“By day, I’m an honors student at Jefferson Academy. At night, I turn into the Nubian goddess most people know as Emerald.”

The novel’s opening lines introduces novel’s thematic exploration of the Challenges of Balancing Multiple Identities. As the story goes on, it becomes increasingly difficult for Kiera to juggle her in-person relationships and responsibilities while protecting the online world she created. The description of Kiera’s SLAY character, Emerald, as a “Nubian goddess” touches on the theme of Empowerment and Pride in Black Culture and Heritage, and the name Emerald establishes the color green as a symbol for the protagonist.

“I hate, and I mean hate, being ‘the voice of Blackness’ here. At Belmont, where 50 percent of the students are Black, and 70 percent are people of color, Malcolm and I got to be normal. Nobody was asking to touch my twist-out, nobody was asking him about his locs, and nobody was asking us for permission to appropriate Black culture as if we’re the authority for our entire race.”

After Kiera’s best friend, a white girl named Harper, asks if she can have locs, the protagonist grows weary of being treated like “the authority for [her] entire race”. Kiera reflects on the differences between her old high school and her current one, which is both more affluent and far less diverse. Seeing Kiera navigate the physical space of Jefferson Academy helps to explain why she created a virtual space just for Black gamers.

“In SLAY, all I have to explain to people is how the game works. I don’t have to explain the cards. If you play the game, you understand. All this time, I’ve imagined a similar world at Spelman. So where’s the warm, fuzzy sense of accomplishment I thought I’d feel reading this letter? Where’s the relief? My hands are shaking. There’s a knot in my stomach. Whatever I thought I’d feel after tearing open that envelope and reading that blessed word ‘Congratulations,’ it wasn’t this.”

Kiera receives her acceptance letter to a historically Black college located near the school Malcolm will be attending in the fall, but she doesn’t feel the “fuzzy sense of accomplishment” and “relief” she expected.