The Speaker

Although the fictional speaker is someone with a biography very close to that of the work’s author, Jason Reynolds, they are not necessarily identical. What is known about the fictional speaker is more limited than what is known about the author, for reasons that seem deliberate, as explored in Themes and Styles.

Here, it is known that the author has had various dreams at various points in his life. He explicitly notes that, at 16 years of age, he “thought that I would have made it by now” (14) and that at 18 he expected to become a millionaire by 25--only to end up moving back in with his mother at 25 years of age. In other words, the speaker’s biography suggests that he is someone who knows about failed dreams. He is also someone who has learned how to reincarnate his dreams over time.

At the same time...