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"Suddenly, I feel so alone in this house. I am surrounded by family, but none of them really knows me or understands what happened to me today. My heart begins to ache for my mother. How could my aunt just leave me in the kitchen-is this how you treat family in America (Zoboi 20)?"

Context:
The speaker of this text is teenage Haitian Fabiola Toussaint, a girl from Haiti that had just moved to Detroit to live with her aunt and cousins. Due to unfortunate circumstances, her mother was forcibly moved to New Jersey because of complications with her visa, forcing Fabiola to go on her own until her cousins came to bring her to their house. After settling in as much as she could without the comfort of their mother, Fabiola receives an extreme culture shock when no one in the house sets anything up to celebrate her arrival. In her Haitian culture, everything was warm, happy and full of food. Her mother would quickly prepare a meal for all the guests to commemorate their arrival, which is the opposite of what happened to Fabiola. She was left in the cold kitchen of her aunt's house to find and make her own meal, which consisted of one slice of processed cheese.

Commentary:
The lack of warmth and welcome in the house is emphasized to showcase the idea that the culture of her family in Detroit is vastly different from the culture in Haiti for Fabiola. Instead of being ecstatic about her arrival, Fabiola's cousins Primadonna, Princess, and Chantal give her a rude awakening when they reveal the fact that Fabiola's mother Valerie has been taken from them and forcibly relocated to New Jersey. She is left on her own to learn and face American culture without her mother, who seems to be the only person who would understand Fabiola, as she struggles to converse with her cousins, who have shortened their names and use curse words frequently, which upsets Fabiola. Left without any welcome words or meals, Fabiola is forced to fend for herself and learn to live like an American, experiencing the differences in culture and facing unfamiliar situations that she has to live through in order to protect herself, her family, and her mother that she has yet to find.

The differences between Fabiola's culture and the Detroit culture she was thrown in show how isolated she is when she is left alone to figure out the things she must do to move forward with her life in America. Being forced to learn the culture of an area so immensely dissimilar to your own leaves a person feeling estranged and confused as to how things should be. This idea is further apparent in Fabiola's thoughts as she stands in the kitchen to find something to eat, noting how alone she feels without her mother and the familiarity of family love.

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"With each braid, with each touch, I begin to know and understand my dear cousins, my sisters from another mother (Zoboi 43)."

Context:
Fabiola felt like a pariah when she was introduced to her cousins living in America with customs and culture that was different from the one she's used to. Because of this difference, she felt like she was alone and unable to reach them. However, the day that Fabiola goes to her first day of American high school with them, Pri, one of her cousins, asks if she can do her hair. Braiding Pri's hair, Fabiola overhears her cousins talking about other issues. Chantal tells Fabiola that she doesn't have to do any work for Pri like a slave while Pri defends herself, claiming that Fabiola chose to do it, which Fabiola agrees with. The conversation continues with Pri asking if their mother and her sister, Fabiola's mother, worked as slaves in Haiti, which unraveled in a whole argument with light insults and laughter, which allowed Fabiola to understand her cousins and their relationship better.

Commentary:
Being able to witness her cousins' banter while they argue about their heritage allows Fabiola to observe and analyze her cousin's behavior and how their relationship with each other works. Developing her understanding of her cousins helps Fabiola mimic and emend it to her own personality in order to permeate herself into the American Detroit culture she lives in, which was something she struggled with and was striving to end the complications. Although she would not agree with many of the things that her cousins do, Fabiola recognizes the need for her cousins to like her so that she can fit in and not painfully stand out as a foreigner. She says it herself that she needs her cousin Pri to like her, so she takes her time in doing Pri's braids in the way that she asked. In doing so, she was in the position to see an interaction between her cousins that included her and made her feel welcomed and a part of their family.

With the newfound inclusion to her cousin's conversation, Fabiola feels as if she is in the position to develop her relationships and understanding of her cousins. She claims that a new bond of trust has formed between her and Pri, the cousin that had asked Fabiola to braid her hair. While braiding, Fabiola claims that the actions are familiar to her as she did the same with her friends in Haiti, and was glad to have been given the trust of her cousin as she did her hair. This series of events highlights the development and progress Fabiola has made in building a familial relationship with one and maybe more of her cousins in Detroit.

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"Pull up a chair, let's have a meal, Shuffle them cards, let's make a deal. I'll give you the key and set you free, Be right here waiting for just a small fee. Beware the lady all dressed in brown. Don't even know her way downtown (Zoboi 83)."

Context:
The speaker of this text is Bad Leg, known as the city hobo. People call him Bad Leg because he has one leg that he cannot use; when he sits on his customary overturned bucket, it sticks out in front of him. Almost every night, he sings songs and recites rhymes but nobody takes him seriously. Anyways, that's until Fabiola hears his songs. Fabiola decides to think of him as Papa Legba the Iwa (Vodou spirit) of the crossroads. Once she hears his song about the lady in brown, she decides to really focus on setting her mother free (after being detained by immigration officers) and Papa Legba will make it happen somehow.

