Music

Music symbolizes roots and identity. This is especially apparent in Jelly's sets, which mix contemporary urban American music with Trinidadian and Somalian music, but music also forges intergenerational connection when the partygoers play Michael's mother's records and when Francis and Aisha's father connect over Nina Simone. Music represents the narrative thread that allows second generation immigrant youths to weave the two strands of their identities together.

Hydro pole

The hydro pole that the two brothers climb in the prologue symbolizes social hierarchy. If you make it to the top, you achieve freedom and an understanding of the city below, but if you make one wrong step you die and hang there for everyone to see. For Francis, Michael, and all of their neighbors, social striving is dangerous and there are people like the police or Manny or the bouncer who react with violence to keep them...