Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s depiction of racism and racial discrimination.

“I admit it. I’ve been scared shitless lots of times. But I was never as shook as when the gun in Eddie’s hand went off. It thundered inside the car like the whole world was coming to an end.”

The opening lines set the tone for the novel and put the reader right in the middle of the conflict. The use of attention-grabbing words like “gun” and “thundered” create suspense and heighten the stakes. The colloquial language (“scared shitless” and “shook”) introduces the teenage narrator’s voice and conversational manner of speaking. Additionally, the novel opens with the words “I admit it”—a foreshadowing of Marcus’s later admission of guilt.

“Kids who are different colors don't get to be that tight in my neighborhood. But we got past all that racial crap, until we were almost like real blood brothers.”

Marcus believes that his friendship with Eddie transcends racial boundaries and shows the strength of their bond, which the novel will continue to test when they both fall into legal trouble. The above passage also introduces the theme of Racial Tension in Urban Settings. Marcus refers to the tensions in his neighborhood as “all that racial crap.” This lends authenticity to his adolescent and colloquial voice while downplaying the very real racial conflicts that exist at both a community and systemic level, and which the novel will go on to draw attention to.