Commentary:
The lack of info Fabiola has on America is really emphasized in this book. Even from the beginning, she was barely able to figure out how to get out of the airport. Now, she's desperate to try to figure out a way to contact her mother and free her from New Jersey, even if that means thinking of a homeless drunk man as some sort of spiritual meaning.

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quote:
"you know shit you do for your family"
{page 104}

context:
kasim is taking fabiola home after going out to eat. they were in the car talking until they get on the topic of kasim's bestfriend dray and how he is towards woman, since dray treats women very bad fabiola was scared that kasim would treat women bad becuase they are friends. kasim reassures her by saying "im nothing like dray" he goes on to say that he's not the perfect person because he sold some weed here and there but that was only to help his mother out with the bills and called it "shit you do for fam" fabiola repeats it and it stays on her mind as she tries to understand what "shit you do for fam" means.

commentary:
kasim tries to show fabiola that when it comes to family you do very dumb things to make sure they are okay, because you love them so much and want to take care of them. kasim's family is not very financially stable, and as anyother kid kasim wanted to help his family out. whilst kasim's bestfriend dray is a drug dealer or what they call a "baller" kasim thought it would be a smart idea and participate in drays way of making money in order to provide for his family. as time went on kasim became more aware of how dangerous it was to do what dray was doing to make money. kasim has also probably done some other bad things to make money for his family, but he now regrets it and knows that it was a bad idea, kasim came to the conclusion that the way that dray was doing it wasn't the only way to make money for his family

the soul fact that kasim was willing to do bad things that could harm people and get him into huge trouble in order to provide some kind of money for his family shows how much love he has for them. knowing that what dray does for "work" is not good kasim still participates in it because he was only worried about getting some money for his family. which further shows kasim's point as when you love your family so much you would do whatever you have to, to make sure that they are straight

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quote:
"even without you here to hold ceremonies with drummers and singers and a village of followers, i will practice everything you taught me."

context:
"manman" which is what fabiola calls her mother, is held back after she and fabiola try to get to their family in detriot she isn't able to get on the plane to detriot and the force her to new jersey to send her back to her home country. fabiola is left in detriot with her cousins while she is left wondering what is happening to her mom. fabiola then writes a letter to her mother wishing to send it, but cannot because she has no idea where she is.

commentary:
fabiola loves and misses her mother so much. to "talk" to her mother she writes her a letter, to which in this letter she says " i will practice everything you taught me" which could mean even though she isn't here she's still going to do everything her mother expected of her. or it could mean that even though her mom isn't here she is not going to stop doing everything that they did, such as praying.

fabiola is very persistent because even though she is no longer with her mother she is still going to do whatever her mother taught her to do. she isn't going to not do what her mother told her just because her mother isn't there.

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"The wind howls around me and I realize how strange this place is with all these little houses, and on most days, I barely see any people. If there was a place like this back in Haiti, everyone would come out and gather on the sidewalk to exchange meals and gossip. No one would be left alone in a tiny house with only their regrets and sorrows to keep them company (Zoboi 110)."

Context
The speaker of this text explains to us that Haiti is nothing like depressing ass Detroit, although it is a third world country, its still richer joy and excitement that the us.

Commentary
I honestly want to see how the homes looks in Haiti compared to the ones in US, she explains how there were more drug dealers and more violence. Drug dealers in Detroit were fake and weren't even half as real as the ones in her country.

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Your commentary is nebulous, Brandon.  Please see the example I gave you and compare your commentary to it.  Also, you may want to ask your book club members for help if you don't understand how to complete the task. Remember I have tutoring on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-7, and I am also available during lunch.

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Great Commentary, Micah! Keep up the good work!

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Good, Uri! I know that you are reading and interacting with the text. You offer good commentary; however, you have a few careless grammatical errors that you would have caught if you edited your writing.

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quote:
"Having money is just room to breathe" {212}

context:
Fabiola has been wondering for a while now as to how her aunt was able to send so much money to her and her mom back in Haiti, but for the period that she has been at her house, she hasn't been to work once. This question is cleared when a man that goes by the name of "Q" shows up at her aunt's house while her aunt isn't home. Since her aunt wasn't home the man talked to her 3 cousins (Chantal, Primadonna, and Princess). After Fabiola overheard that they sold drugs to be financially stable since their father died, she confronted them about it and asked why they decided to sell drugs and what they were going to do to pay the man back. Chantal tried to keep the information at a minimum and just told Fabiola "money is just room to breathe" and tried to leave it at that.

commentary:
I feel what Chantal meant by that is when you have money it's fewer things you have to worry about and it makes many things less stressful for you. For safe instance when you are not financially stable you have to worry about "Oh how am I going to pay for this?" or " How am I going to get that?" but when you are financially stable it's fewer things for you to worry about which makes room for you to breathe. So relating this to their story, I would assume she was saying that it was such a difficult time for them because they were trying to ration out how to spend money and had to make a lot of sacrifices so they can make ends meet, that they were at the point where they were very desperate, and he was offering something that they needed. Once they had money and got everything they needed paid for and worked out they finally had room to breathe.

