The Darkness Prospers

Jeff Vega

Blog #2

The Darkness Prospers

Do you ever feel closed into a corner, feeling as if you have nowhere else to hide because you’ve ran as far as you could? Thai Williams has felt this way since he has moved to Charlotte from D.C. to hide from the murder he has committed.  I explained in my first blog how Thai’s Crime went down, how that lifestyle is fairly new to him, and how he has been hiding from his problems. The Darkness, which is a symbol throughout the whole book, seems to be forming him into a different person, something Thai has never expected.

Committed out of jealousy and anger, Thai wishes that he could just forget about his crime and lead the normal life he’s used to. But even if he is a couple hundred miles from home, trouble seems to still make its way into his life in Charlotte. Thai tries to keep his mind busy by hanging out with friends and going to the local club. As the night goes on, he dances with Alicia, the girl he has been seeing even though she has a boyfriend. Thai isn't proud of it, and he knows he has to be lowkey because he believes that her boyfriend is the guy who punched him the face, causing him to lose sight of his attacker. With his pride high and his reputation as a real gangbanger needing to be preserved, he is determined to find this coward and show him who  he  messed with. He even warns Alicia to “ tell ya mans this; once he stops hiding, I’ll stop looking, ya heard?” (pg. 138) But, as expected, Alicia’s boyfriend comes into the club, sees Thai dancing with Alicia, and runs up behind him to punch him in the back of the head. This time, Thai tries to fight back,  saying that he’s “..gonna kill that stupid ni**a! He hits me and I’m gonna hit him where it kills!” (pg. 126) But when things start to unravel and he starts taking more hits to the face, he reaches for his gun, the same gun he killed Nick with. Is he about to take another man's life over his own pride? Did the Darkness swallow him whole? Is he too far gone? Those are the questions that render throughout the book.

Thai was never about the street life; he does live in the more violent part of his neighborhood, but it never meant he was good and well with the ways that his friends acted, and how they went about to take care of business. But because he had already killed someone, it seems he has let that get to his head. He’s losing sight of what’s important, laying low so that his name can be cleared back home so that he can return to D.C. I’d recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a reading that is more realistic fiction, to anyone who likes the suspense and funny moments that lay within a piece of literature. This book is not a short read, but it is definitely worth it.