57 pages • 1 hour read
After the Shot Drops
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Chapters 1-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Bunny”
Narrated from the first-person perspective by Bunny, the novel begins at the vigil for a teenager named Gabe, who was shot and killed in a public square. Bunny struggles with finding the right words to commemorate Gabe’s life, noting that while he and Gabe weren’t “tight,” Gabe was one of the few students at Whitman who remained friendly with Bunny after he transferred to St. Sebastian’s, unlike Nasir, who stopped talking to him.
A local politician gives a speech at the vigil regarding the need to stop gun violence. Bunny notes how empty it sounds because nothing ever changes.
Nasir and Wallace are also at the vigil. He and Bunny make eye contact, but Nasir turns his back on him and walks away with Wallace.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Nasir”
Like Bunny, Nasir narrates in the first-person perspective. He is riding a bus home with his basketball team after they lost soundly to St. Sebastian’s. Nasir attributes the reason for their loss to Bunny leaving Whitman High and playing for the private school. During the ride, he looks out the window and notes the fancy suburbs surrounding St. Sebastian’s.
Even though basketball is not as important to Nasir as it is to Bunny, he broods about how his exit has negatively impacted the team. He is angry that Bunny did not talk to him about his decision to transfer before making it and concludes that Bunny doesn’t care about him anymore.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Bunny”
Bunny is in his apartment with his sister Jess and his twin siblings, Ashley and Justine. They are all cold because the furnace is broken. Bunny surveys the situation and reflects on the problems facing his family: Jess is studying hard but accruing student loan debt, his mother works graveyard shifts at the hospital, his twin sisters huddle under blankets because the landlord won’t fix the heat, and his father’s bookstore is not doing well. There is a stack of college brochures building up on the table, demonstrating the interest colleges have in recruiting him.
Bunny goes to the neighborhood basketball court to work on his skills. He looks into Nasir’s window and wonders if he is home but does not approach because Nasir is not speaking to him. He reflects on their friendship and how they always used to play together. He proceeds to the neighborhood court and thinks about how he can improve his game. Even though he is cold and alone, he continues to practice.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Nasir”
Nasir is in his apartment when he receives a text from Wallace, his friend and the son of his dad’s cousin. Wallace informs him that he and his grandmother are about to be evicted. Nasir feels bad for Wallace because he knows he has had a difficult life; his father is in jail, and his mother has a drug addiction, her whereabouts unknown. Nasir notes that Wallace and his grandmother live in a nice location, but the rent continues to go up because of new dorms and parking structures being developed.
Nasir offers that, if necessary, Wallace and his grandmother could stay with his family, but he wonders if his parents would agree to help Wallace because they consider him a bad influence.
Nasir hears a bouncing ball outside and looks out to see Bunny. He reflects on Bunny’s incredible work ethic but expresses resentment for him deserting Whitman in favor of “his shiny new friends” at “fancy-ass St. Sebastian’s” (20).
Chapter 5 Summary: “Bunny”
Bunny is in the cafeteria at St. Sebastian’s. He sits with Eric and Drew, fellow players on the basketball team. Eric makes fun of the hamburger Bunny is eating, saying it looks like a “ratburger.” Another player, Clay, overhears the remark and smirks.
Eric and Drew, and two cheerleaders, Stacy and Brooke, suggest leaving campus to go get fast food. Bunny does not have money for fast food and doesn’t want to ask the coaches for any favors because that would violate NCAA rules. Bunny is determined to follow the rules so he doesn’t risk his chances to attend college.
Despite this, Bunny allows himself to be talked into going off campus. They drive away in Eric’s SUV while Eric and the others smoke marijuana. Bunny declines the invitation to smoke because he wants to keep his body fit and healthy for basketball.
The teenagers stop for burritos, but since Bunny doesn’t have any money, he simply smells their food while his stomach growls. He reflects on being one of the few Black students at school, which makes him feel like he doesn’t belong. He tries to keep his talk “kind of white” around his peers but occasionally slips, using terms like “real rap” (26).
He tells Brooke that Nasir came up with his nickname, Bunny, when they were kids because he could jump high. He and Brooke discuss the pressure he feels about the upcoming game. Although Brooke thinks he feels the pressure to play well, Bunny actually feels empowered when he plays because the court is the only place he has control. The pressure he feels comes from his desire to succeed since his family is depending on him.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Nasir”
At school, Nasir has a conversation with Wallace about the eviction he and his grandmother are facing. Wallace informs Nasir that he will find a relative to take care of his grandmother while he finds a way to support himself and live on his own. He says he will live in his car, which he’s named “Nisha,” if necessary. Nasir still wants his parents to take Wallace in, even if it’s only temporary.
