Schooled

“‘Don’t you whatever me, boy. I’m trying to talk some sense into you. School is your ticket out of here, not basketball. Understand?’ his father had said, pointing his arm toward the barred front window that faced Cypress Street. Lionel knew what was out there. Down the block was Kwik Cash, where strangers wandered in at all hours to sell stuff for money. Almost everything there was stolen. Further down was Discount Liquors and Tez’s Lounge, a neighborhood bar with graffiti-stained stucco walls that smelled of urine. The area was dangerous, especially after dark. Some nights, gunshots cracked and popped in the distance.”

Early in the novel, Lionel clashes with his father about sports and education. Lionel’s father wants his son to have a better life and leave the neighborhood. He urges him to focus on school rather than daydreaming about being a basketball player. The quotation uses vivid imagery to describe the story’s stereotypical inner-city setting. Langan presents Lionel’s surroundings as destructive and threatening to the protagonist.

“‘What? You want some, little man?’ Steve said, holding his arms out. ‘I hope you brought a change of clothes ’cause I’ma wipe this court up with you.’”

Steve, a varsity player who challenges Lionel in a game, embodies the stereotypical image of the Black athlete. Steve speaks English in slang, and Langan keeps intact his elisions and casual grammar. Steve also exhibits hypermasculine aggressive behavior. Lionel contrasts this attitude; he focuses on his love for sports and proves himself through skill rather than violence.

“He felt the familiar rush he always got when he was about to play. The same electric focus that helped him blot out Mom’s long absence and his troubles at school. When he played, the world was simpler, a war with an end and rules that made sense. And unlike anywhere else Lionel knew, it was a place where he had power.”

Lionel finds solace and draws inner strength through basketball, while his social context causes him agitation and frustration. For Lionel, basketball is also a means of empowerment and a means of social mobility and opportunity, illustrating The Significance of Sports for Black Youth.

“Steve glared at Lionel, jumping up from the blacktop and grabbing the ball as if it was a weapon. Lionel knew Steve was going to come back at him strong. He braced himself as Steve checked the ball hard into his chest.”

The novel connects Steve’s version of masculinity with violence. The simile that compares the ball to a weapon suggests that Steve uses basketball as a means to dominate those around him through a show of machismo—a depiction that perpetuates a stereotype of Black masculinity. The novel’s other male characters, such as Leroy, Lionel, and Dontrell, however, complicate and undercut such tropes.

“‘I’m glad you’re here and not somewhere else right now, Lionel,’ he’d said, watching him curiously. ‘Better to use that anger on the court than on the street.’”

Lionel differs from friends like Jamar because he channels his rage into something positive. Instead of allowing his rage to lead him to drug use or gang violence, Lionel finds meaning and resilience in sports. His love of basketball remains a central part of his character.

“That night, Lionel sat alone in his dark bedroom, his legs shaky, his body sore from hours on the court. But the pain was nothing compared to the emptiness he felt inside at Mom’s absence, an ache that throbbed again as he watched Dontrell rush off to be with his family.”

Lionel suffers deeply due to his mother’s absence. Lionel’s mother is deployed overseas, forced to take the job away from home to provide for the family. Being away from his mother is a crucial factor in Lionel’s distress, as the text suggests their powerful bond. Despite that his mother remains absent throughout the story, her words, values, and teachings always remain in Lionel’s thoughts.

“But when Lionel was in seventh grade, Ms. Walker’s grandson Russell was gunned down walking home from school just a few blocks away. Even though Russell was two years older, Lionel knew him well and had nightmares for weeks after the shooting. He could still remember staying up with Dad the night Russell died and hearing Ms. Walker wailing next door.”

The passage describes the social conditions of Lionel’s neighborhood. Langan describes the gang violence that plagues the area: Lionel was traumatized as a kid, experiencing nightmares after his neighbor was shot. This suggests that Lionel’s distress is also exacerbated by his social surroundings.

“‘Ain’t no poem that matters when you’re out here. I’ll tell you what matters—this,’ he whispered, taking a handful of change from a compartment in the car’s dashboard and sliding it into his pocket. Lionel looked away. He hated when Jamar took money from people, but he couldn’t stop him. At least he only did it to people who disrespected him or had expensive cars.”

Jamar is a foil to Lionel, as the two characters’ personalities and worldviews contrast. Jamar has quit school and believes that money is the only power in the world—a perspective that the novel attributes to his hopelessness about the future and his acceptance of circumscribed inner-city life. The novel indicates that poverty and trauma have shaped Jamar’s ideas.

