Before the Ever After

“Part 2: The Ever After” represents ZJ, his family, and his friends adjusting to the changes in identity, relationship roles, and the future they envisioned. While the family doesn’t have a diagnosis, they do begin to get more clear that Zachariah Sr.’s illness doesn’t have a quick or easy solution. This half of the story is more plot-driven than the previous half, which also symbolizes the family’s moving forward and letting go of the past.

“Visit” begins with ZJ’s mom and dad traveling to a doctor’s appointment in Philadelphia, to meet with a specialist who doctors in both New York and New Jersey have recommended. The parents leave ZJ home alone, and he passes the time walking around the house, soaking in the memories of his father’s past. He cries, mourning what used to be. Woodson chooses this moment as the first scene in the second half of the book to represent the beginning of ZJ’s grieving process. It’s the low point that follows the emotional chaos of the last poem. ZJ’s allowing himself to be sad and process his feelings will also help him begin the path to acceptance. 

ZJ and his parents still cling to memories, even as they make new ones. ZJ begins to take ownership of Daddy’s stories, telling them to himself in poems like “Pigskin Dreams,” “Before Tupac and Biggie,” and “Some Days.” The stories include memories like why ZJ’s daddy wanted to play football and the day ZJ was born. Usually, Daddy tells these stories to ZJ, but Woodson has ZJ recall them to symbolize that ZJ is growing up. The stories also symbolize ZJ’s father passing on his legacy via memory, providing ZJ with joy and wisdom embedded in each story. 

In “Before Tupac and Biggie,” Daddy tells ZJ to write down something about pockets grease-stained from food, which ZJ doesn’t find inspiring. Daddy explains that great songs come from the everyday things like, “something / you thought wasn’t worth remembering / [that] gets remembered anyway” (104). Daddy’s insight reflects his own coming to terms with his illness. Despite the moments when he is afraid and sad that he’s forgotten everything, he’s found that, through music, some memories will always stay. 

ZJ and his friends continue to stand by one another, despite the challenges they face. They spend Daniel’s 12th birthday at the skate park. Woodson uses the poem “Skate Park” to display the transcendent power of the boy’s friendship. In the final stanza, ZJ and his friends marvel at Daniel’s heroic skateboarding moves, “Feels like we’re all just one amazing kid / the four of us, each a quarter / of a whole” (108). Four parts of a whole describe the boy’s friendship exactly. Even though they stayed away for a few days at the beginning of Zachariah Sr.’s decline, the boys find ways to be supportive, like coming over in their pajamas to make grilled cheese sandwiches on a Saturday afternoon. They help ZJ forget his problems. When Darry announces that his parents are separating, the boys do the same for him, gathering around, cheering him up, and vowing to weather the changes together, saying, “Nobody and nothing’s ever coming between our crew” (116).

Woodson’s showing the Fantastic Four moving as one when times get tough reflects one of the novel’s major themes and the answer that ZJ is searching for in his realistic fiction books. He knows that people end up okay, but there’s an implied question of how they do it. Friendship is one of Woodson’s answers to that question. She makes it clear that ZJ knows this truth for himself, too. On Page 114, ZJ relates Darry needing his friends around him when he’s feeling sad and afraid, “Cuz they’re your boys and something about them / surrounding you / makes you know everything’s going to be okay” (114). 

In “Down the Hall from my Room,” ZJ stands in front of a picture wall in the guest room, remembering the story behind each photo. His mother joins him, and they hold hands and reminisce. The picture wall in this guest room represents the story structure as a whole. In each snapshot, ZJ has a story and a memory, the same way each poem holds a story and a memory. Together, the photos, like the poems, form a mosaic of the Johnson family’s past. In the next poem, “A Future with Me in It,” ZJ shifts his focus from the past to the future. He thinks about the array of similar photographs at both his grandmothers’ homes. In the final stanza, ZJ finds hope for the future, saying, “I’ll still be on these walls / making Mama and everyone else too / smile / and remember” (124). Both poems represent a shift in ZJ’s mindset. He’s found acceptance of his present and hope for the future, both feelings that were lost temporarily in the fallout from his father’s illness. From this point, the novel begins to wind to a close.