Pride: A Pride and Prejudice Remix

The book’s protagonist and first-person narrator, Zuri is the second oldest of the Haitian-Dominican Benitez sisters. Her character parallels that of Elizabeth Bennett’s from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. At 17, Zuri is preparing to enter her senior year of high school and making plans for college. She’s hoping to go to Howard University, a historically Black university. One of Zuri’s key traits is her pride—she even entitles her college admissions essay “Pride,” speaking to her pride of her family, heritage, and neighborhood. Zuri’s pride helps to inform her critical view of the gentrification in her neighborhood. Throughout the book, she flags the problematic nature of gentrification, which brings rich families like the Darcys in and pushes poor families like the Benitezes out.

Zuri’s character also explicates the book’s thematic treatment of the complicated, intertwined nature of race and class differences, both relevant to gentrification. For example, seeing her local park full of white people at an arts festival, she notes, “Maria Hernandez Park should probably be called Mary Hernan Park now instead” (64). Zuri’s character’s sharp wit and unrelenting honesty allow the narrative to explore these themes while maintaining a light, entertaining