How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Eventually, they sent me to the Maximum Security Facility at Standish, where a new level of hell awaited. (12.42)
One of the great things Shaka does as a writer is to subtly weave in references to Dante's divine comedy. This is one of the moments when he compares his journey to Dante's travels through hell. It gets the reader's attention, and it suggests that Shaka, like Dante, is slowly transforming for the better through the experience. See Symbols for more.
Quote #8
But this didn't mean that everything I learned or did in the Melanics was positive. This was still prison, still a place ruled by the law of the jungle. And it was through our organization that I became even more practiced in the art of calculated violence. (14.41)
Prison life is full of weird and disturbing contradictions. Example? The Melanics provide Shaka with awesome community support, mentorship, and encouragement to grow in his spirituality and knowledge of African history. But because of the eat-or-be-eaten world of Maximum Security, they also feel like they have to organize to fight back with violence when someone hassles one of their members. It's a strange dynamic, and just one example of how the weird world of prison lands people in complicated situations.
Quote #9
At Standish, we brothers from different organizations had kept to ourselves, but back at the Reformatory, I began reaching out to other crews because I felt that it was important to find common ground with the fifteen hundred young men who were sharing our space. We held different philosophical and theological views, but we had all come from the same hopeless backgrounds, and we were all caught in the gears of the same heartless machine.(14.56)
Shaka eventually starts to turn his talents to connecting different organizations within a prison. It may not solve all the contradictions he experienced with the Melanic Brotherhood, but it's a step in the right direction. The fact that they're all stuck in the same place gives them some common ground to start with, at least.