47 pages • 1 hour read
From the Desk of Zoe Washington
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Character Analysis
Zoe Washington
Zoe Washington is a Black American girl who turns 12 on the day the novel opens. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts near Davis Square with her mother Natalie and stepfather Paul, whom she considers her dad. Zoe is close with her grandmother on her mother’s side, who supervises her during the summers. Zoe is social, independent, and eager to be taken more seriously by both her peers and the adults in her life.
Zoe’s passion is baking. She wants to become a pastry chef even though she sees few Black pastry chefs on TV or represented in published cookbooks. One of Zoe’s inspirations is Ruby Willow, a young girl who won a Food Network show competition called Kids Bake Challenge!. Zoe is determined to prove herself a skilled baker at the internship her parents arrange at Ari’s Cakes, as a good recommendation from owner will convince her parents she is mature and serious enough to apply for the show. Other interests of Zoe’s include writing in her journal, reading, and listening to music. Usually, Zoe enjoys playing or riding bikes with Trevor over summer break, but this summer she does not expect to spend any time with him; she recently overheard Trevor laughing about her with two of his friends and wants only to avoid him now.
Zoe’s character arc through the novel shows her achieving greater maturity and family fulfillment. At first, Marcus’s letters are more curiosities or diversions, and Zoe’s correspondence with him reveals her propensity for secret-keeping through indirect characterization. Soon, however, Zoe feels compelled to determine whether Marcus is telling the truth about his innocence. For Zoe, true justice, while important because it would lead to Marcus’s freedom, is secondary to her relationship with Marcus. She wants to trust Marcus so that she can continue to build a relationship with her biological father; she senses a fulfillment in including him in her life: “For the longest time, I didn’t care whether or not I knew my birth father. I had my parents, and they were all I needed. But his letters were making me realize that there had always been a piece of me missing, like a chunk of my heart. I was finally filling in that hole” (121). Her need to know if she can trust Marcus distracts her from her internship tasks and prompts a growing distance between her and her mother. It also causes Zoe to choose risky behavior by taking an unsupervised trip on public transportation and traversing an unfamiliar university campus. Ironically, Zoe often uses lies in her quest for truth, and her punishment for the dangerous trip to Harvard prevents her from learning the truth just as she comes to the edge of finding it.
Zoe comes of age as she accepts that her mother acted out of love and protection when she destroyed Marcus’s letters and forbid any communication between Zoe and Marcus. Like those of many middle graders, Zoe’s childish behaviors (e.g., the silent treatment toward Trevor; screaming to Grandma that she hates her) give way to a more reflective and mature attitude by the final chapters as Zoe realizes complex truths about relationships and motivations.
Marcus Johnson
Marcus is a Black male in his 30s and Zoe’s biological father. He has never met her in person when the story commences. When Marcus was still in college, he was accused of the murder of Lucy Hernandez, a girl in his class and study group. Some classmates thought he and Lucy were a couple, though he was dating Zoe’s mother at the time, who was pregnant when Marcus was arrested for Lucy’s murder. Marcus is innocent, but his racist lawyer does not bother to find the witness who could vouch for his alibi. Marcus pleads not guilty against the lawyer’s recommendation, is found guilty, and goes to prison. When his appeal fails, Marcus accepts his fate and plans to use his years in prison to earn higher education degrees. He writes to Zoe over the course of his imprisonment, but she does not receive the letters because her mother intercepts them.
Marcus tells Zoe that their correspondence makes him incredibly happy; they both enjoy discovering that they have things in common like a love of music and an interest in cooking. Marcus demonstrates no bitterness or grudges toward Zoe’s mother or Paul. He is a static character in the novel who represents how injustice in the legal system and racist prejudices and assumptions can destroy a person’s dreams and estrange family. Marcus also symbolizes resilience, kindness, and the ability to make the best of life’s troubles.
Trevor
Trevor lives in the other half of the duplex Zoe and her parents live in. They share the front porch and typically spend their time together in the summer as well. A month before the beginning of the story, Zoe overhears Trevor making rude comments about her in the interest of looking cool in front of his new basketball friends, and she wants nothing more to do with him. Trevor tries to repair their friendship over the course of the novel, persistently asking Zoe why she is mad and offering his help.
His kindness and companionship eventually win Zoe over, and she reveals the source of her upset. He apologizes, then tries to make up for hurting her feelings by accompanying her on the forbidden trip to Harvard Square. Trevor represents perseverance in the story and the value of a devoted friend. He grows and learns as he realizes the depths and reasons for Zoe’s hurt feelings, and he works to change his behavior, coming clean to his basketball friends about his honest feelings of friendship for Zoe.
Natalie and Paul Washington
Zoe’s mother and Paul, whom Zoe calls Dad, demonstrate genuine love and concern for her. They provide her with the party at Ari’s Cakes and set up the internship to support her interest in baking and potential application to the Food Network Show. They want to chat with her, bake with her, and have a stable, loving relationship, but Mom’s attitude toward Zoe’s relationship with Marcus becomes an obstacle to both their mother-daughter relationship and Zoe’s independent development. Zoe’s mother does not want Zoe to communicate with Marcus, and she even proudly reveals that she has been throwing Marcus’s letters away Zoe’s whole life. The distance between mother and daughter shifts into conflict as Zoe first associates her mother with repression of her relationship with her father and then blames her mother fully for actively keeping Marcus’s attempted communication from Zoe. A large part of Zoe’s coming-of-age involves her improved ability to see and accept that adults make mistakes, and that forgiveness is in order, especially when their intent was to protect those they love.
Zoe’s mother Natalie is a Black woman who, when she was pregnant with Zoe, was hurt and scared by Marcus lying to her about spending time with Lucy Hernandez. At the time of Marcus’s trial, according to Zoe’s Grandma, Natalie felt she could not trust or believe Marcus anymore; angry and heartbroken, “[…] she decided it was easier to believe he did it, let him go, and move on” (135). Natalie is a dynamic character whose revelation that Marcus may be innocent changes her strong opinions and beliefs; she knows by the story’s resolution that he deserves to communicate with Zoe.
Paul is a white man, and Zoe reflects on “the look” she and Paul garner from others in public, as some people cannot accept without confusion or suspicion the togetherness of a white man and Black girl. Paul loves Zoe like his own daughter and demonstrates a sense of justice and kindness in working to learn the truth about Marcus’s innocence and seeking the assistance of the Innocence Project. He is a static character who symbolizes altruism and truth in the novel.
Grandma
Grandma’s role in the story grows quickly in importance once she offers to keep Zoe’s secret about letter-writing to Marcus. Grandma disagrees with Mom’s assertion that Zoe should have no relationship with Marcus and is sympathetic to Zoe’s desire to get to know her father. Grandma intervenes in a way she believes is helpful—reading Marcus’s letters first, talking to him on the phone, allowing Zoe to talk to him—but which prove to be problematic as they cause a potential rift in her relationship with her daughter and widen the conflict between Zoe and Mom. Grandma represents love and concern gone slightly awry due to circumstances, but she also symbolizes the steps people take to right wrongs and repair damage. Grandma forces Zoe into the confrontation with Mom about her secret correspondence and desire to know her father. While this fight initially goes badly and the three generations of women say hurtful things to one another, it also creates an opportunity for greater openness and honesty between mother, daughter, and granddaughter. Grandma is a dynamic character who admits she misjudged and seeks to repair the damage done. She represents a higher truth and justice; she keeps the hope for Marcus’s innocence alive, and she eventually helps Zoe in procuring the truth by convincing Mom to go to Susan Thomas.
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