Long Division

Words: 526
Pages: 3

Long Division by Kiese Laymon is two books within one that explore black teenagers and how they move through life. The book dives deep into how the main character in both books, a black teenager named City, deals with their identity, family, growth, and religion. The two books are split through separate times, with one being somewhat modern mid 2010s and one being from 1985. The book has many themes and ideas within it, but they all seem to revolve around race. This seems to perfectly fit the main argument the book has, which is that race affects everything. Not only does it affect everything, but it isn’t something that is done individually or intentionally by most people, but it is something that is ingrained in American society and has been …show more content…
Since it has the two times separated by about 30 years, it allows the reader to compare the two times and see how the problem has changed over time. Though fictional, Laymon attempts to show that though on the surface things may appear to have gotten better, the same systems still oppress and affect black people in the same way they did. An example of this is when City was in the principal's office right before receiving the “Long Division” book and the principal, though in a position of power, speaks about how black students in the past were super strong, powerful and courageous and how City as a black teen should be the same. Laymon uses this to show the expectations that people have for black people, regardless of the situation. In all, Laymon dives deep using examples like this into the absurd amount of systemic oppression and systemic racism there still is and how it can affect the life of a person. Something I didn’t like in the book was the first book and the situation between City and their