Justyce

Justyce McAllister is the 17-year-old protagonist of Dear Martin. He was born and raised in a non-affluent, majority-black neighborhood of Atlanta he refers to as “the ghetto,” but he attends Braselton Preparatory Academy on a scholarship awarded for his high academic achievement. Justyce is slow to admit his feelings, but affectionate and loyal once he has—for his mother, for example, or Manny. At the novel’s opening, Justyce is just another teen with a turbulent love life and ambitious Ivy League college plans. He feels some discomfort being one of only a handful of black students at his school, but he is certain that once he achieves his law degree, the world will recognize his success and stop judging him like once of “THOSE black guys” (12).

The novel’s plot is entirely in service of Justyce’s growth as a character, particularly his journey from his first...