Jade Butler is the protagonist of Piecing Me Together and the book is written from her perspective. Jade is a young, black girl from North Portland, a socioeconomically disadvantaged area of the city. Jade is a junior at St. Francis, an elite (mostly white) private school, having been awarded a scholarship to attend. As a scholarship student, Jade is often presented with “opportunities” by school administrators to improve her lot in life: “But girls like me, with coal skin and hula-hoop hips, whose mommas barely make enough money to keep food in the house, have to take opportunities every chance we get” (7). Jade lives with her mother, who works two jobs, as well as her uncle E.J., a semi-employed deejay who dropped out of college.

As a poor, black, heavyset female, Jade’s identity is made up of multiple categories that subject her to cultural discrimination: “Something happens when people tell me I have a pretty face, ignoring me from the neck down. When I watch the news and see unarmed black men and women shot dead over and over, it’s kind of hard to believe this world is mine” (85). Jade’s evolution in the book revolves around her learning to be her own advocate.