Promise Boys

Trey is the second protagonist and point-of-view character in the novel. He is Black and was raised by his uncle, “Uncle T,” who took custody of him after his father died at a young age. His mother has a substance use disorder and lives in New York City but comes to Washington, DC, to support Trey after he is questioned by the police. The students who talk about Trey have mixed views of him. Some view him as kind, like Solomon, to whom Trey gave his belt so that he wouldn’t get in trouble for his uniform, while others view him as a bully. He constantly gets in trouble in school for making jokes and is viewed by many as the class clown. He is also one of the best basketball players on the Promise team, earning the respect of his peers and his teachers by bringing success to the school.

Like J.B., Trey learns to value friendship as he begins to work with the other boys to solve Principal Moore’s murder and exonerate himself. Additionally, he strengthens his relationship with both his mother and Uncle T, emphasizing the value of family in overcoming the murder accusations against him. When he gets invited to meet at the park for the first time to discuss the murder, he comes home to find his mother waiting for him in his room. Expecting the brutality that he normally faces with Uncle T, Trey is instead met with trust and understanding. His mother joins him when he goes to the park, providing him with respect and support from an adult figure for one of the first times in his life. As a result, when he later speaks with Uncle T about the gun, he is able to open up and discuss the impact of Uncle T’s harsh treatment for the first time. As he breaks down in tears, Uncle T responds with empathy and understanding, giving hope that they will build a better relationship moving forward.

Ramón is a Salvadoran student who moved to Washington, DC, several years ago with his abuela and cousins César and Magdalena. He is a point-of-view character for part of the novel and a protagonist. Because Ramón had to learn English when coming to the United States, he often struggles to express himself in English—especially when confronted by stress and anxiety. As a result, he is viewed by many of his peers as unintelligent, as he instead chooses to remain quiet and isolated.

Central to Ramón’s character is the internal conflict between who he is expected to be and who he wants to be. Because of his skin color and his family, Ramón is feared by many of his peers, who assume that he is part of the Dioses de Humo, the Salvadoran gang that César leads. For example, when his classmate Tony talks about him, he notes, “When I think about what Ramón said that day—that he was saving money for his stash—I wonder what he meant. Was he selling drugs? […] What if I helped him pay for a gun by buying pupusas?” (111). Despite these misperceptions, the reality is that Ramón is dedicated to helping his abuela and saving money to start a career for himself. César constantly pressures Ramón to join the gang, insisting that he is wasting his time by attending school because people with their skin color never achieve success through hard work. Ramón constantly rebuffs this pressure, instead insisting that he wants to become a chef. He is a static character who does not change, which emphasizes his commitment to creating a successful future for himself.

When César is arrested thanks to Moore, Ramón is directly confronted with this conflict. He is given the choice to get revenge on Moore with the Dioses or to continue to stay away from the gang. Although he struggles with this choice, he ultimately decides to tell Ever to back down, emphasizing his goodness and his dedication to resisting society’s expectations.

Moore is the principal at Promise school and is murdered at the start of the novel. He is also the founder of the school, having developed the “Moore Method” to educate students of color in Washington, DC. Because he has created the punitive educational system at Promise, he remains one of the novel’s primary antagonists even in death. He has confrontations with each of the three boys on the day of his death, using both verbal and physical abuse to discipline them. Through the perspective of Mrs. Hall, the reader learns that he was not always this way toward his students but instead developed his restrictive, prison-like policies because of the attention and fame it brought to Promise. While some of his policies produce results, the characters in the novel also highlight the psychological harm that these policies create. As J.B. notes, “[E]verybody (including my mom) thinks Promise is better and so perfect because of the college acceptance rate. Little do people know, Promise finds any reason to expel a kid once they realize the student has zero chance of getting into college” (37). Ultimately, Principal Moore is killed because of years of fraud and embezzlement, as he worked with Ennis to steal money from the school’s Promise Fund and then refused to give part of the money to Dean Hicks when he found out. This fate emphasizes Moore’s irredeemable nature. While some of what he does is positive for his students, in the end, he is corrupted by power and greed.

Uncle T is the brother to Trey’s mother. After Trey’s father died years before, Uncle T took custody of Trey since his sister struggled with substance use disorder. A former marine, Uncle T uses verbal and physical abuse to discipline and control Trey. As Trey notes, he is often intoxicated when Trey comes home from school, doing “the same thing every day. [He] [g]oes to work, exercises, drinks beer, watches TV, and cleans his gun. And when he isn’t doing those things, he’s bossing [Trey] around” (95). Uncle T is one of the antagonists in the text, as he abuses Trey even when he does nothing wrong, refusing to listen to Trey’s reasoning for why he is late or why he gets in trouble. To Trey, “Uncle T already has his mind made up about [him]. Just like those teachers down at Promise” (95); no matter what Trey does, Uncle T will see him as in need of punishment and strict control.

Despite his abusive nature, Uncle T is a complex character. Several factors in Uncle T’s past contribute to his decision to raise Trey in the way that he does. His time in the Marines has made him strict and controlling; he was forced to raise Trey from a young age, completely removing him from his home and accepting responsibility for him; and it is implied that he was also raised in an abusive household, continuing the cycle of abuse when raising Trey. Although these factors do not excuse Uncle T’s behavior, they suggest that he is caught up in systems of violence that extend beyond himself. When Uncle T is finally able to acknowledge them in his conversation with Trey, there is hope that he will change for the better moving forward.

Omar is a minor character in the novel who ultimately helps solve the murder of Principal Moore. He is largely absent from the text, mentioned only in passing by a few characters as someone who works in the office. He is quiet and reserved, mostly filming and photographing the events at the school instead of participating in them. He has a few point-of-view chapters in the novel, but they are titled as “Nobody” up until the final one. In these chapters, Omar emphasizes his desire to be isolated and remain separate from the events of Moore’s murder, using the word “invisible” to describe himself. However, he changes throughout the course of the text, choosing to provide video evidence of the murder during Moore’s memorial. In this way, Omar’s character emphasizes The Value of Family and Friendship. Once he talks with the three boys, he realizes that he can no longer stay out of the events. Instead, he values their friendship, choosing to help them and bring justice to Dean Hicks and Ennis.