Black and White Notes

Black and White Notes

Narrative Structure: “Black” chapters are narrated by Marcus Brown

“White” chapters are narrated by Eddie Russo

Boys are best friends and play basketball together. They are known as “Black and White” in town/school.

Setting: Long Island City, NY

Notable Characters:

·  Casey—coach of the basketball team

·  Connelly-- a security guard, white, overweight, escalates a riot in the gym

·  Eddie—narrates the “White” chapters, lives with a mom, dad, sister Rose, takes his dead grandfather’s gun

·  Jason Taylor—basketball player who is stabbed and killed on court by a white kid

·  Jefferson—black security guard who offers Marcus advice

·  Golub—Eddie’s attorney

·  Marcus—narrates the “Black” chapters, never mentions Eddie’s involvement in the crimes

·  Mr. Russo—Eddie’s dad, gets him a lawyer, helps him

·  Ms. Randolph—school administrator, decides Marcus can no longer play ball or take part in senior day.

·  Rose—Eddie’s sister, has feelings for Marcus

·  Rebecca—tells Eddie her parents won’t let her see him

·  Sabrina—Marcus’s little sister

·  Sidney Parker—shot at during the 3rd robbery, identifies Marcus from a yearbook photo

·  Eddie took his dead grandfather’s gun. He anticipated selling it to make money for senior dues. However, he and Marcus used it for robberies to get the money.

·  Robberies:

1.  PC Richards—white lady, got a shopping bag with a Walkman and $92

2.  Old white man in a parking lot, pulled out the gun--$129, $3 loose change, bridge token

Eddie held the gun during both robberies.

Following Friday coach tells basketball team not to get into trouble—IRONY, they do!

3.  Outside a hardware store, black man, 1st time Marcus had the gun. Eddie says it feels like ice. He fires it at the man’s head. Marcus believes he knew the man he shot.

·  Page 24 Marcus realizes the driver of the 19A bus is the man he shot

·  Page 31 Boys feel lucky—man they shot must be alive since they didn’t hear news otherwise

·  Page 33 Eddie’s dad talks to him about his grandfather who worked 40 years for the Department of Sanitation. Eddie’s dad wants him to go to college and be somebody.

·  Page 35 Dramatic Irony

·  Page 37 Prepping for the big game—Eddie recalls attending a basketball game when he was still in junior high. A white kid took a chair leg and stabbed a black player, Jason Taylor, to death. This demonstrates racial tensions in the town.

·  Page 41 Marcus is arrested in the locker room. The team wins 73-58

·  Page 42 Bus driver’s name is Sidney Parker. He gets a copy of the yearbook and picked out Marcus.

·  Page 45 Wanda Lang = woman they robbed, William Mathes = man they robbed—they came forward as well, police connect the robberies

·  Page 52 Eddie goes home after the game. He gets the gun out of the box in the attic with his grandfather’s belongings. He takes the dog, Gotti, for a walk. He goes on top of Hell Gate Bridge and throws the gun into the East River so that no one finds it.

·  Page 54 Eddie chooses St. John’s College—he’s been actively recruited for basketball. What should be a happy day is actually filled with fear/anxiety that he will be caught.

·  Page 57 Kids at school find out Marcus was arrested for robbery. Eddie acts like he isn’t involved. Eddie even attends practice.

·  Page 63 Marcus is sent to jail at Rikers Island and his bail amount is $20,000—he notices that most of the people in jail are black

·  Pages 66-67 Marcus gets out on bail. His mother’s sisters in New Jersey put their house up for sale.

·  Page 70 Marcus tells his mom why he robbed—he needed money for school dues. He returns to school and practice.

·  Page 82 Detectives arrive at Eddie’s house.

·  Page 88 Eddie is taken in for police questioning

·  Pages 99-105 Train to game—racist remarks made by a bum who soiled his pants—demonstrates the racial issues that are in the town/surrounding area

·  108 Reporters at the game question Eddie’s arrest

·  109 Newspaper prints report of Marcus and Eddie’s arrests

·  115 English teacher, Ms. Sussman, assigns journal “How do you want people to remember you?”

·  117 Marcus gets indicted (charged). Ms. Torres his attorney calls. Marcus will not reveal Eddie’s involvement to save himself.

·  118-119 Eddie is lucky—his parents got him a lawyer, Golub, and his dad didn’t admit to the gun. Eddie wasn’t identified by the robbery victims either.

·  124 Fight/confrontation between Eddie and Marcus over their case—turning point since they have always been the best of friends.

·  125 Eddie says “Black and White through thick and thin.” This is ironic—he doesn’t stick by his friend.

·  127 Eddie thinks Marcus is giving up by taking the plea.

·  128 Senior Night basketball game—this is a big deal, parents go on the court to celebrate the senior’s last game

·  130 Eddie reads his journal on how he wants to be remembered. This is ironic since he wants to be remembered as a person who does the right thing—he doesn’t!

·  132 Marcus signs the plea deal

·  134 Casey is forced to kick Marcus off the team by Ms. Randolph. She reminds Coach Casey of the Jason Taylor killing.

·  139 Jefferson, the security guard, gives Marcus cab money for his mom. He wants to pay it forward to another black family.

·  140-141 Marcus—mom and sister get dressed to go to Senior Night, but he can’t play. He sits in the stands with them.

·  143 Ms. Randolph will not let Marcus participate in Senior Night. His mom sticks up for him.

A fight erupts—kids yell that Ms. Randolph is racist. Connelly, the security guard, is “oinked” at because of his weight. He attacks a student. A fight breaks out in the stands and chaos ensues.

·  147 Eddie wants to tell off Ms. Randolph, but doesn’t. He knows he is “more to blame than anyone”

X, another member of the team, questions Eddie “turning his back” on Marcus

·  148 “No disrespect, Coach” said X. “But how come it’s always the black man who has to forget about all the bullshit?”

·  151 X says to Eddie, “You just find a way to ditch your black shadow out there before he follows you home and climbs into bed with you.”

Literal—a player from the other team is his “shadow”

Metaphor—the “black shadow” is Eddie’s guilt and involvement in the robberies that he won’t admit

·  158 Rose, Eddie’s sister, and Marcus have feelings for each other. Rose buys roses for Marcus’s mom since she didn’t receive them on Senior Night.

·  161 Marcus’ mom sees Eddie’s mom food shopping. Mrs. Brown tells Eddie to return her son’s jacket before he goes to prison—tense scene

·  170 Jason’s case that held his Jersey got broken in the fight. This is symbolic—things are falling apart due to racial tensions. Marcus witnesses this.

·  171 Jefferson, the black guard, helped Connelly in the fight and was removed from his job. “Sometimes Peter’s got to pay Paul,” Moses said.

“Then Peter must have been a black man,” X said... “We always got to pay for somebody else.”

*This parallels Marcus and Eddie. Marcus went along with Eddie and is now taking full blame.

·  182 Marcus buys Rose a rose after their date at the movies. Rose says she will press it into a book and not open the page until Marcus gets back from jail.

·  184 Marcus plays basketball against Eddie in the Circle—it’s where “Black and White” began

·  Marcus goes to jail and it’s assumed Eddie goes off to St. John’s