Slay

“I hate, and I mean hate, being ‘the voice of Blackness’ here. At Belmont, where 50 percent of the students are Black, and 70 percent are people of color, Malcolm and I got to be normal. Nobody was asking to touch my twist-out, nobody was asking him about his locs, and nobody was asking us for permission to appropriate Black culture as if we’re the authority for our entire race.”

After Kiera’s best friend, a white girl named Harper, asks if she can have locs, the protagonist grows weary of being treated like “the authority for [her] entire race”. Kiera reflects on the differences between her old high school and her current one, which is both more affluent and far less diverse. Seeing Kiera navigate the physical space of Jefferson Academy helps to explain why she created a virtual space just for Black gamers.

“In SLAY, all I have to explain to people is how the game works. I don’t have to explain the cards. If you play the game, you understand. All this time, I’ve imagined a similar world at Spelman. So where’s the warm, fuzzy sense of accomplishment I thought I’d feel reading this letter? Where’s the relief? My hands are shaking. There’s a knot in my stomach. Whatever I thought I’d feel after tearing open that envelope and reading that blessed word ‘Congratulations,’ it wasn’t this.”

Kiera receives her acceptance letter to a historically Black college located near the school Malcolm will be attending in the fall, but she doesn’t feel the “fuzzy sense of accomplishment” and “relief” she expected. This passage connects to the theme of Navigating Physical and Digital Spaces Impacted by Racism and Exclusion because Kiera longs for the inclusion and community that she believes Spelman will offer—similar to the game she created—but she’s also beginning to feel the pull toward a less traditional path for her future. At the end of the novel, having embraced the pull of the alternate path and reconciling her two identities, she finds the happiness she expected to feel when she opened her acceptance letter. Morris’s novel argues that Black excellence doesn’t need to follow a prescribed path. She supports this by having her protagonist decide that she may not enter college immediately after high school.

“My bald brown head is easy to find in all the photos, usually posing next to a friend who has come to visit for a couple of days, or fellow students at their graduation before they fly off somewhere exciting or home to their families. My university takes only two hundred students per year, and only 10 percent of those are native Parisians, leaving me here in Paris alone in the summer, or in Florence, Italy, with Mamma. Since she got sick, the amount of time I spend in Florence has slowly dwindled. More money for her treatment equals less money for my travel.”

Claire’s narration shows how SLAY offers Black gamers around the world a much-needed community. This chapter also introduces the subplot with Claire’s mother, who is white and dying of cancer. Throughout the novel, hair serves as a motif of the theme of Empowerment and Pride in Black Culture and Heritage. Claire shaves off her hair in solidarity with her mother, and her “bald brown head” stands out among other characters’ hairstyles, showing that her experience as a Black person is uniquely her own and equally valid.

“The name Jeremiah Marshall is plastered under the photo, above the title SLAY Murderer. This guy had a SLAY account—has a SLAY account. He has a character somewhere in the game, and a virtual wallet with SLAY coins in it, and he took the life of another human being because that person wouldn’t return his coins—his game livelihood—after they struck some kind of deal. He murdered a child over something I created.”

In the novel’s inciting incident, Kiera learns that one player in her game has murdered another in real life. What was created as a virtual space of community and celebration is now scarred by Jamal Rice’s death. The murder weighs heavily on Kiera, thrusts SLAY into the spotlight, and sets the rest of the novel’s plot into motion.

“I think back to that day I came home from Harper’s house three years ago, when we both played Legacy of Planets—it was the very first time I was called [the n-word]. After I had finally customized my character, who had to be a dwarf if I wanted to make her skin tone as dark as mine is in real life, I went to the first character I saw on the map—I don’t even remember his username—and he took one look at my character and whipped out that word.”

This passage provides more detail about Kiera’s impetus for creating SLAY by showing the racism and exclusion she experiences in other virtual spaces. Significantly, this discrimination is perpetuated not only by the player who uses the racial slur but also by the developers who limit gamers’ options to play characters with diverse skin tones.

