Keesha's House

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | YA | Published in 2003

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Parts 1-2

Parts 3-4

Parts 5-6

Parts 7-8

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

The Quest for Belonging

Content Warning: The section of the guide discusses substance abuse, drug violence, anti-gay bias, child abuse, sexual abuse, incarceration, and bullying.

The Quest for Belonging links the narratives, as each teen character battles to find a space where they fit in and feel supported. With Stephie and Dontay, the search for acceptance centers on their feelings. Their spaces aren’t inherently precarious. Staying at their respective home doesn’t make them vulnerable to abuse or predation, but Stephie and Dontay uproot themselves because they feel at odds with their environments. Stephie can’t reconcile her pregnancy with her home, which she sees as a synonym for perfection. Dontay leaves his home due to his constant sense of marginalization. About his foster family home, Dontay says, “I feel like I’m beggin’ if I ask for a ride” (8). Stephie and Dontay return to their respective homes, proving that they were tenable spaces. Keesha, Katie, Harris, and Carmen are in spaces where they can’t safely exist. Harris can’t stay at his home since his dad kicks him out. Keesha and Katie’s homes are abusive spaces. Carmen doesn’t belong in the bleak juvenile-detention center. Carmen says, “[E]verything / in here makes me feel dead” (53). Jason knows where he belongs—on the basketball court—but Stephie’s pregnancy upsets his goal, and he worries that he’ll have to give up basketball to become a father.

A few of the adults wrestle with The Quest for Belonging. By providing a safe space for other young people—the kind of space Joe’s aunt gave him when he was young—Joe finds fulfillment. Dontay’s parents are in a similar position to Carmen. Carmen doesn’t belong in the juvenile-detention center, and Dontay’s mother and father don’t want to be in jail: They want to be with their son, and the story ends with a likely reunion. The mothers of Harris and Katie complicate the theme of belonging. The women feel like they belong with their husbands, and the default loyalty makes them complicit. Then again, Katie’s mother’s poem—Chapter 28–indicates that she doesn’t know that her husband is sexually abusing Katie.

Frost names one of the teen characters Dontay, and the name alludes to Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), the Italian poet. In his narrative poem Inferno (1307), the speaker, feeling like he’s lost his sense of belonging, goes on a quest through hell. While the teens don’t literally experience hell, they face adversity, and like Dante’s hero, they survive and end up feeling better and more confident about their place in the world.

The Flaws of Families

The families in the book have a range of shortcomings, and the defects propel The Quest for Belonging. Due to the problems within their specific families, many of the teen characters feel like they can’t fit in or be what their families expect, so they search for places where they feel supported and validated.

The families of Dontay, Stephie, and Carmen have weaknesses, but the families address these weaknesses. Stephie’s mother showcases erroneous thinking when she assumes her daughter “has to do this on her own” (36). As Stephie’s mother and father get Stephie from Keesha’s house and welcome her back home, they don’t let Stephie confront her pregnancy “on her own.” They adjust and help her. Dontay’s family also makes a change. His foster father realizes that the slew of rules don’t work for Dontay, so he becomes malleable. Carmen’s grandmother doesn’t abandon Carmen like Carmen’s mother did, so she counters the flaws of her family. By sticking with Carmen and helping her confront her substance use disorder, Carmen’s grandmother breaks the cycle of substance use disorder that negatively impacted Carmen’s grandfather, aunt, and mother. The book indicates that flawed families are not irredeemable families. When the applicable families face their shortcomings and genuinely try to overcome them, the teens can return to them and feel like they belong.

Keesha, Katie, and Harris can’t return to their families because their families don’t resolve their abusive issues. The mothers of Katie and Harris stand by their husbands and the abuse and prejudice that they represent. Though Keesha’s father appears violent and abusive, he’s not in the same category as Katie’s stepfather or Harris’s father: Keesha’s father is cognizant that he’s not a good father, and he wants to change. He admits, “I wonder—if I went over there and swore / I'd stay sober: first, would she come home?” (40). Since Keesha’s father isn’t confident that he can stay sober for Keesha, he remains too problematic to be around.

As Keesha, Harris, and Katie can't return to their families, they create their own family. Katie describes the dynamic as "sister/sister/brother/ friend" (99). The connection is empowering because it's the product of the three teens. Having formed a family separate from adults, their family doesn't have the flaws that adults carry. However, no family is without weaknesses, and Jason, whose family appears the least negative, senses that unforeseen problems could best Katie, Keesha, and Harris. Nevertheless, Jason vows not to bring adults into the mix.

The Need for Resilience

The Quest for Belonging and The Flaws of Families create the third major theme. To find acceptance and overcome defective and abusive family environments, the teen characters require resilience. They must overcome their respective adversities and figure out how to survive and stay optimistic. In the juvenile-detention center, Carmen feels surrounded by death. Harris associates his identity was death, stating, “[E]veryone would rather die / than be what I am” (28). Carmen finds hope through writing and her grandmother and Harris inherently understand that he shouldn’t die because he’s gay. He then receives additional support from Katie and the people at Keesha’s house. At one point or another, every teen character but Jason gets a boost from Keesha’s house. To get empathy, the characters must first show toughness. Dontay doesn’t go directly to Keesha’s house. He stays at various places, and when he realizes the danger of staying with Jermaine and Dan, he goes to Keesha’s house. Harris, too, toughs it out in his car before Katie tells him about the house. Carmen survives juvenile-detention and confronts her substance use disorder before she becomes a part of the milieu. The prevalence of resilience in the book indicates that safe places and belonging occur through tenacity. Security and acceptance aren’t handouts but the result of hard, dedicated work and self-acceptance.

The preponderance of resilience in the teen characters juxtaposes the lack of resilience in the adult characters. Harris concludes, “Neither of my parents has enough / backbone” (97). His mom lacks the toughness to stand up to his anti-gay father. Similarly, Katie’s mom doesn’t have the strength to confront her husband about why Katie left. The adult teachers aren’t helpful, either. Hyde, the assistant principal, perpetuates anti-gay norms, telling Harris, “There are lots of pretty girls out there” (40). Mrs. Goldstein, Katie’s English teacher, attempts to speak with Katie, but there’s no dedicated effort to reach her. Jason’s coach displays his weakness when he suggests that Jason should choose basketball over fatherhood. The coach exposes his preference when he says, “[Jason] seems to care / about this girl. But you should see him play” (37). The adults have a difficult time reaching the teen characters, and the unstable connection forces the teen characters to compensate with extra displays of strength.