47 pages • 1 hour read
After Tupac and D Foster
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Themes
The Impact of Cultural Icons on Adolescents
Content Warning: This section contains discussions of race, racism, racial identity, anti-gay bias, gun violence and fatalities, wrongful conviction/imprisonment, and the foster system.
One idea that Jacqeline Woodson explores throughout the novel is the huge impact that cultural icons such as Tupac Shakur can have on adolescents as they are growing into their identities and thinking about their futures. The events of Tupac’s life and the content of his music are intertwined with the narrator’s and her friends’ own experiences. Not only do they see themselves reflected back in him, but they also see a model for what their lives could become in the future—for better or worse. The way Woodson portrays the girls’ intense connection with Tupac encapsulates a common adolescent experience. Many teens have an icon that is important to them, and even adults might recall a famous person they identified with or idolized during their adolescence.
Just as every individual has their own reasons for relating to a cultural icon, Tupac means different things to different people in the novel. D and Jayjones talk about how he speaks for them and tells their stories. As a child in foster care, D can relate to his feelings of abandonment while his mother was in prison. For Jayjones, Tupac represents both possibility and danger: Jayjones dreams big about playing basketball and being able to buy his parents a new house, but he also becomes more aware of how fragile his future success is because the police are predisposed to target him. The narrator and Neeka don’t have as much of a personal connection to Tupac, but they understand how D and Jayjones do and are just as distraught when he is shot and facing jail time.
As a representative of an older generation, the narrator’s mother does not share the same adoration for Tupac as the younger people in the community; she doesn’t like his “gangsta” persona and the negative influence he could have on young people, but she does believe he deserves a fair trial and to not be presumed guilty because of his appearance. She is just as consumed by the media reports of his shootings and trial and shares in their disappointment when he is found guilty and is later shot to death.
Biological Family Versus Found Family
Another big idea in the novel is that people don’t have to be biologically related to you to be your family, and, by the same token, just because a person is related to you doesn’t mean that they will always be there for you. The characters in the novel build their own family with the people they’re close to. They care for each other in all the ways that families do and are fiercely protective of each other.
D Foster’s mother abandoned her, and she doesn’t know who her father is. She spends years going in and out of foster care before she finds Flo. She does not seem particularly close to Flo, but Flo provides her with the stability she needs and allows her to build a family with her new friends, the narrator and Neeka. They welcome her into their family and they become sisters. The narrator’s and Neeka’s mothers care for D as if she’s their own child. When D’s mother comes back, D is overwhelmed because she doesn’t know if she can trust her mother the way that she can trust the family she found with the narrator and Neeka.
Similarly, the narrator’s own biological family consists of just her and her mom—she has no siblings and no contact with her father. However, both of them have become a part of Neeka’s family. The girls spend the night at each other’s houses, take care of Neeka’s siblings, and go to church together. The arrangement is mutually beneficial: The narrator and her mother get the benefit of a bigger support system, and the narrator feels as if she does have siblings. Meanwhile, Neeka can escape her large family by going to the narrator’s house, and her vigilant mother knows she will be safe and cared for by the narrator and her mother.
In a community where families are often fractured due to mass incarceration and other features of systemic racism, it is crucial that friends and neighbors build new families to redistribute care tasks, support each other through hard times, and celebrate triumphs together. In After Tupac and D Foster, Jacqueline Woodson demonstrates how these strong and deep relationships can turn friends into family.
Finding Your Big Purpose
Early in the novel, D tells the other girls that while Tupac was in jail, he started talking about his “Big Purpose” and discouraging other young men from getting involved with gangs and other activities that could land them in jail or set them back. He says that figuring out what your Big Purpose, or reason for living, is and staying focused on achieving it will keep you out of trouble. The three girls talk about finding their Big Purpose frequently throughout the book.
When D tells the girls that her mother has not been present in her life, she suggests that maybe her mother’s Big Purpose got “scattered” and she needed to go find it. This is a generous perspective for a 12-year-old girl to take on why her mother abandoned her. Later, when she is leaving to join her mother, D tells the girls that their friendship was her Big Purpose. She feels a sense of accomplishment by becoming part of their family.
When the narrator and Neeka are on the bus to visit Tash in jail, Neeka says that she believes her Big Purpose is to be a college professor. This surprises the narrator because Neeka does not seem particularly academic, but she has a strong desire for people to listen to and respect her, perhaps because she doesn’t feel she is heard in her large family. She says maybe she’ll study law so she can be a lawyer or law professor and help young Black men like Tash, Jayjones, and Tupac get fair trials and stay out of prison. For Jayjones, playing basketball is his Big Purpose because he loves to play and he is working hard to do well in school and stay out of trouble so that he can play in college; his love of basketball helps him do well in other aspects of his life, too. Tash’s Big Purpose may be playing the piano. His teacher, Mr. Randall, told him that his hands would save him, and he believes him. As a Black gay man, Tash has experienced hate and violence from within his own community, and playing the piano brings him joy and peace.
Though the narrator never talks about her own Big Purpose, it does seem as if her job was to preserve the memory of this special time in her and her friends’ lives. Perhaps she became a professional writer like the author herself, or maybe she is writing down her memories for her own use. Either way, the text makes clear that she has a gift for observation and for recognizing the significance of particular moments. As she reflects on her life, she is able to understand and appreciate that complicated and bittersweet time because of her ability to write about it so well.
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