Piecing Me Together

“Like the universe was telling me that in order for me to make something of this life, I’d have to leave home, my neighborhood, my friends.” 

Early in the novel, Watson establishes that Jade’s primary motivation in life is to escape her social class. This desire presents a moral quandary for Jade: She loves the community she was born into, but she also knows she needs to leave it to achieve success. Woman to Woman, in its approach to advocacy, manifests this contradiction as well.

“But girls like me, with coal skin and hula-hoop hips, whose mommas barely make enough money to keep food in the house, have to take opportunities every chance we get.” 

Jade finds it exhausting to be the object of sympathy. She attributes this to her race (“coal skin”), her size (“hula-hoop hips”), and her socioeconomic status (“whose mommas barely make enough money”). As an object of sympathy, Jade needs to be constantly vigilant, and constantly accepting, of any opportunity presented to her. 

“I think about this as I ride to school. How I am someone’s answered prayer but also someone’s deferred dream.” 

Referencing the famous Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes, Jade wonders if she is “someone’s deferred dream.” Jade reflects on her existence on her bus ride to school and views herself as split: On the one hand, her father tells Jade that she is one of the best things that happened to him. On the other, Jade knows that her mother sacrificed so much to raise her.