Dear Martin
The Dear Martin quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Hoodie. 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 1
Quotes
“Officer, this is a big misundersta—’’ he starts to say, but he doesn’t get to finish because the officer hits him in the face.
“Don’t you say shit to me, you son of a bitch. I knew your punk ass was up to no good when I saw you walking down the road with that goddamn hood on.”
So the hood was a bad idea. Earbuds too. Probably would’ve noticed he was being trailed without them. “But, Officer, I—”
“You keep your mouth shut.” The cop squats and gets right in Justyce’s face. “I know your kind; punks like you wander the streets of nice neighborhoods searching for prey. Just couldn’t resist the pretty white girl who’d locked her keys in her car, could ya?”
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Dear Martin LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Hoodie Symbol Timeline in Dear Martin
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Hoodie appears in Dear Martin. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...and put her in the backseat. As he does so, she throws up on his sweatshirt, a “hoodie” he borrowed from Manny that is branded with the name of their prestigious...
(full context)
...the doorframe. Once he’s pulled from the car, he finds himself slammed face-down onto the hood while the officer handcuffs him. “It hits him: Melo’s drunk beyond belief in the backseat...
(full context)
August 25
...a good deed” by helping Melo. However, Officer Castillo thought he looked “menacing” in his sweatshirt, so he arrested him. When Mr. Taylor—Melo’s father, who’s a black man and a former...
(full context)