“I remember creating Emerald, making her skin my shade, just a few shades shy of passing the paper bag test. I designed her clothes and built her a house, wondering how I could share her with everyone I knew who needed a world like this. I created a Twitter account under a fake name and sent links to every Black person I followed, urging them to join me on the forum I called SLAY. I never thought the game would get this big, this time-consuming, or this dangerous. I never thought a boy would lose his life because of me.”

Kiera’s description of Emerald and SLAY’s origin story captures the joy of creation—a joy that’s marred by the guilt she feels for Jamal Rice’s death. Kiera’s arc follows her journey toward regaining her sense of pride and happiness in her game. The paper bag test alludes to colorism and exclusion within the Black community, and Kiera fights against these prejudices by building a virtual world open to all Black gamers.

“‘I mean, they said on the news that you have to have a passcode to get in, and only Black people have the passcode, and only Black people are given passcodes. Sure sounds like the game excludes people based on race. That’s the definition of racist.’ ‘How is it even legal?’ asks Wyatt.”

The first time that Kiera life’s work is accused of racism, the accusation comes from one of her closest friends, Harper, and Harper’s little brother. Later in this scene, Kiera’s sister explains why it isn’t racist for Black gamers to want a safe online space for themselves. The exchange allows Morris to address criticisms of Kiera’s game and to challenge simplistic misconceptions of what racism entails. Because of this scene, the protagonist realizes that she could be sued, and she later believes that Wyatt is Dred because of his vitriolic comments about her game.

“I’m sure I look ridiculous standing down here in the dark by myself with my arms in a weird hugging position, and I know there’s no one here with me, but I still feel like I can feel her somehow. I mouth the words ‘thank you,’ and my cheeks burn with tears. I don’t think she’ll ever understand what she’s done for me. To have a place like this where I can be who I am is indescribable. It feels like waking up for the very first time.”

Morris uses multiple first-person narrators to show the diversity of Black people’s experiences and emphasize the importance of SLAY at a time when both the game and its creator feel terribly vulnerable. This chapter’s narrator, Jaylen, is a trans girl who doesn’t feel safe coming out to her family but can be herself in the game. She shows how meaningful Kiera’s life work is to so many players even as the developer doubts herself.

“It’s been a whole day since we last talked, and his last text is still sitting there above this one: ‘I better not find out you play that shit.’ It’s not even a question. It’s a threat. I realize I really don’t want to talk to him, because I don’t want to have to lie. How can I denounce the hundreds of thousands of people I talk to in SLAY? I remember my duel with Q.Diamond and their rainbow-striped face staring at me, and I can’t deny how incredible it felt to realize what this game means to me, and what it means for others.”

Kiera knows that Malcolm despises video games, but this is the first time that he directs his hostility towards her. She recognizes his words for what they are–“a threat.” This passage points to the Challenges of Balancing Multiple Identities because Kiera loves Malcolm and plans to spend the rest of her life with him, but she also has an unwavering loyalty to her players and the community they’ve created together. Malcolm’s rage and threatening tone foreshadow the revelation that he is Dred.

“There’s no way this can be legal. White people under Jim Crow legally kept their whites-only spaces, and to this day, Black-exclusionary spaces still exist, especially online. The fashion industry is predominantly white, Hollywood is still overwhelmingly white, and, as Steph once pointed out, white people had a monopoly on the word ‘nude’ until recently. White people are the standard in so many different industries, but the minute Black people build something for ourselves, we’re wrong for causing division.”

Kiera is devastated by the double standards for white and Black people after Annette Coleman tells her that a discrimination case could be brought against her. Kiera’s consultation with Annette underscores the theme of the Navigating Physical and Digital Spaces impacted by Racism and Exclusion by addressing the disparity of resources, access and opportunity afforded to marginalized communities that comes to bear on any conversation comparing the discriminatory exclusion of Black people due to their race to the creation of safe spaces for marginalized people within white-dominated industries and online spaces.

“Dred: ‘It’s me.’ I just stare at it. I read it over and over. Who is me? I finally work up the nerve to type a response. Me: ‘Do I know you?’ Dred: ‘You had to expect me if you’ve been watching the news.’ A chill goes up my spine.”