“Lionel felt as if his head was about to explode. There was too much news, too many choices, too much chaos. It was like jump ball at the start of a basketball game, only there were a thousand arms fighting for the ball, and the game was meaner than anything that happened on the court. It all made Lionel dizzy.”

Lionel struggles to cope with his personal, familial, and social problems. He dreams of becoming a basketball player but understands that this is extremely unlikely. He worries about his parents, his school work, and his future. The result is “chaos” that he has trouble navigating, which here is represented via the simile of a completely lawless beginning of a basketball game, where instead of two players vying for the jump ball, “a thousand arms” are trying to get to it. Unlike basketball, which has clear rules imposed by external authority figures, life requires each person to set their own rules for themselves.

“Lionel had heard the countless warnings from his parents all his life. Officer Hodden explained how drugs could slow his brain function, meaning that Lionel’s basketball skills would suffer. Lionel wanted no part of that. Besides, drugs were a line he’d promised Mom long ago he’d never cross. He wasn’t about to break that promise now.”

When Jamar urges Lionel to leave school and move in, Lionel is intrigued by the idea. However, when Lionel visits his house and Jamar offers him drugs, Lionel reverts to his parents’ teachings to decline, showing that he has internalized their values and indicating The Importance of Family in Personal Growth. Despite his inner turmoil, Lionel continues to respect his parents and maintains a powerful bond with them.

“Lionel shrank back in his pew. He felt more lost than ever. Lost in school where he couldn’t keep up. Lost around Jamar who was comfortable stealing change and smoking weed. Lost to his father who wanted him to be an honor student. There was no way that could happen.”

Lionel’s educational struggles contribute to his frustration in life. While his shame and embarrassment about his reading and writing difficulties dominate, Lionel feels helpless. Lionel feels lost at school: unable to find a solution to his problems and too ashamed to ask for help. This builds tension and challenges his character journey.

“‘I’m sorry I can’t be here more right now, but I’m just trying to keep us afloat. You understand?’ Dad replied, a mix of sadness and hurt in his voice. ‘Yeah, but I ain’t floatin’, Dad. I’m sinking, and you don’t even know it,’ Lionel thought as his father sighed, got up from the table, and stepped outside.”

The passage illustrates the disconnect between father and son. Lionel resents that his father is frequently away from home. Leroy also feels guilty for needing to be away to support the family. While Lionel continues to admire his father, his primary male role model, he feels that Leroy does not understand him. Despite their clashing perspectives, Lionel’s respect for his father guides him to the end of his journey.

“‘What happens to a dream deferred?’ he said, glancing once at the page and then straight ahead. The whole poem came to him then, naturally, powerfully. Perfectly. For a line or two, the words of Langston Hughes almost seemed like his. He knew about dreams that were held back.”

This is a turning point for Lionel, as Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem” makes him engage in English class for the first time. Lionel manages to mask his reading difficulties by memorizing the poem, but the subsequent connection with Hughes’s work leads to Lionel’s newfound attitude in class. The poem’s ideas help him make sense of his experience as a Black teenager whose dreams often feel outside his grasp.

“To him, the words meant everything: power and respect where there was none; an escape from the streets; a guarantee his parents could be together without worrying about money; a home with a yard where Kendra was safe and Sahara could play. That was his dream, one he couldn’t write for Mrs. Henley, or explain to Malika in the middle of the hallway between classes, though part of him wanted to.”

Lionel’s real dream, which informs his desire for an NBA career, is a better future for himself and his family. Apart from his love for sports, he sees basketball as a means of social mobility and opportunity. The novel alludes to the historical and sociocultural significance of sports for Black Americans as a tool for breaking boundaries and empowerment.

“And then he was possessed, driving to the glass of Bluford’s varsity court, letting the ball roll off his fingers and sink through the bright new net, banging down shots from the baseline, nailing jumpers, short and long, with a swish as sweet as a kiss. The stress of school and home evaporated with his sweat as he worked.”

Basketball has a profound emotional impact on Lionel. Basketball helps Lionel develop focus and discipline, traits that also help him regulate his inner turmoil. Lionel channels his frustration into the game, transforming this potentially destructive feeling into positive momentum. This establishes his character arc, promising the successful completion of his journey.

“She cheered on the other end of the phone. Then he heard her telling someone what he just said. He could hear the pride in her voice. It scalded him like hot water, a burn of shame.”

