"Jean is based very loosely on my big sister, Myriam. We're only seventeen months apart and have always been very close, but in the way that family members often are-maybe especially when of different genders. You feel profound connection and, at the same time, also can't quite-or can't fully-understand what motivates the other person to do what they do. In creating Jean, I was thinking about Myriam and how she has become who she is."
"She left home for college understanding herself to be a certain person, to a large degree because of the expectations that have been placed upon her-as a young woman of a certain caste (what used to be called the Black Bourgeoisie). She's always striven in the ways that were expected of her. Then the "real world" intercedes and forces her to scrutinize the ledger, to see if what's expected of her is who she actually wants to be."
Jean is a rising senior from Borger, Texas, studying at Spelman College in Atlanta and engaged to Wole, a Nigerian American medical student. Wole recently cheated once during a high-stress period; they are attending counseling in Atlanta. The betrayal triggers a broader reevaluation as Jean confronts expectations placed on her as a member of the Black Bourgeoisie and questions whether she has been living according to others' definitions. Returning home, Jean navigates family relationships and social encounters, including seeing a childhood friend, Nia, among sex workers on Amarillo Boulevard, which intensifies her internal reckoning about identity and future choices.
Read at The New Yorker
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