Black Brother, Black Brother

“Hate no matter what goes wrong, I’m at fault. Some guy overturns a chair; it’s my fault. My locker’s broken into; my supplies scattered, dumped in the trash. My books ripped. I get detention. And a library fine.”

At Middlefield Prep, Donte is stereotyped based on his race. He does nothing to get in trouble, but constantly suffers from racist assumptions that he is responsible for things that go wrong, a fact that Alan—the primary antagonist—frequently takes advantage of. These lines, with their short sentences and direct, conversational language, illustrate Donte’s youthful voice.

“‘He’s my brother,’ answers Trey.

Bewildered, the officer stops, studies Trey. ‘You have a black brother?’

Quick, like lightning, Alan repeats, ‘Black brother, black brother.’”

The ways in which people respond to discovering that Trey is Donte’s light-skinned brother is a barometer for Donte’s comfort around them. These lines reveal the police officer’s bias; even though genetics have proven that it is possible for one sibling to be light-skinned and the other dark-skinned, the officer is shocked. His reaction foils the way that Coach and Zarra don’t bat an eye when they realize that Trey and Donte are brothers.

“He says ‘black’ like a slur. Says it real nasty. Like a worse word. A word he thinks but doesn’t dare say.”

Alan is the novel’s main antagonist. His explicit racism both demeans Donte and inspires Donte’s decision to begin fencing. Donte’s defeat of Alan signifies a larger triumph over racism. Even if racism continues to persist in the world, Donte has shown that it won’t defeat him. The last three sentences in the above quote are fragments, not full sentences. Their brevity and fragmentation add tension. Parker Rhodes also uses repetition to heighten tension, repeating “word” in the final two lines.

“Weird. Mom’s the lawyer. Yet, for the police, it was Dad who seemed to matter the most.”

Donte has a kinship with his mom because he is dark-skinned, like her. However, Denise has to navigate the world as a Black woman, and her experiences are therefore different than his as a Black male. When she and William come to pick him up from jail, Donte notices that his father is taken more seriously, even though Denise has much more experience with the law. This reflects both the police’s misogyny and racism.

“This is how it starts. Bias. Racism. Plain and simple. Philadelphia, cops called on black men meeting in Starbucks. Portland, cops called on a hotel guest talking on his cell phone with his mother.”

This novel is peppered with real-world examples of how racism can be fatal, such as these lines from Donte’s mother. Donte has to contend with being visible as a young Black man. This makes him want to be invisible. However, by the end of the novel, he doesn’t not want to be held back by the others’ stereotypes. With the exception of the first line, the above quote consists of sentence fragments, some only one word long—“Bias. Racism.” Their brevity adds emphasis.

“I lower my eyes first. I hate how Alan—the whole school—makes me doubt me.”

The trauma that Donte endures at the hands of his racist classmates, police, and others wears on him. He doubts himself. However, fencing helps him to build his confidence, showing him that he is valued and that he belongs just as much as everyone else. Rhodes uses repetition: “[…] makes me doubt me.” (Bold my emphasis.) She could have just as easily said, “makes me doubt myself.” The repetition of “me” creates drama and urgency.

“I feel hopeless. Trapped all over again. I try to stand and slip. My knee cracks on the linoleum. I won’t cry out. Won’t complain. I can’t beat the whole world, but I can beat Alan. I know I can. Just got to find another way.”

Donte feels incredibly worn down. Middlefield Prep and Alan make his life so difficult, and ultimately, this desolation is what leads him to wanting to defeat Alan in fencing. We again see the author’s use of repetition to create urgency (bold my emphasis): “I won’t cry out. Won’t complain. I can’t beat the whole world, but I can beat Alan. I know I can.”

“I’m thinking, He’s really strong. He’s an Olympian. He’s thinking (I think), I can teach him all I know.”

Donte compares himself to Coach frequently, beginning with his decision to pursue him as a mentor because he too is Black. Others, including Zarra, also suggests that Donte and Coach react similarly. This kinship between Coach and Donte helps them to build an important relationship, with Coach eventually confiding in Donte about his Olympic career and the fact that he sees much of himself in Donte. Here we see Parker Rhodes’ characteristic use of repetition: “I’m thinking, He’s really strong. He’s an Olympian. He’s thinking (I think), I can teach him all I know.” The similar sentence structures that Donte uses to describe his and Coach’s thoughts—“I’m thinking,” “He’s thinking,”—reflects their kinship.

“Licking sweat from my upper lip, I admit I like having Coach. Like feeling crazy-exhilarated, exhausted.”

This connects to the theme of Feeling Confident Both Physically and Mentally Through Sports. Donte builds confidence as a result of fencing; its impact is apparent from the first day, as he says here. Fencing provides an outlet through which he can escape from his everyday life, and its lessons bleed into his routine. The sentence fragment here—"Like feeling crazy-exhilarated, exhausted”—is characteristic of Donte’s voice.

“In Brooklyn, I thought I was ‘normal.’ But somehow, I’m not quite ‘normal’ in suburban Massachusetts. Maybe I fooled myself about New York? Maybe I just didn’t want to believe racism was there, too? Or just hadn’t had it directed at me?”

