Forged By Fire

In Chapter 19, Monique becomes addicted to her pain pills, which mirrors the beginning of the novel when she was an addict. Jordan fuels her addiction by supplying her with pills—this move slows Monique’s healing and cements the family’s reliance on Jordan. Though Jordan is initially in the calm stage of the cycle of abuse, Gerald recognizes the rising anger of the tension phase before Jordan’s air conditioner goes missing. The missing air conditioner is the final cause of the incident phase, wherein Jordan hits both Monique and Gerald. The reconciliation and calm phases reappear when Jordan tries to make amends with groceries.

Rather than falling into her old patterns, Monique’s character goes through a significant change. In Chapter 20, when Jordan hits Monique while looking for his air conditioner, her response to him is very different. She claims she “didn’t like that at all” and refuses to let that happen again, which is a complete shift from her acceptance of Jordan’s abuse earlier in the novel (128).

In Chapter 20, after Monique’s realization, Gerald and Angel are unsure how to proceed. They agree to not call the police. Without the police or an adult to intervene, the novel’s resolution falls into the hands of Gerald and Angel. Although the police and characters like Mr. Washington have proved helpful throughout the novel, they have failed to completely rid the children of Jordan. With this agreement between Gerald and Angel, they are choosing to confront Jordan on their own when they believe their family is self-sustainable again. That the children are concerned about being taken from Monique is significant. Even though she is a neglectful mother, she is still their mother, and they don’t want to be parted from her. It’s also likely they fear being separated from each other in the foster system.

In Chapter 21, Rob’s death signifies a major shift in the novel. Although the car accident is not directly tied to the novel’s central conflict, it has a large impact on Gerald. From the basketball team and the Washington family, Gerald has garnered a sense of community and support. Rob’s death triggers “all of the pain of the past” for Gerald, including “Aunt Queen’s death, Monique’s accident, Jordan’s abuses” (137). He cries with “burning explosions of pain,” recalling the fire at the beginning of the novel. After Rob’s death, Gerald is left with few spaces untouched by trauma. Though Gerald has experienced many traumatic events as a child from a low-income family, the fate of wealthy Rob suggests that tragedy touches everyone, if not always to the same extent.