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"My dress is too tight and too short and I don't want Dray's piercing eyes on me, not even the blue-cap boy's, Kasim. So I pull up the thick collar and cross my arms. I even begin to wish Chantal was here-at least there would be someone to sit next to me. But she has to study. I want to study, too, so I promise myself to stay behind with Chantal the next time my wild twin cousins decide to go to a party (Zoboi 69-70)."

Context:
Fabiola's twin cousins Primadonna (Donna) and Princess (Pri) bring Fabiola to a club to party, something that Fabiola has never experienced before in her difficult but innocent life in Haiti with her mother. Deciding that her usual attire wasn't adequate enough for an event of that caliber, Pri and Donna decide to give Fabiola a makeover to make her look more like the girls at the place they were going to. Chantal, Donna and Pri's older sister, opted out of going in order to study for her college assignments. Agreeing to follow along with her cousins' whims Fabiola found herself in an awkward situation with the dirty (at least to her) club with hot and sweaty people giving her strange looks, which include Donna's boyfriend Dray and Kasim, Dray's friend and an intriguing character.

Commentary:
Going to a club to party is a jarring experience when you have never done so before, even more so when the company that have brought you with them are much more experienced than you are at attending such parties. Fabiola's inexperience leaves her mentally alone at the party as she deals with strangers trying to get to know her in ways she doesn't want. The beating music, scorching heat, and unwanted attention pressure Fabiola-making her wish that she was back at home and not in the unbearable situation that she was put into. Fabiola uses her coat to cover herself while she's in her "too tight and too short" dress, which is an obvious sign of her displeasure at the confining outfit. Dray is Donna's boyfriend and someone who Fabiola dislikes since she believes that Dray is a terrible partner for Donna. He was looking at Fabiola in a way that made her upset. Even Kasim, who was conversing with Fabiola somewhat normally bothered her now. This contrasted with the behavior of Fabiola's cousins, who brought her there because they were the ones who brought Fabiola there in the first place, expecting her to dance and have fun. This contrast clearly differentiates Fabiola from her cousins and all the other people who went to the club who knowingly went because of the things that went on in the club. This variance in character displays Fabiola's displacement, which she agrees with, when she wishes she was at home studying instead of in the club partying.

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Quote:
" suddenly, I feel so alone in this house. I am surrounded by family but none of them really knows me or understands what happened to me today. " {page 20}

Context:
Fabiola just got to her aunt's house after getting off the plane in Detroit without her mother. Her mother was held back by airport security and is being kept in new jersey. Fabiola still goes to Detroit to tell her cousins and aunt what happened to her mother. They tell her that they are going to find a way to get her mother out of there and just go back to normal as if nothing happened. Fabiola is left in the kitchen alone with no clue what to do. She then starts to feel alone even though her family was right there with her.

Commentary:
Even though there was family right there in the same vicinity as her she still feels isolated and alone. She has talked to her cousins many many times over the phone when she was back in Haiti, but now she feels like they are different people.  She sees them in the living laughing and enjoying themselves even after she just told them the bad news, which makes her feel like they don't understand what she is going through. It's almost as if she feels that she is in a house full of strangers, to the sense that she doesn't really know anything about them and they don't really know anything about her. I think she feels isolated/alone because they don't seem to be as worried as she is about what is happening to her mother.

Due to this situation, Fabiola may be getting the feeling of sequestering because she doesn't feel like she belongs in this house and feels out of place. She may even get the feeling that she is a ghost that no one knows is there because no one is really paying attention to her and acting as if nothing happened.

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"'But here, you can actually make a difference. Look, you have your cousins, but you don't have to be loyal to their friends. You don't owe anybody anything, except your promise to your mother, right (Zoboi 92)?'"

Context:
Being left alone after school, Fabiola gets approached by a detective looking for information. Detective Shawna Stevens, as she is introduced, questions Fabiola about her cousin's boyfriend, Dray. The detective asked Fabiola because of her connections to Donna, the cousin whose boyfriend is in question. Dray is suspected of selling a lethal amount of drugs to a white female that has overdosed because of the substances that Dray allegedly sold. Although Fabiola did not currently know anything about Dray and therefore didn't have any information to give, her incentive to find some formed when Detective Stevens offered to get Fabiola's mother, Valerie out of where she was being detained in New Jersey for overstaying her visa's terms.

Commentary:
No one likes being a snitch because it is widely believed that people who share secrets and rat out others will meet a terrible fate. The same applied to Fabiola when Stevens first appears with her request. However, Fabiola desperately wants her mother with her, no matter the cost. Unfortunately, that cost may be her relationship with Donna, who could be extremely hurt if she finds out that Fabiola had spied on Dray in order to get the police to arrest him. It may also cost Fabiola her relationship with Kasim, one of Dray's closest friends and a romantic interest of Fabiola's, who might feel betrayed by Fabiola's actions, especially if her efforts to gain knowledge lead her to unethical methods. With these odds, Fabiola is forced to choose between her love for her mother and the love of her cousin, and maybe boyfriends'. Whichever choice she makes ultimately sacrifices someone's feelings. If she chooses to pursue her mother's freedom, Fabiola loses the trust and love of Donna and Kasim. However, if Fabiola decides to do nothing and keep Dray's business a secret, her mother may stay in New Jersey and Fabiola's own feelings of loneliness and displacement internally tear her apart. The complex situation Fabiola is left with compels her to one love for another.