Wallace claims he is going to go to the basketball game that night to cheer against Bunny. Nasir says he doesn’t want to go. He then has a discussion with Keyona, who is Bunny’s girlfriend, although Nasir has a crush on her. Keyona tells Nasir that he isn’t doing Wallace any favors by letting him copy his homework because Wallace will not learn that he has to work to succeed. Nasir claims that the situation is not so simple.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Bunny”
Bunny visits his father at the bookstore he owns, Word Up. Bunny reflects on how Word Up was such an essential part of his childhood, although these days, it is struggling to survive. Bunny chats briefly with his father, whom he doesn’t see very much because he works the night shifts and because Bunny is always busy with school and basketball practice.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Nasir”
Nasir is at home with his parents and broaches the possibility of his family helping Wallace and his grandmother. His parents respond that they don’t have the money to help; furthermore, they do not think that Wallace should move in with them. His father says that Wallace would not want to follow the rules of their house. Additionally, his father claims that Wallace should be doing more to help himself, such as working a part-time job. Nasir internally reflects on his anger about the unfairness of Wallace’s situation.
Chapters 1-8 Analysis
Chapters 1-8 introduce us to the novel’s narrative technique, the main characters, and the central conflict. The chapters are narrated in first-person from the alternating perspectives of the two main protagonists, Bunny and Nasir. This allows readers to understand the conflict via access to the internal thoughts of both characters, who agree on the source of the problem—Bunny’s decision to transfer to St. Sebastian’s—but experience its effects and understand his motives in very different ways.
Chapters 1-8 also establish the novel’s setting, the city of Whitman in New Jersey, right across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. The economic and cultural dynamic between Whitman and Philadelphia reflects the dynamic between Philadelphia and Camden, the real New Jersey city that inspired the novel’s fictional setting. Culturally, the teens identify with Philadelphia, a large, urban city with its own local culture and character, but which also deals with poverty, racial and economic disparity, and crime. The novel begins at the vigil for Gabe, a student who was shot and killed. At the vigil, Bunny muses, “Word is the bullet was meant for someone else. Too bad the bullet didn’t know that” (2), indicating that random acts of violence are not unheard of in this environment, though later it is implied that Gabe was the victim of the same creditors who terrorize Wallace. It is also clear that violence is common when Bunny reflects on the politician’s speech, noting, “I’ve heard this song before, so my mind drifts” (3).
The ubiquity of crime is not the only disparity between the neighborhoods of Whitman High and those of St. Sebastian’s. While riding on the bus after getting beaten by St. Sebastian’s, Nasir surveys the surrounding neighborhoods and notes the “big-ass houses” (7). Bunny lives in a row house that he shares with his parents and three siblings, which is freezing because the furnace is broken and the landlord continues to delay repairing it. Nasir’s home is small enough that “it’s basically like [they’re] all in the same room” (41). He does at least have hot water, which cannot be said for Wallace. The students of St. Sebastian’s, meanwhile, live in fancy houses, drive expensive cars with state-of-the-art stereo equipment, and can afford luxuries such as fast food without thinking about it. These settings establish one of the book’s main themes: The Trappings of Poverty.
Chapters 1-8 also establish the diction favored by the main characters. They frequently recount conversations they have with their peers, and these conversations reveal that both teens tend to speak and relay their internal monologues in informal, urban slang. When reflecting on his relationship with Gabe, Bunny notes that they weren’t “real tight” (2). After losing to St. Sebastian’s, Nasir casually swears that his team “got [their] asses handed to [them]” (6). Additionally, Bunny makes attempts to sound less “Black” when speaking to his white peers at St. Sebastian’s. When Eric asks him if he’s sure he’s not hungry, Bunny responds by saying “real rap,” noting that despite his efforts, sometimes his Black vernacular slips out. This ties into the theme of The Intersection of Race and Class since Bunny consistently feels like an outsider who cannot be his true self in an environment dominated by rich, white teenagers.
Despite their use of informal language, both Bunny and Nasir are considerably more educated and wholesome than Wallace, who uses cruder slang. He texts Nasir, “Where u at? Stp touching yrself” (17). The lack of formal punctuation and spelling when texting is not uncommon among teens. Nasir, however, replies by texting, “Sorry…you have a problem. This is a special occasion. What’s up?” (17) Although he is texting his friend, he uses formal writing conventions, which points to an education and an upbringing that values such conventions. The modes of communication favored by the main characters illustrate their discipline—or in Wallace’s case, his lack thereof—to communicate effectively and appropriately in their given context.
Thematically, the first eight chapters introduce the question of who is to blame for Wallace’s predicament. Nasir expresses anger at those he sees failing Wallace—his parents, Wallace’s parents, Wallace’s landlord, and society at large. Nasir’s father, however, tells him that “people also have to help themselves to a certain extent” and claims that Wallace should have a job despite being a full-time student (43). Similarly, Keyona predicts that Wallace “is going to drop out or barely graduate and become another lazy fool hanging out on the corner” (35). She uses the example of her father to support the claim that Wallace should be able to succeed on his own. Nasir notes that she fails to acknowledge the relative advantages her father had and muses, “She doesn’t have any idea what’s going on in Wallace’s life. People always assume they know what others are going through…But they almost never do” (35). The tension between these two positions—Personal Versus Social Accountability—exists throughout the novel and never entirely resolves.
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