Content Warning: This section of the guide includes questions about the source text’s depiction of racism and racial discrimination.

What role does the story’s specific setting, a neighborhood in Queens, New York, play in the narrative?

Examine the parenting styles of Eddie’s parents and Marcus’s mother and how they react to and deal with their sons’ crime. In what ways are their different approaches beneficial or detrimental? Does the novel suggest that one is better than the other?

Marcus is adamant that if the roles were reversed and Eddie had been identified by Sidney Parker, Eddie would have protected Marcus the same way. Does the novel imply that this is true and that Marcus would have allowed Eddie to take the blame alone?