“Listen, when you’re a black man in America you live with the weight of people’s low expectations on your back every day. They can crush you right down to the goddamn ground. Think about it like it’s a race. Everybody else has a head start and you dragging those low expectations behind you. Choices give you freedom from those expectations.”
As a story about the black experience in America, it delves into the socioeconomic inequality suffered by the minority groups. While Bug is a reformed man putting in honest work to take care of his family, the financial pressures keep reminding him of this inequity. Dedicated to providing and guiding his two sons he is forced to express the realities of black men in American society. In the statement, Bug asserts the low expectations society places on minorities exacerbated by racial discrimination and institutional racism. Therefore, the only way out for a black person is to have as many choices as they can have to free themselves from the shackles. Though the availability of multiple choices is quite low, that is the challenge to overcome towards gaining true freedom.
“If you drive like you scared, you gonna lose. If you drive like you don’t want to have to rebuild the whole engine, you gonna lose. You gotta drive like don’t nothing else matter except getting to that line. Drive like you fucking stole it.”
Bug was led to the criminal underworld by his father who imparted in him all the lessons he applied in his former life. Now as a responsible father and husband, he only wishes to leave his past behind away from the criminal activities. The statement is a memory of what his father used to say about the art of driving and the life philosophy to adopt. Therefore, this is the side of himself that Bug battles with daily while living a legitimate life as an auto mechanic. He is torn between the conflicting feelings especially when the criminal world comes beckoning. Taking on the heist reminds him that deep down he lusts for this life, proving that Bug still believes in this way of life.
“A mistake is a lesson, unless you make the same mistake twice.”
Everyone can have a second chance in life since reinventing oneself is always a decision away. Bug was introduced to crime as a young person with his father on his side hence this is his redeemable mistake. Though the statement highlights a situation where Bug was ripped off in his starting days, it echoes the message in the narrative. With the disappearance of his father acting as another motivation to leave that life behind, Bug rectifies his ways and does honest work. This time, Bug is forced back to the criminal life by the financial situation and circumstances as a family man. Though this makes him a sympathetic character despite his choices, this is certainly a mistake—which he acknowledges along with its consequences.