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"If he can tell me what I need to know about Dray, maybe Kasim will finally be the key that will help me pull my mother through to this side. I don't ask any more questions-instead, right before Kasim pushes the button to start the car, I pull him on the sleeve of his coat, lean over, and kiss him on the cheek (Zoboi 146)."

Context:
Fabiola's mother was forcibly relocated to a holding site in New Jersey, where she is being detained for overstaying her visa. Although her papers were valid, she had previously overstayed her visa and the government thinks that she might do so again. This is the situation that Detective Shawna recapitulates to Fabiola as the Detective approaches Fabiola to ask for information about Dray, Donna's boyfriend. Dray is Kasim's friend. Kasim is a love interest of Fabiola, someone whom she believes she would want to date. Because of this circumstance, Fabiola finds herself in a situation where she may be able to get information about Dray to give to the detective.

Commentary:
As well as being romantically interested in Kasim, Fabiola also sees Kasim as an asset that can bring her closer to Dray and in turn, her mother. Since the detective has some influence over her mother's situation and has the ability to get her out of the facility she is being held in, Fabiola finds that her relationship with Kasim is of use to her in more ways than one. By growing companionship and a romantic relationship with Kasim, Fabiola will inevitably cross paths with Dray on multiple occasions and learn more about him and any illegal operations that he may be a part of. Through this connection created by her companionship with Kasim, who considers Dray to be like a brother to him, Fabiola would be able to know of Dray's whereabouts and report them to the detective that she was in contact with.

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"I hate him. I hate what he can do to my cousin. I hate that he is friends with a boy I'm beginning to like. I hate that he sells drugs that make people die. The detective's words ring in my ears-all she needed was information-the time and place of a party. If I can give her that, then maybe I can get this terrible man out of my cousin's life for good and get my mother back (Zoboi 132)."

Context:
Fabiola sees Dray as a terrible person with large connections. She suspects that he hits Donna, Fabiola's cousin, which makes her angry. She is even more frustrated because she wants to hate someone whom Kasim, the boy that she likes, is like a brother to. A detective approached Fabiola, searching for information about Dray for an investigation. Although hesitant at first, Fabiola strengthens her resolve to snitch on Dray after she finds out that he does actually hit Donna, and she is powerless against him because she always forgives him after.

Commentary:
Although love is powerful, it is not always positive. In this case, it is the fuel for vengeance and hate. Fabiola's love for her cousin and her mother causes her to hate Dray and his actions, which makes it easier for her to expose his illegal operations at the expense of Fabiola's relationship between her cousin and Kasim. Fabiola allows her love for her cousin and affection for this boy as a motivator to put Dray behind bars for the things that he has done, which is continuously exacerbated by the unsettling things that he does to other people and Donna, which Fabiola does not approve of.
Love is a powerful motivator that convinces people to do the wildest things beyond what is expected of them. Sometimes it leads people to do good things, bad, and indiscernibly moral decisions. Although torn between trying to figure out who to hurt and who to spare, Fabiola's resolution to protect her family and bring back her mother utilizes her love for them to fuel her courage as she takes on this burdensome action.

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quote:
"he bought me a diamond necklace and took me shopping. And it's been D&D all along. dungeons and dragons. sometimes we fight each other, but he fights for me and I fight for him."
{page 134}

context:
the protagonist is telling us primadonna's (Donna for short) story. She tells us why Donna loves Dray so much and why she forgives and goes back to him every single time he does something bad to her. He has always taken care of Donna. No matter what. Even when they were broken up for a few months and he had other girlfriends, he always made sure Donna was straight. And the time one of her mother's friends was sexualizing her even though she was at a young age when Dray found out he was the one that made sure the creep paid for it. The story ends with Donna saying "He bought me a diamond necklace and took me shopping. And it's been D&D all along. dungeons and dragons. sometimes we fight each other, but he fights for me and I fight for him."

commentary:
Donna and Dray are a very toxic couple, especially Dray. He has done many things with other girls he knew would get donna very upset. Sometimes he even hits her and screams at her. However, through all this donna has still decided to give her love and to keep forgiving him. Because of this, I start to wonder, how much power does love have over a person? Love is so powerful to the point that Donna allows herself to be mistreated and disrespected. Even though Dray doesn't treat her well she still gives her love to him and continues to be loyal to him. Dray "apologies" to Donna by buying her something expensive or helping her with something she really needs. To me, this shows that love has a very strong power over people, because if this was a random person or just someone she talked to here and there she wouldn't be so forgiving so easily. But because she loves dray so much she becomes very forgiving and allows herself to move past it.

