Bronx Masquerade Chapter 1-5 Summary

Wesley "Bad Boy" Boone

First things first, Wesley wants us to know that he doesn't normally do his homework. Dude has tons of excuses for getting out of that stuff.
He's not as bad as his friend, Tyrone, though—Tyrone doesn't even see the point of graduating. He wants to be a big hip-hop star, so why does a high school diploma even matter?
Wesley likes to point out that if Tyrone dropped out of school, he'd have to get a job. Say good-bye to free time for working on songs.
School it is, then, and it hasn't been so bad lately.
Wesley's English class is studying the Harlem Renaissance. His teacher, Mr. Ward, asked everyone in the class to write an essay about what they're reading.
That doesn't make much sense to Wesley. Why read a poem and then write an essay? Why not write a poem instead? And that's what Wesley does.
When Wesley shows his poem about Langston Hughes to Mr. Ward, he suggests Wesley read it in front of the whole class.
Wesley is pretty freaked out, but he's pleasantly surprised when no one laughs at him.
In fact, lots of other kids have poems they might like to read, too.
Mr. Ward tells the kids to bring their poems next time. He also tells Wesley he still owes him an essay. Ha.

What follows is the actual text of the poem Wesley read in front of class.
It's a tribute to Langston Hughes and Harlem and all the ways the poet celebrated the black experience in America.
Yay, Langston.

Tyrone really doesn't like school. And he doesn't think he has much of a future, even though his mom and his friends are always trying to encourage him to think ahead.
This one kid, Steve, even told him he should think about writing plays for Broadway. Broadway? What the heck?
No, the future is for white people, Tyrone thinks; black kids don't stand a chance.
Just look at Tyrone's dad: He was gunned down before he reached thirty years old. So what chance does Tyrone have out there?
But then again, English class is kind of interesting. Mr. Ward reads a poem by Dylan Thomas and it sounds a lot like a rap to Tyrone.
Tyrone wants to be a rapper and a songwriter, so he volunteers to bring in some of his old songs to read to the class.
Mr. Ward tells him to go ahead. In fact, they'll make it a weekly thing. Kids can bring in poems every Friday; they'll call it Open Mike Friday.
And just like that, Tyrone realizes maybe he does want a future after all.

Tyrone's poem starts by taking attendance in his class and then moving onto the problems outside the classroom.
Terrorism, fear, racism, hatred, drugs, police brutality—these are all the things that make up Tyrone's world. It's not fun.
But maybe there's a glimmer of hope: Can poetry make this crazy life better? Can music?

Chankara shows up at school with a huge bruise across her cheek.
Her friends Porscha and Sheila tell her she could do better; Chankara knows they're right.
The last thing she wants to do is end up like her sister, stuck with a string of abusive boyfriends
Last night she told her boyfriend, Johnny, to slow down a little but had to smack him when he didn't get the message. He smacked her right back, though, and hard.
After she kicked that jerk out of the house, she thought about skipping school the next day because of the mark on her cheek. That would mean missing English, though, and Chankara likes Mr. Ward. Sometimes he'll ask her what she knows. If he did today, she'd tell him she's no one's punching bag.