Nightcrawling

Kiara’s relationship with her brother generates one of the novel’s central conflicts. Marcus’s great passion is rap music, and he has devoted himself to pursuing a career as a musician. His inspiration is Uncle Ty, who escaped poverty through a successful music career of his own. This admiration of Ty gives Marcus tunnel vision, as he is unable to find fault with Ty, even after Ty abandons the family. Marcus is passionate and driven but ultimately shortsighted and unrealistic about his chance of success.

Marcus cares deeply for Kiara and she for him. Their bond is so strong that Marcus bears a tattoo of Kiara’s fingerprint on his body. Yet, after their mother’s incarceration, Marcus drifts. Kiara agrees to support them financially so that Marcus can record music. Though his efforts do not pan out, Marcus appears willing to allow Kiara to bear the entire financial burden. He regards her insistence that he seek a job as disrespectful of his music goals, and the two grow distant. Yet their history and past difficulties draw them back together, as both are accustomed to relying on the other for emotional support. Ultimately, though Marcus does acknowledge that he was wrong about his musical talents, his involvement in drug dealing seems to cement his future. Kiara, however, does not give up on him; despite the extreme stress the police scandal places upon her, her primary focus remains on doing what she can to see that Marcus is released from jail. She loves him unconditionally, though she does not let him off the hook for the mistakes he has made. Theirs is a complicated relationship that remains so as the novel closes.

Daughter of the owners of a Mexican taqueria, Alé—short for Alejandra—has been Kiara’s best friend since they met in middle school. Kiara admires Alé’s intelligence and is certain that Alé is bound for greatness, though she fears being left behind. Witty and warm, Alé is able to shift the focus from the unpleasantness of real life, and Kiara often turns to her for comfort and distraction. Devoted to her family and their restaurant, Alé is loyal and dependable. Indeed, Alé is one of the few people Kiara can rely on, and her generosity is a sharp foil to other characters’ self-interest. Alé shares food and other resources with Kiara without asking for anything in return, and she even steps in to care for Trevor at Kiara’s request.

Tension arises in their relationship when Kiara reveals that she has been participating in sex work. Alé disagrees that Kiara has no choice in the matter. Her judgment of Kiara is guided by the absence of her younger sister, missing for several years and presumed to have been sex trafficked. Alé views Kiara’s sex work—and especially what she sees as Kiara’s collusion with the same police department that refused to help find Alé’s sister—as a betrayal. With time, Kiara’s lack of agency becomes clear to Alé, and she apologizes for her harsh judgment and gets a tattoo honoring Kiara. In this way, Alé demonstrates her maturity, her loyalty, and her ability to admit her wrongs and seek to remedy them. For these reasons, it seems likely Alé will continue to be an important part of Kiara’s chosen family in the future.

An antagonist to Kiara throughout much of the novel, Mama is a complicated and multifaceted character. Initially she is portrayed as ill equipped to care for Kiara and Marcus. In prison, she cannot support them financially, and she does not appear to be saddened or bothered by this. Instead she remains focused on herself and how Kiara might come to her aid and see that she is granted parole. In many ways, she comes across as immature and irresponsible, more a daughter to Kiara than a mother. Indeed, it can be gleaned that Mama’s incarceration is the result of neglect that led to the drowning of Soraya. Uncle Ty, too, suggests that Mama brings trouble upon herself, insisting that he left Oakland because he couldn’t bear to witness her decline.

Yet her suicide attempt and the death of her husband are clear evidence that Mama’s life has been filled with trauma. The guilt she feels over Soraya’s death appears to have led to Mama’s suicide attempt, and her own life has not been particularly easy, having to care for and raise her children alone when her husband was incarcerated. By the end of the novel, however, Mama’s situation appears more hopeful, as she has been released from the halfway house and is living with a friend. Most importantly, in encouraging Kiara to vocalize her pain and frustration, Mama demonstrates the love she feels for her.

The patriarch of the Johnson family, Kiara’s father was also the glue that held them together. At age 19, he joined the Black Panther Party, becoming a devoted advocate for Black civil liberties and equal treatment. He is respected by other members, and his warmth and charismatic presence quickly win over Kiara’s mother. Unjustly incarcerated in San Quentin State Prison during the early years of Kiara’s life, he becomes a kind of mythological figure for her, emblematic of strength and an unwillingness to give in to oppressive forces. During the short time Kiara has with her father after his incarceration and before his death, his joyful spirit and loving nature are a boon to her, Marcus, and Mama. His death severs the family, indirectly leading to Mama’s decline and Uncle Ty’s desertion. Kiara views herself as the one who must hold together the remaining members of the Johnson family, thus honoring the values her parents instilled in her. As her own battle against Racial and Economic Injustice comes to a head, Kiara draws strength and inspiration from her father’s perseverance and refusal to submit to unjust authority.

Kiara’s nine-year-old neighbor Trevor is high-spirited and full of energy, passionate about basketball and swimming. His life, however, is fraught with poverty and neglect. His mother is often absent, leaving him to support himself, and he resorts to placing bets on basketball to make money. Kiara, who can relate to his abandonment, assumes a parental role in his life, which relieves some of his stress and allows him to just be a kid. But Trevor, like Kiara, is forced to grow up fast. As the novel unfolds, he becomes increasingly aware of his mother’s neglect, and Kiara’s honesty in admitting to him that Dee may indeed be gone for good demonstrates that Trevor does not have the luxury of innocence. His love for Kiara becomes increasingly evident as the novel unfolds—his teaching her to swim and baking a cake for her 18th birthday are scenes that portray him as kindhearted and devoted to Kiara. Though his life is lacking in many ways, Trevor does not complain or deem life unfair. He takes pleasure where he can find it instead. In the end, he and Kiara come to be a source of love and chosen family for one another.