Erasure

by

Percival Everett

Tamika Jones is a young Black mother whom Monk chats with in the waiting room of Lisa’s clinic. They start chatting about literature after Tamika overhears that Monk is a novelist. Tamika’s insight surprises Monk, and he feels ashamed to admit that he assumed, based on her appearance, that she would be stupid.

Tamika Jones Quotes in Erasure

The Erasure quotes below are all either spoken by Tamika Jones or refer to Tamika Jones. 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:
Race and Identity  Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

“Have you gone to college?” I asked.

The girl laughed.

“Don’t laugh,” I said. “I think you’re really smart. You should at least try.”

“I didn’t even finish high school.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I scratched my head and looked at the other faces in the room. I felt an inch tall because I had expected this young woman with the blue fingernails to be a certain way, to be slow and stupid, but she was neither. I was the stupid one.

Related Characters: Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (speaker), Tamika Jones (speaker), Lisa, Father
Page Number: 21
Explanation and Analysis:
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Erasure PDF

Tamika Jones Quotes in Erasure

The Erasure quotes below are all either spoken by Tamika Jones or refer to Tamika Jones. 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:
Race and Identity  Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

“Have you gone to college?” I asked.

The girl laughed.

“Don’t laugh,” I said. “I think you’re really smart. You should at least try.”

“I didn’t even finish high school.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I scratched my head and looked at the other faces in the room. I felt an inch tall because I had expected this young woman with the blue fingernails to be a certain way, to be slow and stupid, but she was neither. I was the stupid one.

Related Characters: Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (speaker), Tamika Jones (speaker), Lisa, Father
Page Number: 21
Explanation and Analysis: