Character Analysis: All American Boys

When authors write a book they usually follow the steps of characterizing a character, creating a tone, or developing a theme using different writing techniques. These techniques are evident in All American Boys when Rashad goes to Jerry’s to buy himself some chips and accidentally bumps into a lady. The worker at the store mistook his open duffel bag as him stealing which caught the cop's attention. The cop also mistook him for trying to steal some chips due to the way his duffel bag was placed, eventually restraining him. In the text, All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely the authors characterized both Rashad and the cop using word choice, figurative language, and sensory details to demonstrate the problems black men face against white police officers. The first technique the author

The authors use word choice to highlight a narrative that is seen when black people deal with cops. The use of words seen by the authors helps to paint more of a negative tone to the reader to help them understand the situation in a different light. As Rashad tried to explain to the cop what happened his “hands were already up, a reflex from seeing a cop coming toward me (Kiely Reynolds 21).” The negative tone in this quote shows us the almost everyday procedure that black people respond to because of the fear of losing their lives. The part in the quote where Rashad puts his hands up as a reflex shows us that he has most likely been trained at home to cooperate with the police especially since his dad is a police officer. Similar to Rashad the authors use the same technique to instead