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quote:
"hush little baby
Don't say a word
Papas gonna release your little jailbird"
{page-149}

context:
Fabiola (the protagonist) doesn't want to go to school so she decides to lie that her stomach hurts really bad so her aunt allows her to stay home from school. When her cousins leave for school she decides to go make herself some tea and she starts to think about how it would have been if they allowed her mother to come to Detroit. Once she is done making the tea she goes to the room and plops down on Chantal's bed, she's there for a little until she hears that someone is singing the lyrics "hush little baby Don't say a word, Papas gonna release your little jailbird" outside of the window. When she looks outside the window she sees it is papa legba, more commonly known as bad leg

commentary:
Using what I know already about the book, I know that her mother is currently in jail. And considering Fabiola sees this "bad leg" guy as one of her gods that she prays to (papa legba) it makes me assume that he is saying that he is going to get her mother out of jail. Fabiola has been praying a whole lot to the gods to help get her mother out of jail, this little message from bad leg could be his way of telling Fabiola that he can and will help her get her mother out of jail. After hearing something like this it could give Fabiola a sense of hope because she's probably thinking her mother will be released from jail and is able to see Fabiola again.

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"I quickly turn away, afraid to see any hurt in Kasim's eyes. I almost don't want to be with him here; I'm in battle. There's no room for love in this war (Zoboi 183)."

Context:
Fabiola and Donna attend a party hosted by Dray. Kasim is at this party too and went with Dray to pick the girls up, confused by Fabiolas' makeover at the request of Donna. At this time, Fabiola and Kasim are dating, at a comfortable stage of happiness and sweet moments while Fabiolas' hatred for Dray grows. At the salon where she and Donna were getting their weaves installed, Fabiola resolved to become a weapon like the Iwa "Ezili-Danto," a vengeful goddess who wields a dagger to avenge wronged women. Believing that Dray has deeply wronged Donna, Fabiola sets out to take Dray down by exposing his illegal activities to her Detective contact.

Commentary:
The conflict between Fabiola's war with Dray and her affections for Kasim draws the lines that show the extent of the two. Fabiola's anger and resentment towards Dray serve as motivations for her orchestrating his downfall. Fabiola creates a plan to carry out so that everyone she loves gets the ending that she believes is the best for everyone. Fabiola gets her mother, Donna and Kasim would be free of Dray's toxic clutches, and the Detective would be able to get her case solved. However, this war harbored by Fabiola between her and Dray does not include Kasim's feelings about the two of them. Although it was unfavorable to have him mixed up in Fabiola's business, no force of love could stop the war she waged on Donna's boyfriend.
War is messy, and love is even messier. It becomes extremely complicated when both interlap and threaten to crush the person in between the two unable to choose one. Although Fabiola was able to rationally prioritize her prior goals, it will still be difficult for her to maintain her relationships with the ones she loves and win the war she wishes to be over.

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"I am two sides of the same coin. Ezili has made all of me like honey-sweet, sticky, and oozing under Kasim's hold. But Eizili-Danto has lit a fire inside of me-with rage in my heart and a dagger in my hand, I want nothing more than to slice away this sore named Dray so I can free Donna and get my mother back (Zoboi 187)."

Context:
At a party Fabiola, Donna, Dray, and Kasim were at, tensions ran high between Fabiola and Dray. Picking up on her discomfort, Kasim offers to take Fabiola out of the party and drive the two of them somewhere else to have fun together. After allowing Dray to look at her for a while to make him interested so that she may have the means to talk to him in the future, Fabiola leaves the party, thinking of the crossroads of love and war she was left with, reminding herself of the gods she follows.

Commentary:
Through the writing styles and brief descriptions of how Dray would look at Fabiola a little too long, it could be inferred that he is interested in Fabiola in a way that would disgust her. However, Fabiola needs his interest in order to get information so that she may expose him to the Detective and allow her to bust into Dray's illegal, drug-selling operations. Fabiola wishes for nothing more than for Dray to disappear from her life and the lives of her loved ones, but they also harbor affections for Dray as well, complicating her own plans.
Fabiola's character displays duplicity as stated when she refers to herself as "two sides of the same coin," confessing that she realizes the complete 180 she forces upon herself to achieve her goals. One side is the doting, harmless, but brave teenage girl from Haiti that was able to get a caring and loving boyfriend, the other side a cunning and strict warrior fiercely doing anything as long as she attains her goals.

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"'You got me,' he says. 'I got you what?' I ask...he motions as if he's grabbing something and then gives it over to me. 'Here,' he says. 'It's yours.' Slowly, I take his invisible heart and hold it close to mine. I hug it...We hold hands until he has to make a left turn down Joy Road (Zoboi 200)."

