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Carmen
Primo’s girlfriend and sister to Carmen (Caesar’s girlfriend). When she gets pregnant, she is thrilled because it gives her “a romantic escape,” something to care and hope for when her life is otherwise miserable. She eventually kicks Primo out of her apartment when he cheats on her, although they maintain a good relationship in the years after—he sends her child support money and tries to support her and their son when she moves to Connecticut with Carmen and Caesar.
Maria Quotes in In Search of Respect
The In Search of Respect quotes below are all either spoken by Maria or refer to Maria. 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:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
Primo, Benzie, Maria, and everyone else around that night had never been tête-a-tête with a friendly white before, so it was with a sense of relief that they saw I hung out with them out of genuine interest rather than to obtain drugs or engage in some other act of perdición. The only whites they had ever seen at such close quarters had been school principals, policemen, parole officers, and angry bosses. Even their schoolteachers and social workers were largely African-American and Puerto Rican. Despite his obvious fear, Primo could not hide his curiosity. As he confided in me several months later, he had always wanted a chance to “conversate” with an actual live representative of mainstream, “drug-free” white America.
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Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire In Search of Respect LitChart as a printable PDF.
Maria Quotes in In Search of Respect
The In Search of Respect quotes below are all either spoken by Maria or refer to Maria. 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:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
Primo, Benzie, Maria, and everyone else around that night had never been tête-a-tête with a friendly white before, so it was with a sense of relief that they saw I hung out with them out of genuine interest rather than to obtain drugs or engage in some other act of perdición. The only whites they had ever seen at such close quarters had been school principals, policemen, parole officers, and angry bosses. Even their schoolteachers and social workers were largely African-American and Puerto Rican. Despite his obvious fear, Primo could not hide his curiosity. As he confided in me several months later, he had always wanted a chance to “conversate” with an actual live representative of mainstream, “drug-free” white America.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
