Speaker and characters

The poem “please don’t take my air jordans” by Reg E. Gaines is constructed using a first-person lyrical speaker, and it includes one other important character – the boy whom the speaker kills for his sneakers. Also, the speaker mentions his parents. Moreover, he makes references to his peers and those in the group of the victim, which represent a materialistic and discriminatory society in which people are judged by appearances.

The speaker

The speaker of the poem is most likely a young African-American, who is still in school (l. 22). His race is suggested through the way he talks, the clothes he wears – which are typical of African-American hip-hop culture – and the appellative “brothers” (l. 34), commonly used between African-Americans.

The speaker enjoys wearing fashionable clothes, but he is too poor to afford them and usually resorts to stealing them from malls and shops:

and i gots no job no money at all
but it's easy to steal fresh gear from the mall (ll. 9-10)

The speaker makes a references to his parents trying to educate him not to steal and being aware of his behavior, but he does not listen to their advice which indicates that they probably have no authority over him: “parents say i shouldn't but i know i should” (l. 11)

Though he admits that he does not really know why he needs to be fashionable, he also assumes that it must...