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Punching The Air By Ibi Zoboi And Yusef Salaam

1288 Words6 Pages

William Wells Mrs. Holliday Honors English 10 April 10, 2024 Navigating Injustice. In the New York Times bestseller, Punching the Air, written by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam, Amal Shahid is wrongly convicted of a crime and sent behind bars for an indefinite amount of time. Through the inviting style of free verse, readers are engaged and able to grasp the harsh realities of the criminal justice system and the racial discrimination Amal faces throughout his process in the juvenile center. In the first stages of Amal’s incarnation, he struggled to maintain his humane societal identity while letting his situation take over his character, but as other factors arose, Shahid was able to gain back his identity, and live his life behind bars with more aplomb. In a life where everything around you is dying …show more content…

Furthermore, Amal has always had the word artist painted in bold letters centered on his chest. But, due to the biased and unjust art department at his old school, his passion for art started to encroach on his motivation and attitude towards other things in the early stages of incarceration. As Amal starts to attend poetry class, and draw a few paintings here and there, he starts to feel the autonomy of his art, away from his old racist and prejudiced teacher, Mrs Rinaldi. As Imani presents the opportunity for Amal to paint over a massive mural, an opportunity to tell his story and express his emotions, he instantly replies, “This feels like/like growing wings/like flying/ and I know I know/ that this time/ my punches will land on a wall/my punches will be paintbrushes,” (Zoboi and Salaam 348-349). Amal finally has the opportunity to assert his voice to the people around him, to confront the injustices he was faced with, and punch the unfair and racist filled air. Zoboi and Salaam do a great job of incorporating the symbolism of a fist and the act of “punching the air” to

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