LaTisha Jones Character Analysis

LaTisha is Carole’s childhood best friend. Unbeknownst to LaTisha, Trey and some of his friends sexually assault Carole at a house party that LaTisha throws in year nine. In a tragic twist of fate, Tray later assaults LaTisha, too, and she becomes pregnant with her third child, Jordan. LaTisha has a happy and secure childhood, but this changes after her father, Glenmore Jones, abandons the family for another secret family. LaTisha loves her father deeply, and his sudden departure causes her to act out at school and at home. Carole, her teachers, and even her own mother all view LaTisha as a stereotypical “ghetto” girl destined for teen pregnancy, drug addiction, and poverty, and as a result, they leave her to fend for herself. LaTisha’s story reveals how racists stereotypes can become self-fulfilling prophecies. Without guidance or support, LaTisha gets pregnant at 18. At the novel’s present, LaTisha is almost 30. She is a single mother to three children, all from different and entirely absent fathers, and she works as a manager at a grocery store. She’s ready to turn her life around and is reinventing herself as the “New LaTisha.” When her father suddenly reappears and begs his family to take him back, LaTisha disregards her own hurt for the sake of her youngest who, lacking a father figure, has begun to rebel just like LaTisha did when she was younger. In this way, LaTisha aspires to help her children break the cycle of oppression.