Let Me Hear a Rhyme

How do Mack and Dante illustrate the ways in which the Brevoort neighborhood relies on appearances and silence for power? Use examples from the text to support your points.

When Steph dies, Jasmine now grieves for her brother as well as her father. In what ways do Steph and Mr. Davis’s memories impact Jasmine? How do they impact Mrs. Davis and Carl? How does this illustrate The Complexity of Grief?

How do the viewpoints of Jasmine, Quadir, and Jarrell introduce different aspects of Steph’s character? How does the author’s use of multiple narrators develop the novel’s theme(s)? How would a singular narrator have changed the story?

In what ways do the narrative flashbacks support the novel’s themes? What other uses do the flashbacks serve for the novel’s plot development? Use examples from the text to support your answer.

Comparing Fast Pace to Steph, in what ways are they different? What ways are they alike? How do these differences impact the narrative, if at all? Why do these differences matter and what do they communicate about the Bed-Stuy community in which they both live?

Steph’s legacy lives on after him as his friends and family immortalize him by selling and marketing his music after he dies, illustrating The Power of Music. Why and how does this form of art speak so powerfully to Steph’s community? Analyze one of Steph’s raps line by line as you explain your answer.

How do Jarrell’s inner conflict and Quadir’s past history demonstrate The Limits of Legal and Extralegal Justice within the novel? Why do you think Steph’s friends subscribe to these actions and beliefs? How do they change over the course of the narrative, and why?

Utilizing one of Quadir’s newspaper headlines, craft an article that communicates the story of Steph’s life and death. What are the characteristics his loved ones would have wanted published to their community? How would the newspaper article you write still serve as an information source? Use passages from the text to support your answer.