Donte touches on the radically different experience he has in the suburbs compared with his experience in New York City. Racism exists everywhere, but it manifests itself differently. In the suburbs, Donte experiences overt racism in the form of Alan’s bullying and the way that the police and headmaster treat him. There is a long history of suburban life being gate-kept by white people, and laws and realtors have worked to keep Black families out of white neighborhoods.

“Rule number one: See everything. Not just the blade, but the legs, trunk, arm, tilt of the head. Train the eye. Look for the subtle signs. The subtlest of intentions.”

Seeing is a recurring metaphor throughout this novel. It refers not only to the act of seeing one’s fencing opponent, but to seeing the nuances of life. Seeing helps Donte learn how others estimate and underestimate him, and it offers him more control over social situations. As he learns to “see” those around him, he becomes more confident, losing his desire to become invisible.

“The whole world says a man has to be strong. Tough. Even Dad acted tough when he picked me up at the police station. He didn’t smile nice, shirk or back down, shake that officer’s hand like they were friends.”

Donte understands that the world wants men to act tough. As a young Black man in a racist world, Donte grapples with how to meet this expectation, since Black men are deemed as threats. In the above lines, Parker Rhodes uses a characteristic, one-word sentence fragment: “Tough.” We also see her characteristic concision and economy of language. In the following sentence, there is no “and” between “down” and “shake:” “He didn’t smile nice, shirk or back down, shake that officer’s hand like they were friends.” By eliminating words like “and,” Parker Rhodes emulates the rhythm and lyricism seen in poetry.

“Contradictions rattle, hurt my mind. (Be tough. Don’t be tough.

Don’t be tough, get bullied. 

Be black, tough can get you killed.)”

One of the major themes of this book is the idea of Navigating Intersectional Identities. Donte is caught between what is expected of him as a man and how he is stereotyped as a Black man.

“For the successful fencer, deciding when and which parry to use is the ultimate physical and mental skill.”

Donte learns how to navigate many difficult situations. The section on the parry arrives just before his hearing, in which he has to use his skills to think strategically and decide how to present his case before the judge. By discussing the parry before the section on the hearing, Rhodes Parker foreshadows how Donte will use strategy.

“I’m starting to worry that I might disappear—really, really disappear behind the courtroom door.”

At the start of the novel, Donte wants to disappear, but as families enter the courtroom and leave without their children, he no longer wants to fade, a crucial step on his character journey.

“Heads up. Another strip. Another field. See everything. On guard, Donte. On guard.”

Donte eventually learns that the strategy and tactics of fencing can extend into real life as well. He learns this firsthand through his hearing and in the conversation that Coach has with his former teammate in which he refuses to become angry. Here, Coach uses all sentence fragments before Donte’s hearing, building momentum, tension, and urgency.

“Lady Justice is blind. But it mattered to the judge that he could see I wasn’t poor, see I had a coach, educated parents. A white dad, a white-skinned brother.”

The Invisibility and Visibility of Race is apparent here: Justice is not supposed to take race into count, but systemic racism causes people of color to be disproportionately arrested and punished. The repetition of “see” underscores Donte’s point that the judge is not blind, but biased.

“Fencing someone taller, better, faster, fiercer, and more focused than me, I’m seeing ever so clear. Rising to the challenge.”

Donte loves fencing, loves the challenge of anticipating moves and planning counterattacks. He wants to get better and better, moving past his initial desire to beat Alan.

“I almost laugh. (“Now that he’s heard I might be good at fencing, I’m no longer the suspicious black kid.)”

The headmaster is kind and accepting toward Donte only because Donte can help the school’s optics by being on the fencing team. Donte’s perception is apparent: He sees the headmaster’s true motive.

“I can feel my old worries, insecurities circling inside me. Funny how I know I don’t have to prove anything…I still feel like I have to prove something. That I’m not ‘less than.’ (I know.) Still, Alan’s racism is like an echo in my bones, mind, and blood. Another unfairness. I’m the one wasting energy, suppressing memories, words.”

Donte learns how to cope with his insecurities and, to some extent, move past them, building a steady confidence once he begins fencing. The sport makes him feel good and its mental element challenges him, helps him to read and understand social situations, and tempers his anxiety. At the same time, the above lines show the trauma of racism. Alan’s bullying lingers, “an echo in [his] bones […]”

“Trey’s as black as me; I’m as white as him. We’re both our parents’ sons. Mixed-bloods.

My gaze flicks about the arena. Everybody else is mixed-blood too.”

Passing is a recurrent motif throughout the novel. Trey is able to pass for white while Donte is not, even though they both have a white father and Black mother. Here, Donte highlights how we are all part of a shared gene pool: “Everybody else is mixed-blood too.”

“Walking to the strip to meet Alan, I am more me than I’ve ever been.”

Fencing makes Donte confident. He feels the most himself after practicing, and he ultimately moves past wanting to do it just to beat Alan. His win becomes the cherry on top. We see Parker Rhodes’ use of conversational language. Instead of saying “I am more myself,” Donte uses the more causal “I am more me […]”

“He can even dislike me if he wants. But now he has to see ME.”

By the end of the novel, Donte doesn’t care what Alan thinks of him. The motif of seeing repeats itself: It comes to mean the idea of seeing past the surface. Donte forces Alan to look him in the eye and recognize that he is much more complicated that Alan ever assumed. He cannot be contained by stereotypes.