Pride: A Pride and Prejudice Remix

The book’s final chapters provide many transformative moments. Zuri transforms as she goes from distrusting Darius to opening herself up to him completely. Beyond the romantic story arc, her transformation continues in a larger sense, as she prepares to leave for Howard University. Her family’s moving and finally leaving Bushwick is yet another transformation—one that, at the book’s beginning, Zuri would have been ill-equipped to handle. However, by the book’s end, she can—although it’s difficult—handle the Benitez’s displacement, as she realizes: “I have always thought of Bushwick as home, but in that moment, I realize that home is where the people I love are, wherever that is” (270).

Throughout the narrative, Zuri has harped on the dangers of gentrification—she previously noted that the Darcy’s fancy new house would drive up the block’s property taxes (58). The book’s conclusion sees Zuri’s worst fear realized. However, due to her character’s development, Zuri grapples with this tough fate in a balanced manner. She encapsulates the book’s final argument on gentrification in her Howard University admissions essay, in which she writes about the gentrification of her neighborhood: “It’s being cleaned up and wiped out […] Sometimes love is not enough to keep a community together. There needs to be something more tangible, like fair housing, opportunities, and access to resources” (273). Her essay wraps up the book’s argument about gentrification.

The book’s thematic treatment of racism is also concluded in these chapters. When the police arrive, Zuri is concerned for Darius’s wellbeing, as she makes him hide. When Carrie sends the police away without letting them into the house and nothing else happens, Zuri is shocked, saying “Wow. That’s it?” seemingly incredulous that the police visit didn’t escalate. Darius replies, “That’s it. And that’s all that should happen” (246). Zuri implies that law enforcement arriving to a party will logically end in an incident, one informed by racism—such as the police arresting Darius or hurting him. Darius delivers the book’s final word on such issues: The police went on their way, nobody was hurt, and that’s all that should happen.

By the book’s end, both Zuri and Darius have changed. Zuri has put aside her pride and Darius has put aside his prejudice. Darius shows tangible change when he adheres to “street code” by fighting Warren. This moment also puts Darius solidly in the “white knight” role of the book. This is a role that was hinted at in the first chapter, when Darius saved Zuri from getting hit by a bicycle. Now, the narrative has come full circle. In the final chapters, Darius cements his status as the romantic hero. This is further driven home by his romantic gesture, carving “Z + D FOREVER” in front of Zuri’s old home (288). The transformative journeys of Darius’s and Zuri’s characters are reflected in Madrina’s words, as imagined by Zuri: “Rivers flow. A body of water that remains stagnant is just a cesspool, mi amor! It’s time to move, flow, grow” (281).