Context:
Fabiola had just publicly claimed Kasim as "her man." By fighting off another girl that was trying to get Kasim to date her, Fabiola had declared that they were dating. A while after, Fabiola was being driven by Kasim to get to her house from the school. After hearing about the business that went down between Fabiola and the other girl, Kasim asks Fabiola what happened in the car, to which she confesses that she "claimed" him. This made Kasim happy, yelling in the streets that Fabiola was his as well, in addition to giving her his "heart."

Commentary:
Being a girl from an impoverished Haiti, Fabiola herself has confessed that she didn't get much interaction with other boys in the romantic sense. However, this is the opposite of what Fabiola narrates through her inner monologue when it comes to Kasim, her boyfriend. When they had first met, Fabiola was very uncomfortable being around anyone including him. Fortunately, this changes and she describes her feelings about him with happy, soft, and sweet-sounding words that highlight the stark contrast to how she was before. The fact that she was openly cherishing Kasim's saccharine display of affection shows that she cares for him just as much as he does her, trusting her enough to hand her his figurative heart. The development in their relationship has transcended the usual fluffy feelings and chaste kisses, but meaningful moments and clear declarations of affection, which can indicate the start of love.

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Internal conflict-> External conflict  (04/29)

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Internal conflict-> External conflict  (04/29)

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Quote:
there is a Drayton (dray) acts the way he acts and shows in the chapter "Drayton's story".

Context:
In this book, Drayton is not a very good person to literally everyone. He is very disrespectful to his girlfriend by flirting with other girls, talking to her in a very rude manner, and consistently hurting her...physically. He is always manipulating people into doing what he wants, or so they can get into some kind of trouble. Drayton is also like a drug dealer, he claims he sells drugs to help his moms out because she wasn't the best when it came to being financially stable.

Commentary:
The book offers the readers a background on Drayton (formally known as dray) in this part of the book they show us how he grew up and why he is the way he is. From a young age, Drayton didn't care about dying, when people would threaten his life he would always laugh about it and say he would come back when he's gone. Then at the age of 10 years old his uncle, "Q" put a gun in his hand and told him to aim at a guy with a Detroit Tigers cap. Since Drayton was so young his aim wasn't that great... he missed the guy with the tiger cap and ended up shooting Phillip the uncle of Fabiola. Since then Dray spent a lot of his time trying to prove to his uncle "Q" that he is a "G".

Killing an innocent person at the age of 10 is a lot of trauma... Then train yourself to be "hood" and "gangster" to prove to someone you look up to that you are worthy, which could be the reason why he acts the way he acts. He has trained himself so much to the point it just comes naturally to literally anyone he wants/talks to, and it makes him a real jerk.

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"My whole body sinks onto her bed, still with her comb in my hand and with the scent of cigarette smoke, alcohol, sweat, pain, and grief on the tips of my fingers." (Zoboi 166)

Context:
Fabiola's aunt is staring to break down, mentally and physically. She's having to take strong medication just to deal with the physical pain, and she drinks bottles of alcohol to deal with her grief. She needed her sister, but the ended up with Fabiola.

Commentary:
The way Matant Jo talks and treats her niece is very toxic. She swears often, throws objects whenever she even tries to speak to her, and doesnt even feed her. I understand shes also in a lot of pain, having three daughters that do basically nothing for her, and her husband is dead. She needed her sister to be there for her. Shes broken now.

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Quote:
"My two paths meet at this corner, and it seems like I have to choose one. One street represents a future. The other leads to a different kind of life."

context:
Fabiola is in her cousin's room and she is overthinking what Kasim told her, "s*** you do for fam." As she's overthinking she decides to go talk to papa jegba (formally known as bad leg) so she can ask him for guidance. When she asks him he starts singing a little song about crossroads and cross-paths. This made Fabiola look around her and the intersection she was at. On one side of the street, there were beautiful houses lined up with some empty spaces. On the other side of the street, there were houses with a lot of empty lots, which she thinks can mean endless possibilities or dark empty hope. She starts to think that one path is her future and one represents a different kind of life.

commentary:
I think that Fabiola is having a hard time choosing what kind of life she wants to have. Considering when she was using the two streets as representations of her life she said "papa legba the keeper of the crossroads, he will help me decide," also while looking at the timeline it leads me to assume that one of the streets represents her life with Kasim. The reason why I think this is because she said "it could be endless possibilities or dark empty hope," meaning she has no idea how the relationship with Kasim is going to go. I also think the other street represents her life with her mom. When she was describing the streets she pointed out how people in Haiti would love this street because of all the houses right next to each other, and the empty lots. Since she and her mother are from Haiti it makes me assume that she is saying that her mother would love this street.

What I'm saying is, Fabiola is having a hard time trying to figure out what she wants her life to be like after hearing Kasim say "s*** you do for fam," she doesn't know if she wants to live a life with Kasim and not know what the outcome would be, not know if it would be life with endless possibilities or a life with heartbreak and darkness. Or if she wants a life where she has her mother back and is living the life she has wanted since she got there.

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"Stevens said that the club was a good start, but she needed more information that will put Dray and his drugs at that party in Grosse Pointe. I have to be like Papa Legba now- the trickster. So I will wear the costume say the right things, and play the game to get what I need."

