“Without a towel, she had nothing to help sop up the water from her saturated locks, which had already begun coming to life. Her hair always dried quick, then rose like sourdough […] It frizzed, growing larger by the second, a massive lion’s mane, a sleeping monster no regular brush could tame.”

This section introduces Maddy’s hair as a symbol for both her racial identity and her identity as a young woman who has inherited magic powers. These have both been kept secret from others, but the metaphor of a “sleeping monster” suggests that it’s only a matter of time until others find out. The metaphor of a “regular brush” being unable to “tame” Maddy’s hair illustrates how she needs a unique upbringing to become her best self—but not the abusive upbringing her father inflicts.

“Struggling to rein in his annoyance, Kenny took one last sip of air before pasting on the standard generic smile he would maintain for the rest of the day. Just about everyone would want to talk to him about Maddy, but he has to remain unfazed, the same composure he kept whenever anything happened to Black people and they wanted unsaid permission from him to speak about it freely. Because if Kenny was okay with it, then it must be okay.

[…]

As the bell rang, he stole another glimpse of the Black kids rushing to class. Other than color, he didn’t really have anything in common with them, or have problems like they did. They were always making a big deal out of anything, blaming everything on racism, arguing with teachers over nothing. Kenny breezed through school, didn’t cause trouble, and had led his team to the state championship, twice […]

Besides, he had real friends […] They were the most popular kids in school, tight since sophomore year, and that brought a set of perks he’d never see otherwise. Who cares if he was the only Black guy in their crew? They never treated him different. They didn’t see color.

So why couldn’t he ever shake the nagging longing to know what the Black kids were thinking?”

The author’s use of omniscient narration allows her to delve into the thoughts of different characters and reveal their internal struggles. Even those who seem to be fine on the outside, like Kenny, have rich inner lives where they constantly doubt themselves in response to the racism, sexism, classism, and bullying going on around them. Kenny’s pretending to be “fine” is a strategy that helps him survive as a Black kid who is trying to become a football star.

“Every inch of the walls in her tight quarters was covered with cut-out pictures of women. White women, in various shades of blond, brunette, and red. In tea-length dresses at cocktail parties. In aprons serving roasted chicken to their husbands. In old Hollywood movie posters. Papa had even gone so far as to paste eyes in the collage. Blue eyes, all staring down at Maddy and her frizzy mane. Real beauties, their hair styled perfectly, milky skin immaculate…everything she could never be.

[…]

She sat on her knees and prayed to be like those women.

Just like Papa had taught her.”

The imagery of Maddy’s prayer closet symbolizes her father’s dangerous romanticization of the past and of whiteness. He wants her not only to be white but also to become a relic of an earlier era, but both fantasies of changing Maddie are impossible.