37 pages • 1 hour read
Sharon M. DraperDarkness Before Dawn
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Becoming an Adult
Because Keisha and her classmates are high school seniors, they struggle with transitioning from childhood to adulthood. As members of the most advanced class in their school, they see themselves as more experienced than the younger students. While this might be true, they are far from ready to deal with adult problems in the adult world.
One of the most adult problems they will face is whether or not they are ready to engage in sex. Initially, this theme of sexual maturity is introduced by Keisha’s two friends, Rhonda and Tyrone. They’re in love and seem eager for a physical relationship but receive warnings from parents about the risks and consequences involved. Tyrone wisely doesn’t pressure Rhonda to have sex with him. Instead, he talks about waiting long enough to see her in a white dress on their wedding day.
Unlike Tyrone and Rhonda, Keisha is less interested in sex than in the idea of dating someone older. To her, this would be a sign of her maturity. Jonathan deliberately flatters her into believing she is much more of an adult than other girls her age. Unfortunately, Keisha is the only one who can’t see through Jonathan’s transparent manipulations. She and her mother argue about her lack of judgment:
‘He is not too old!’ I argued. ‘I am eighteen years old! I’m grown and I can see who I like! I can take care of myself! When are you going to let me grow up?’ ‘You think you’re grown-up, Keisha,’ my mother sighed, ‘but if you have to tell people you’re an adult, that means you’re not. Grown folks never say, “I’m grown”’. (151).
Despite her mother’s words, Kiesha continues to believe that she is a grown-up who can handle a grown-up relationship. On the night when Jonathan attempts to seduce her, he keys on this same notion:
‘I told you to just relax!’ he repeated. ‘Quit acting like such a baby!’ I was terrified. I no longer felt like an adult. I felt like a child who had jumped into the deep end of the pool and I needed help, quickly. I wanted my mom, my dad, daylight—anything to get me away from this golden-eyed creature who held me against my will (193).
Keisha has been flirting with adulthood but almost getting raped convinces her that she’s in over her head. Fortunately, she escapes in time. The downside of this experience is that Keisha is so ashamed of her foolish behavior that she can’t bear to accept support or forgive herself. The real lesson she learns from her relationship with Jonathan is that adults make mistakes, but they must accept help and learn to forgive themselves.
Conspiracies of Silence
Jonathan is able to operate as a successful sexual predator because nobody is willing to talk about his shocking behavior. The conspiracy of silence that surrounds his actions allows him to commit rape with impunity. Jalani senses that secrets protect him and advises Keisha accordingly:
Jalani was quiet for a moment. Then she told me, ‘There’s an old Ibo saying: ‘Beware of the gift wrapped with silence. The snake hides under a silver moon.’’ Her words made me shiver, but I refused to let Jalani know. ‘I’ll be careful, Jalani. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself. What could possibly happen?’ (168).
Keisha’s rhetorical question is answered by Jonathan’s devious methods of keeping his victims quiet. He knows they feel shame and don’t want their mistakes revealed publicly. Jonathan suggests as much when he tells Keisha that nobody will believe she was an innocent party to their clandestine affair. He also uses other forms of emotional blackmail to silence his victims. He tells Rita that he will expose her faked exam grades. When this ploy fails, Jonathan threatens to kill her. As a result, she leaves town for good rather than calling out her attacker.
Jonathan creates a conspiracy of silence with his victims, but he also receives tacit support from his family. His father is a school principal who doesn’t want to create a scandal. Even though Mr. Hathaway sends his son for therapy, this does no good. On the night Jonathan attacks Keisha, his family helps him get away. His father tells the Montgomery family, “That night, his stepmother, who is a doctor, was able to put the necessary stitches in his face. I drove him to Lexington, Kentucky, where I have cousins. I know it was wrong, but he is my son” (264).
The only way to end Jonathan’s career as a sexual predator is for his victims to speak out publicly, no matter how embarrassing the consequences might be. Keisha initially refuses to follow this course:
When my friends came to my house, I locked my bedroom door and ignored their knocks. I know it hurt them, but I couldn’t help it. I refused to talk to the police, and I wouldn’t sign the statement pressing charges. I was supposed to go to group sessions for victims of crime, but I refused to get dressed. I just lay in my bed and faced the wall. Two weeks passed, and I still couldn’t move on (216).
Like all of Jonathan’s former targets, Keisha hides behind a wall of silence, which is exactly what enables him to continue his activities. Fortunately, Rita breaks through that wall and helps Keisha to understand that the only way to take down a sexual predator is by destroying the conspiracy of silence that protects him.
Survival Through Support
The teenagers of Hazelwood High have experienced more than their fair share of heartache. The preceding year, their classmate Rob died in a car accident. Andy, the driver of the vehicle, can’t live with the guilt of driving drunk and shoots himself in April of their junior year.
The rest of Keisha’s circle reacts to these deaths by supporting each other emotionally. As senior year progresses, they will find several more reasons to rally around one another. Angel collapses from anorexia while trying to pursue her love of dance, but her brother and friends help her to recover. Joyelle gets into a car accident because she can’t stand her parents arguing and is still grieving the death of her brother Rob. Again, Keisha’s inner circle goes to Joyelle’s aid and offers support while her parents try to mend their broken relationship.
Although Keisha is often the person who rallies the rest of the group, she herself needs that same support after Jonathan’s attack. Ironically, the person who is so willing to offer help is unwilling to take it. Keisha is even afraid to confront her mother until Edna gives her some wise advice:
‘What should I tell my mother?’ I wailed then. ‘The truth!’ Edna said emphatically. ‘Yo’ mama loves you. She’s probably lookin’ for you right now. She’ll forgive whatever needs forgivin’, and she’ll help with whatever you need help with. I know. I was a mama once’ (204).
Keisha comes to believe that her parents will forgive her, but she isn’t so sure about her friends. Again, it requires the intervention of a third party to bring her around to a more constructive outlook. Rita offers Keisha some tough love while she’s languishing in depression by saying:
‘You gotta go back to school—with your head held high. You beat him, Keisha! You won! Let your friends help you. What kind of friend turns her back on folks when they’re offering love and support? […] Give them the chance to love you, Keisha. Give yourself the chance to love yourself (225).
By the end of the school year, all those who have suffered trauma have found a way to heal with the help of their family and friends. If they had tried to face their problems alone, they would have failed. It is Keisha who articulates the value of this support in her graduation speech:
We, the members of this graduating class, are joined together forever in a circle of friendship and memories. We have read of death in our history books; we have seen death’s face up close. We have studied the problems of society; we have seen how those problems can devastate a friend. Because of our unusual difficulties, we have become stronger. Our shared tears have become the glue that binds us together in love (270).
In learning this lesson, the seniors of Hazelwood High have mastered the most important skill that high school can teach them. They are ready to face life as adults in the adult world.
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