Dred makes his first appearance in the game and begins to harass Emerald. Morris signals the threat implicit in Dred’s presence through the “chill [that] goes up [Kiera’s] spine” and his decision to name himself after the infamous Dred Scott decision. SLAY, which offers a sanctuary for Black gamers from the racism and exclusion they experience in both physical and virtual spaces, is now threatened from the inside.

“‘I can’t believe it!’ she says, her eyes measurably brighter. ‘My own big sister is gamemaster of SLAY!’ ‘You’re the only one who knows, Steph. This doesn’t leave this room. Not for anything, understand? I can’t tell anyone else. Now you know why people calling it the ‘SLAY murder’ cuts me so deep. It means a boy my age in Kansas City was killed because of me.’”

Kiera takes a vital step in reconciling her two identities by telling her sister that she built SLAY. The moment is filled with joy as Steph exults in her sister’s achievement. However, Kiera still carries the pain of Jamal’s death, which “cuts [her] so deep.” Steph’s steadfast, protective love proves essential to Kiera’s character arc as the novel continues.

“Malcolm once told me he used to spend every waking moment playing Mario Party 2 when he was little. His mom has always been a working single mom, leaving him home all summer with nothing to do but hold a controller and try to beat his own high score against three CPUs. He didn’t talk to anyone. He had no friends. Until he met me.”

Morris includes Malcolm’s backstory to explain why he detests video games and considers them a distraction that keeps Black people from achieving greatness. His narrow understanding of Black excellence drives a wedge between him and Kiera, prevents her from sharing her identity as SLAY’s creator with him, and ultimately leads him to become Dred and attempt to tear her virtual world down from the inside.

“You are a queen, and this is your game.”

Spade’s words to Emerald offer Kiera strength and solace and demonstrate the support that SLAYers provide one another. His encouragement comes at a crucial moment in the protagonist’s arc—a moment when she feels severe stress from struggling to balance her two identities, trying to decide what to do about Jamal’s death, and worrying that she’s vulnerable to legal action. Spade’s encouragement foreshadows the business partnership Kiera forms with Spade’s player, Maurice Belrose,  that protects SLAY and helps the game reach more players.

“My heart is pounding. It all makes sense. Dred, after Dred Scott, and after the dreadlocks debate. Dred, who clearly has experience playing MMORPGs, like Legacy of Planets. I feel dizzy as the full realization sinks in. Wyatt is Dred.”

In an important development for the plot, Kiera comes to the conclusion that Wyatt is the new player harassing her. The passage connects to the theme of balancing multiple identities because she is both Kiera, Wyatt’s former babysitter, and Emerald, the anonymous developer that Dred is persecuting. Kiera later learns that Dred is Malcolm, not Wyatt.

“Whatever happens between me and Wyatt, I’m proud of what I’ve created. I’m proud to know that I’ve given my people a space where we can be ourselves without limitations, regardless of shade or financial ability. Nobody has to worry about real-life problems here. The police don’t profile us, people don’t gentrify our neighborhoods, and we don’t have to remind people not to touch our hair. And if experiencing that here in my game, just for a moment, makes even one SLAYer rethink their role in the world as a Black person, if it gives them the power to face whatever they have to in the real world, that’s enough to make all of this worth it.”

As she prepares to confront Dred, Kiera cherishes the world she built. Her reflection on the game’s significance highlights the “real-world problems” of racial profiling and gentrification, and passion Kiera feels about combatting that racism and exclusion with an online space she and her fellow SLAYers celebrate Empowerment and Pride in Black Culture and Heritage. This moment represents an important shift for the protagonist because she is wracked by guilt and fear for much of the story and is now taking control of her situation.

“‘If you win,’ I write, knowing the next thing I type might result in mutiny, and that it will definitely result in my inbox being toast, ‘I concede all developer rights, access to all code, and my character, Emerald, to you.’ I shut my eyes behind my headset. I can’t look. I can hear the audience rumble into silence, but I’m afraid that if I read what they’re typing, I’ll completely lose it. To forfeit everything, my game, my world, my character, to this man, scares me in a way that nothing else ever has.”

