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Asha (The Older Sudanese Woman)
Harlem Jones is the eponymous main character of “Harlem Jones.” Harlem lives in London with Harlem’s mum, a first-generation Trinidadian immigrant, and with his older brother Lloyd (though Lloyd is in prison at the novel’s present). Like many of London’s Black youths, Harlem is fed up with the police brutality and racial injustices that disproportionately affect Black people in London. But he’s also scared that he could be the next victim of this institutionalized violence. At the beginning of the story, Harlem can’t stop thinking about Mark Duggan, a Black British man whom Tottenham police shot and killed in 2011 (and whose death caused protests and violence to break out across England in what came to be known as the 2011 England Riots). At the beginning of the story, the police confront Harlem at his home following a heated altercation between Harlem and a woman at the job office. Harlem’s mum gets the police to leave, but she condemns Harlem’s “delinquent” behavior and disapproves of Harlem’s anger. She thinks that he (and the younger generation of Black youths in general) doesn’t appreciate the sacrifices that she (and other immigrant parents like herself) has made to ensure that her children can have a better future. But Harlem, his friend Toby, and other Black youths are fed up with attitudes like this and feel that outrage and even physical violence may be the only ways to bring about real, lasting systemic change. The story’s climax occurs after Harlem and Toby have made their way to Tottenham, where protests have broken out in response to Mark Duggan’s death. They set off Molotov cocktails, at which point the formerly peaceful protest turns violent.
Harlem Jones Quotes in Foreign Soil
The Foreign Soil quotes below are all either spoken by Harlem Jones or refer to Harlem 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:
).
Harlem Jones
Quotes
Harlem can’t look at her. She makes him too fuckin’ irate. She always dumps on his dad whenever Harlem does anything wrong. Ten years since the man pissed off, and she still can’t stop slagging on him. Harlem flexes his trembling fingers. He wants to fuckin’ strangle her, his own mother, who gave birth to him. Really strangle the woman. He wants to wrap his fingers firmly around that fat neck and squeeze until her face goes purple.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Harlem flicks the lighter on with his thumb, holds the flame up in front of his face. “My name,” he says, “is not son. My name, my fuckin’ name, is Harlem fuckin’ Jones.” Holding the neck of the Molotov, he touches the flame to it and quickly pulls back his arm.
The Sukiyaki Book Club
Quotes
This story is not going to be sent out, in any case. Most likely never even completed. Certainly not published and read. Because Avery is hanging upside down, and it will all end in tragedy. The only way down is for a scared little girl to hurt herself. I do not know how to rescue Avery gently.
Get the entire Foreign Soil LitChart as a printable PDF.
Harlem Jones Quotes in Foreign Soil
The Foreign Soil quotes below are all either spoken by Harlem Jones or refer to Harlem 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:
).
Harlem Jones
Quotes
Harlem can’t look at her. She makes him too fuckin’ irate. She always dumps on his dad whenever Harlem does anything wrong. Ten years since the man pissed off, and she still can’t stop slagging on him. Harlem flexes his trembling fingers. He wants to fuckin’ strangle her, his own mother, who gave birth to him. Really strangle the woman. He wants to wrap his fingers firmly around that fat neck and squeeze until her face goes purple.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Harlem flicks the lighter on with his thumb, holds the flame up in front of his face. “My name,” he says, “is not son. My name, my fuckin’ name, is Harlem fuckin’ Jones.” Holding the neck of the Molotov, he touches the flame to it and quickly pulls back his arm.
The Sukiyaki Book Club
Quotes
This story is not going to be sent out, in any case. Most likely never even completed. Certainly not published and read. Because Avery is hanging upside down, and it will all end in tragedy. The only way down is for a scared little girl to hurt herself. I do not know how to rescue Avery gently.