Context:
A detective had approached Fabiola and offered her the chance to release her mother from ICE. However, she'll have to help Detective Stevens catch Dray, Donna's bf. He's known for selling large amounts of illegal drugs and violence.

Commentary:

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Quote:
"I am two sides of a coin, one side Ezili, and the other side Ezili-Danto"

Context:
Fabiola is trying to be strong and a fierce young woman so she can take down Dray. At this moment she refers to herself as Ezili-Danto, which in her religion is a fierce lady. However, she is with Kasim and he is treating her so well and it makes her feel soft and vulnerable. Since she felt like this swell she said that she was Ezili, which in her religion is a calm, kind, and sweet woman.

Commentary:
I think what she meant by being two sides of a coin is, when she needs to be fierce and an HBIC she will "channel" the Ezili-Danto. However, because she is both sides of the coin whenever she wants to needs to feel vulnerable, kind, sweet, and soft she will "channel" the Ezili inside her. I think this is very important because it shows people that you don't have to have just one side of yourself. You don't always have to hold on to one title, just like Fabiola you are able to switch from one title/feeling to the next depending on who you are talking with and depending on what the situation is.

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Quote:
"How is this supposed to be the good life,When even the air in this place threatens to wrap its fingers around my throat"

Context:
Fabiola is in the goes into the kitchen in the middle of the night and sees Donna standing in front of the fridge with an ice pack on her face. Fabiola asks her whats wrong and what happened  and Donna says that dray had hit her again. Fabiola feels bad for her and hugs her, she tells her that she has the battle scars of Ezili-Danto but the heart of Ezili- a lover. As Fabiola is hugging her she realizes all the pain that her cousins, her aunt, and her mother is going through. She doesn't understand how this can be a good life?

commentary:
I think what Fabiola meant by the quote is, her and her mother left Haiti to come to Detroit for a better life. However ever since she has been down there it has been nothing but pain and suffering. How is she supposed to live a good life with her mom when it feels like the problems and pain in this city are just bombarding you? She feels as if she has no escape, considering she said "wrap its fingers around my throat" it makes me assume that she is saying that she can't breathe or she can't catch a break from all the pain that her family is going through. Fabiola wants her mother to come home, but she doesn't want her to come back to her with all this chaos and problems going on around her. She wants her and her mother to live a "good life" like promised when they moved from Haiti.

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"I want to spit the marijuana from my breath and the taste of Dray from my lips. But I swallow and let them fill my body as if I've just eaten his soul. Before Kasim turns to see me, I whisper to myself, 'Sh*t you do for fam(Zoboi 269).'"

Context:
In order to get her mother back from the American authorities that have detained her, Fabiola makes a deal with a detective to find a way to release Fabiola's mom. For the detective to find a way to get Fabiola's mom out of the holding place, Fabiola must expose the illegal drug selling that Dray, Fabiola's cousin Donna's boyfriend and Kasim's best friend, has done and is a part of. To convince Dray to go out in public and hand out the drugs himself, Fabiola seduces him to get him to agree to give her a part of the money so that she may connect him to drug dealers from Haiti, a cover-up story Fabiola made to make the convincing easier.

Commentary:
Fabiola utilizes Dray's interest in her as a way to gain power over the situation and an asset that may help her set her mother free. When it comes to finding a way to save her mother, Fabiola's thinking lessens and her vision focuses, becoming desperate to do whatever she must to get her mother released from the place she's being detained. Even if that thing she finds she must do is to attempt to seduce the person she hates most. Through smoking weed, letting him touch her, and kissing Dray, Fabiola gets him to agree to make a deal with her that puts Dray in a position where he has to sell drugs personally in a certain place, which is one that Fabiola could report to the detective and get him arrested. Her seduction gave her power through the forced attention she brought to herself, giving her the means to achieve her goals and attain leverage to get her mother back.

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quote:
"Money here is like rain drops. If you try to contain it with wide hands and fingers spread, it slips through. If you try to catch it with your hands cupped, it over flows."
{page 320}

context:
Fabiola is waiting near a supermarket and a black car rolls up next to her. As the windows roll down she notices that it is Detective Stevens. She tells Fabiola to get into the car because she has something for her. First Fabiola refuses to get into the car but eventually gives in and decides to get into the car with Detective Stevens so she can find out what she had for her. When Fabiola gets into the car, Detective Stevens gives her a yellow envelope. This envelope contains money and a woman's name from ICE to whom we assume is Fabiola's mother. Ever since that day Fabiola has been very superstitious about money. As she is now out of the car and standing in the rain she tilts her head back and finds how similar the flow of rain and the flow of Money is.

commentary:
I think what Fabiola could have meant by this is that you have to be very careful with how you handle your money and very cautious about what could happen. She is basically saying that if you handle money very carelessly. Such as spending it anywhere or wherever you want or feel in that Moment, you will lose a whole lot more than you were anticipating. You won't really have much left over to pay for things you will actually need. However if you are too careful to the point where you barley spend money and you save almost all your money, it may start to become too much. Many things can happen when you have too much money, I feel the most thing that happens is that people will try to use you or will only be there for you just to get some type of money out of you. Also sometimes having so much money can be overwhelming because you may feel like you need to spend some of it on somethings but you have no idea what to spend it on. Then you start spending money on very useless things that you really don't need. Fabiola is basically saying you have to be more smarter on how you manage your money, be smarter on what and how you spend your money. Instead of catching the water with your hands... try to catch it with a bucket of some sort.

