Escape

One of the major themes of Brothers and Keepers is escape. One of the brothers is always looking for an escape. When John was a child, he began his escape through good grades and sports. He earned a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania, and thereby escaped the ghetto. Then he escaped again to Laramie, Wyoming, a safe town of white people in the West. John constantly looked for an escape growing up and he found it. But escape comes with consequences. At UPenn, John thought he escaped the ghetto, but he begins to have an identify crisis. The rich, white kids want him to be the best black, who knows about basketball and the blues. Yet at the same time, the whites expect him to stay in line and not cross any boundaries. John must watch everything he says and does. John struggles with this. Thus, escape...