Despite his parents’ long absences, Lionel feels deeply connected to his family’s values. While speaking with his mother on the phone, he feels ashamed for forging his father’s signature and lying about his reading and writing successes in English class. Lionel’s love for his family and his will to make them proud define his eventual personal growth.

“But school was stupid too. Who cared about algebra and momentum and papyrus? Why did any of that matter? And yet there was the moment in English class he could not escape. It repeated in his head like a song he didn’t want to remember. That instant he connected with the words in a book, a poem about how dreams die or explode when they go unfulfilled. In that moment, school made sense, like a shot arching through the hoop. In that moment, he belonged in class with Malika and everyone else.”

Throughout the novel, Lionel finds a sense of belonging on the court. Reading Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem” is similarly transformative experience, making Lionel feel a sense of belonging in class for the first time. The passage suggests that Lionel has always the intellectual capacity to connect to school, but the education system has failed to meet his needs as a student.

“He was falling then, but something was terribly wrong. He thought the glass behind the rim had shattered. Instead it was him. He had been in the glass and destroyed himself. Pieces were crashing down everywhere, broken bits of the world he knew. And he fell with them and in them, watching as his own legs exploded into jagged shards on the concrete. Then his stomach. His chest. His face. Deafening blackness.”

Lionel’s nightmare illustrates the potential danger to his future if Lionel embraces Jamar’s offer of dropping out of school. Lionel sees himself “shattered” into pieces, emphasizing that his growing frustration and hopelessness threaten to destroy him. The metaphor of the “deafening blackness” conveys a negative connotation about Lionel’s identity, suggesting that he is in conflict with himself.

“‘You think some stupid essay you write is gonna change anything? You just like me, Trell, stuck at the bottom. Ain’t nothin’ ever gonna change that.’ Lionel fumed, angry at himself.”

Lionel’s rage dominates in the classroom. His inability to write the essay makes him feel embarrassed and angry, so he uncritically lashes out at his best friend. Lionel’s distress grows, raising the stakes in the narrative as his rage threatens his ability to move forward with purpose and potential.

“For several seconds, images flashed in his mind like scenes from a nightmare. He saw himself shoving Mrs. Henley aside, beating Dontrell down in the middle of the crowded classroom, hearing Malika scream as he landed punch after punch on his old friend. He’d show them he still had power, even if he failed in school, even if he was stupid.”

Lionel’s tendency to imagine channeling his rage into violence represents a potentially destructive path and a negative aspect of power. Lionel could lash out at everyone in the classroom to assert himself, like Steve does on the court. However, Lionel resists, realizing that such a response is unproductive and ultimately self-destructive.

“No one owes you anything, Lionel. You gotta work for it. You gotta earn it, just like in basketball. Now I know you’re smart. My Russell was smart too, and he got his chance taken from him. You still got yours. Don’t go throwin’ it away. You hear me?!”

Ms. Walker, Lionel’s neighbor, is a powerful influence who often instructs Lionel against recklessness and guides him toward valuing education. Ms. Walker’s words are empowering; she conveys to Lionel the importance of fighting for his future. She suggests that Lionel can balance his basketball dreams and school work, emphasizing that he must not embrace hopelessness.

“For the first time, Lionel knew the answers to the questions in the poem. A dream does all those things if it isn’t lived, he realized. It dries up, rots, stinks, explodes. But it does something else too. It dies.”

Langston Hughes’s poem is key to Lionel’s newfound transformation. After using alcohol and vomiting in Jamar’s house, Lionel recalls the poem and realizes that embracing Jamar’s lifestyle means abandoning his dream and any sense of self-worth he’s developed. The poem suggests that a dream is an ongoing struggle, which urges Lionel to find inner resources of courage.

“‘We’re good,’ Lionel said, glancing over at his father and thinking about the events of the past few weeks. He had been lost. He’d walked a downward spiral and barely escaped. He could feel the scars inside and out. And yet he was still standing. Bluford High School would still be an enormous challenge. Reading would intimidate him. Kids would tease him. Some might call him stupid, or worse. But he had his father on his side, along with a few teachers and an old coach. Dontrell would have his back.”

Lionel’s reconnection to his father establishes his growth. Lionel and Leroy share their common struggles and find comfort in each other. With his father’s empathy and encouragement, Lionel sees his strength and support system, realizations that transform his outlook on the world. The newfound understanding between them develops their relationship; rather than keeping harmful secrets from one another, the two men find hope for the future in openness and vulnerability.