Nadia Keating

Mrs. Wines

Comp 1

13 December 2020

Dear Martin

Nic Stone, the author touches straight on the issues we all in our society today has heard of in his

novel Dear Martin. The main character in the story, Justyce Mcallister was going to a white prep school

and was living with difficult family background I don’t sag my pants or wear my clothes super big. I go

to a good school, and have goals and vision and “a great head on my shoulders,” as Mama likes to say..)

(Stone 8) Throughout the time he was going to this prep school he became super close friends with a boy

by the name of Emmanuel Rivers. From when Justyce was young he had his mind-set on going to Yale

University and getting valedictorian. All of the things he’s hoped for, for so long was torn away when he

was arrested for a crime based on his skin color. “You keep your mouth shut.” The cop squats and gets

right in Justyce’s face. “I know your kind; punks like you wander the streets of nice neighborhoods

searching for prey. Just couldn’t resist the pretty white girl who’d locked her keys in her car, could ya?”

(Stone 175)This specific part of this book connects to the real-life issue we see today with BLM and

being arrested for doing such action for being of a certain race. Thinking deeper into this issue happening

in the book takes me to the example of George Floyd’s death. Tons of people who strongly support BLM

opposed that George Floyd was killed because of his skin color and many people have still continued to

think that. That strings back to what happened to the character in the book. This story of Justyce is taken

place in Oak Ridge, Atlanta. Atlanta Georgia was one of the biggest cities dealing with segregation. The

theme ties directly to the major issue in this novel, racism. Racism has been a huge aspect of a lot of

people’s lives currently and in the past. Another theme for this book would be privilege. Justyce was

going to a white prep school with mostly white people. He was one of the few colored people who

attended that school so the majority of what he did was based on what the non-colored individuals were
doing. He was the outcast and that was one of the hardest things for him to deal with. “So what you’re

saying is after a lifetime of getting picked apart because of my skin color, I should dismiss the girl I love

because of hers?” (Stone 176) This quote shows how the privileged roll comes in. The non-colored were

the ones always getting what they needed and the colored were separated from them not getting the same

treatment. He also had a family background that was not the best so it was harder for him to be different

from his family and stay on top of them.

The title ¨Dear Martin¨ comes from the way Justyce coped with his arrest by reading old letters

written by Martin Luther King Jr and responding to him. The characters in this book were Justyce

Mcallister and Emmanuel Rivers which were the main characters. Then there were Officer Tommy and

Officer Garret who were the ones who arrested Justyce. Jared Christensen who attended the white prep

school and was one of the racist ones always making racist comments. Quan Banks is Justyce cousin and

was apart of a gang. Most of his cousins were apart of this gang which is why they had a difficult family

background. Nic Stones’ purpose of this writing was to inform others about how racism is and what

things could happen based on the actions of other people.

This novel connects to the category I chose to read this year by the title, ¨ The African

American Perspective.¨ This title connects to this book because it was going through the book of

explaining Justyce view on how his school was, how his family was, and events that went on from his

side. It also showed how he was being treated by the non-colored and the characters around him. All

around this book was an eventful read and had lots of action which is something I think people who are

interested in action-filled, eventful books but with a little information and lesson with it.

Work Cited

Stone, Nic. Dear Martin. Thorndike Press, a Part of Gale, a Cengage Company, 2020.