Pride: A Pride and Prejudice Remix

This cluster of chapters includes some pivotal turning points. One pivotal turning point occurs when Ainsley breaks up with Janae. The incident confirms Zuri’s fear that the class difference between the Benitez and the Darcy families is too great for a romantic relationship to overcome. While Janae questions Ainsley’s reasons for breaking up with her, Zuri suggests: “I know exactly what happened. He met your family” (121). The cocktail party epitomizes the wealth and class disparity between the Benitez and Darcy families. Zuri’s feeling that her family is painfully out of place in the Darcy’s world starts as soon as they enter the party and she sees Mrs. Darcy look at Mama’s shoes: “I look down too, to see Mama wearing her leopard print platform stilettos […] My face gets hot with embarrassment because I knew that this wasn’t the kind of party for those kinds of heels” (108). Adding to the embarrassment, Mama Benitez brought aluminum pans of food containing dishes like Dominican pastelitos and griot (Haitian fried pork). Given that the Darcy’s party is catered, this isn’t a fitting gesture. Food also serves throughout the book to highlight the diversity of the Benitez family (Haitian-Dominican) and of the Bushwick neighborhood in general. The juxtaposition of the formal, catered event to the Benitezes’ homemade meals illustrates another layer of differences between the families.

Zuri’s experience at the Darcy’s cocktail party adds depth to her character, providing insight into why Zuri is so fiercely proud of her family and her neighborhood. Ainsley’s expression when he learns what Layla said about Janae and him—essentially calling Janae a gold digger—is familiar to Zuri: “I recognize that look. […] It’s the look that assumes that Mama is a single mother, that she’s on government assistance, that she beats us when she’s tired, that we all have different fathers, that we live in the projects, and that we’re ghetto. Everybody used to look at us like that—white, black…” (113). Zuri says that this is when she perfected her “Bushwick mean mug” in response to these looks (113). It becomes clear that Zuri’s pride is, in part, a defense mechanism.

The Darcy’s fancy cocktail party is juxtaposed by the party at Madrina’s Zuri attends later that same night. The Darcy’s party is in their fancy mini-mansion; it has people standing and talking while black-clad cater-waiters passing trays of wine. Madrina’s party is in her basement; it’s noisy and spirited, with drummers and dancing—when Zuri dances, people even throw money at her. While Zuri is embarrassed and uncomfortable at the Darcy’s, she feels at ease in Madrina’s casual atmosphere.

A second pivotal turning point in these chapters occurs at Madrina’s party. After Zuri is done dancing, she feels transformed: “Something brand-new stirs inside and all around me, as if I’ve been turned inside out. I immediately know that this was more than just a dance, and maybe Madrina was right all along. Maybe there is something in these spirits” (126). Zuri was dancing to Madrina’s song about Ochún, the Santería river goddess of love—and, at the party’s end, Madrina calls Zuri a “daughter of Ochún” (126). The scene highlights that Zuri may finally be ready to open herself up to love. Zuri’s transformational moment—opening her up to love—at Madrina’s sets her to open her mind to the possibility of a romance with Darius.

A third pivotal turning point in this cluster of chapters occurs when Zuri visits Howard University in Washington, DC, Zuri previously expressed reluctance to change, both in personal life and in her surroundings. However, her experience in DC shows her that there are other places and ways to feel “at home” in the world beyond the confines of her Brooklyn neighborhood. After she finishes her poetry reading at Busboys and Poets, she notes, “That’s when I know this place can be an extension of my block too, like home” (154).

These chapters also explore the complicated relationship between classicism and racism. Pride demonstrates that classicism and racism are intertwined in American culture. The Darcys are presented as an anomaly, being a rich Black family that’s gentrifying the hood.” Darius’s character continues to epitomize this difficulty—for example, when Warren tells Zuri about Darius: “He’s black, but he ain’t that black, feel me?” (132). Darius’s inability—or lack of desire—to adhere to “street code”, the way he dresses, the way he talks prevent him from fully fitting into the Bushwick community in Warren’s and Zuri’s eyes. It also prevents Darius from claiming a genuine “Black” identity, as Zuri and Warren know it.

As a victim of prejudice herself, Zuri is also aware of the fact that—when it comes to class prejudice—people of all races can be guilty of this. In response to the disapproving looks her family gets at the Darcy’s cocktail party, she notes: “I recognize that look. […] It’s the look that assumes that Mama is a single mother, that she’s on government assistance, that she beats us when she’s tired, that we all have different fathers, that we live in the projects, and that we’re ghetto. Everybody used to look at us like that—white, black…” (113). Zuri’s note that her family is judged by white people and Black people alike underscores her awareness of just how deeply embedded class judgments are in American society.