Morris intensifies the dramatic tension as Kiera explains the stakes of her duel with Dred. She’s risking “everything, [her] game, [her] world,” to stop the person harassing her and the other players. Knowing how many people depend on SLAY for an online sanctuary, a lifeline, and a sense of community makes the duel’s terms all the more alarming.

“Me: ‘You do know that you’re Black enough, right? I don’t know how you got the idea that I would think less of you if I knew you were mixed, but I don’t care. You don’t get to be who you are at school either. You need SLAY as much as I do.’ Cicada: ‘I really, really do. I need SLAY, and I need you.’”

Kiera and Claire’s relationship grows stronger as Emerald defends Cicada’s racial identity and place in the SLAY community. This moment of connection between the two friends is all the more meaningful because the fate of their shared creation hangs in the balance of the climactic duel between Emerald and Dred.

“‘I’m sorry I’ve been away. Come over tonight?’ He’s so close to me now, but his eyes are flashing wildly. I don’t recognize him. ‘Are you okay?’ I finally ask. ‘Am I okay?’ he asks, his nostrils flaring. ‘You got the nerve to brush me off for almost two days and then ask me if I’m okay? I thought you were my queen. You’re supposed to have my back. What happened? Where the hell have you been?’”

Kiera’s relationship with Malcolm deteriorates in a matter of days, underscoring the severe challenges she faces in her efforts to Balance Multiple Identities. This confrontation occurs the day of her match with Dred, and the fact that Malcolm is the anonymous player who has been harassing her adds a further layer of irony to his self-righteous accusations.

“‘Nine hundred to seven hundred! Emerald wins! Emerald wins!’ There are tears in her voice as she screams, and the world joins with her—my world, our world.”

In a climactic moment for the plot, Emerald emerges victorious from her battle with Dred. The protagonist breaks her clavicle in the real world during the final round of her online fight—the injury links her two worlds together and emphasizes her willingness to give her all to defend the community of SLAY. However, Kiera soon learns that, although the match is won, she is not yet out of danger.

“I had to end this game. Emerald owes the world answers. You owe the world answers. You thought you was just gon lie to me, to all of us, without consequences?”

In a final plot twist, Malcom reveals that he is Dred, allowing Morris to explore the ways in which respectability politics and prescriptive definitions of Blackness contribute to the challenge of Navigating Physical and Digital Spaces Impacted by Racism and Exclusion. Malcom’s rant indicates he’s seeking retribution not only for Jamal Rice’s death (for which he blames the virtual persona of Emerald) but also for the secrets Kiera (his real life girlfriend) kept from him, highlighting the inherent tension in Balancing Multiple Identities.

“What am I so afraid of? Loneliness? Isolation? Pushing away the last remaining sliver of the person I was at Belmont? Why is this so hard? ‘He’s not unfixable.’ ‘It’s not your job to fix him,’ she says without hesitation. ‘You don’t know him like I know him.’ ‘You thought you knew him,’ she says. ‘The Malcolm you know doesn’t exist, Kiera.’”

Throughout the novel, Morris positions Steph as the voice of reason in Kiera’s life. She steps in and protects Kiera from Malcolm when the protagonist is unable to protect herself. This scene is foreshadowed by Steph’s debate skills and the way she defends Kiera from Malcolm in the cafeteria. Thanks to her sister’s intervention, Kiera secures a restraining order against Malcolm and is able to move on with her life.

“That feeling that I thought I’d feel after opening that letter from Spelman? That blessed assurance that I’m doing exactly what I was always meant to do? That relief I was so sure I’d get? I get it now, with my whole family right here in my room, watching this duel, both halves of my world converging.”

In the novel’s denouement, Kiera resolves the Challenges of Balancing Multiple Identities in a moment of healing and wholeness that integrates both sides of herself as her parents watch her and Steph duel in SLAY. She no longer feels the need to hide her life’s work from her loved ones, and she basks in “relief” and “assurance” as “both halves of [her] world converg[e].” The reference to the acceptance letter Kiera opened in Chapter 2 emphasizes that the protagonist is pursuing her own form of Black excellence and helps to bring the novel full-circle.