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quote:
"I am not a pebble in an alley. I am a mountain."
{page 324}

context:
It's the end of the book and we find out that Fabiola's mother is finally getting released from ICE. Fabiola and her cousins Donna, Pri, Chantal, and her aunt Marjorie have all decided to move out of the house they have been living in since the cousins were kids because of the haunting things that have taken place there. Fabiola is looking out the car window as they are driving out of Michigan and she starts to compare where she came from (Haiti) and Michigan. She says that Michigan has wide free roads as if there are no limits to dreams here, whereas in Haiti which means "the land of many mountains" the roads stretch as far as she can see. She then says everyone here in America is tall and mighty just like mountains.

commentary:
I feel what Fabiola meant by this is that she is now an American and that she has the ability to have endless dreams. She Is realizing how strong she is and how much she is capable of. She single-handedly got her mother away from ICE so she is seeing how strong and mighty she is, just like a mountain. At the beginning of the book she felt like she didn't belong, everything was so different in Michigan and she had no idea what half the things here meant. However, now that she has been through what she has been through she now feels she can stand tall in America she can walk around with might on her shoulders, she is no longer a small pebble and has turned into a tall mighty mountain

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"...I become undone. So I cry and scream and hold my belly as if I am giving birth to all the misery and pain that has ever walked the earth. (Zoboi 299)."

Context:
After reporting the place where Dray would be to sell drugs to Detective Stevens, Fabiola had thought the worse was over, and soon she would be reunited with her mother. Soon, the day of the party arrived and Fabiola waited at her house for Kasim to come over for a party at her cousin's house. Through text, Kasim, her boyfriend, notified her, telling her that he wouldn't be able to be there on time because he had "business to take care of." Knowing the perilous situation he would be in if he went to the drug-selling site with Dray that Fabiola had just exposed, she rushes over to the scene to find Kasim's dead body covered in a white sheet. He was killed by an officer who affiliated him with the other drug-dealers.

Commentary:

Fabiola's love for her mother convinces her to make every hasty decision without thinking through it. Unfortunately, this leads to an unprecedented pain like no other, the pain of losing a lover. In order to help free her mother from the government holding her, Fabiola decides to snitch on Dray for selling drugs regardless of his close friendship with Kasim. It was not expected that this choice would put everyone in danger when Kasim decides to help Dray with selling. When the deal goes bad because of Fabiola's actions, her lack of foresight made her too late to warn Kasim of the tragedy that was about to unfold. Unfortunately, Kasim was killed before Fabiola could find him. His death shakes her, forcing her to realize that her actions was the cause of his death, even when it wasn’t intended. Fabiola’s heart shattering is the realization that her love for her mother blinds her of the ability to think situations through. The severe consequence of this demanded the ultimate price--the life of another.

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"They know our story--the Three Bees. No. The Four Bees. Chantal is Brains. Donna is Beauty. Pri is Brawn. I am Brave. No one has to tell me this. I know it for myself (Zoboi 317)."

Context:
After the death of Kasim and Dray, Fabiola and her cousins were more unified than ever. Fabiola had taken up the mantle of being the "Fourth Bee." Together they shelter and save themselves from the racial injustice bomb Kasim's name was roped into. Even with the chaos of her teachers knowing the things happening, classmates pitying her, and other public actions that are assaults on her memory of Kasim, Fabiola holds herself together and cooperates with the people who wish to talk to her about it.

Commentary:
Previously, Fabiola had been distanced from her cousins due to their difference in culture and opinions. She had even refused to be called the "Fourth Bee" in front of her friends, which is a direct contrast to what she had stated above. Fabiola's acknowledgement and acceptance of her role reflects her feelings of being fully accepted as family with her cousins. She refers to herself as the Brave one because of her experiences in dealing with the whole ordeal of trying to get her mother back. With facing the temporary loss of her mother, the death of her loved one, and even the possibility of her own death, Fabiola strengthens her bond with her cousins as they stick with her through it. Even through the conflicting roles and feelings as Fabiola's actions might have pushed the cousins away, its effect was the opposite and pulls them closer instead. This further pushes her to accept her role as the Fourth Bee.

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"He might be Baron Samedi, guardian of the cemetery, but he is digging his own grave, and all I have to d is push him in."

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Very insightful commentary, Micah!

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Great commentary, Uri!!!

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You didn't complete the assignment, Brandon. Your dad is an English teacher--Ask for help. I am also available during lunch and nutrition. I know you can do better than this.