Blackout

This section brings Tammi and Kareem’s story to a satisfying close. The scene that finds Tammi and Kareem finally ready to cross the Brooklyn Bridge marks a major turning point, both within their personal lives and the narrative itself. For Tammi, crossing the bridge becomes a major obstacle, given that she harbors an intense fear of heights. Though she does her best to breathe through the fear and cross the bridge with Kareem, Tammi’s panic attack in the middle of their trek points to an emotional and physical exhaustion. That Tammi’s attack comes at the end of their journey together suggests that the stress of the blackout coupled with the uncertainty she feels regarding her relationship with Kareem is overwhelming. The fact that Tammi tells Kareem to take the internship is also demonstrative of this overall sense of exhaustion. Where Tammi was, at the beginning of the novel, determined to secure the internship for herself, the fact that she is willing to throw it away mere hours later indicates that she is ready to give up—on the internship, on her dreams, and on getting back together with Kareem. Narratively, Tammi’s dejection continues to build tension; given that the tension has been on a steady incline for Tammi and Kareem’s entire storyline, this moment of conflict also suggests the existence of a solution.

The most important moment of Tammi and Kareem’s final chapter occurs in the aftermath of Tammi’s attack when both parties finally speak their truth to one another. To instigate their intimate moment of honest conversation is Kareem’s confession that he will be attending Clark Atlanta, the same school as Tammi. Given that Tammi has spent the entire novel under the impression that she and Kareem would be attending college in different cities, the news that they will indeed still be together at once provides Tammi with a resolution and a satisfying arc. The climax of the story comes in the form of Kareem confessing that he is still in love with Tammi and initiating a kiss. The moment provides the story with its final resolution; whereas Tammi and Kareem were both uncertain about the future of their relationship, the mutual kiss and proclamation of love indicates that they are now firmly back in one another’s lives.