The Stars Beneath Our Feet

Vega is Lolly’s 12-year-old best friend. Vega and his family “look basically Black” because they are dark-skinned, but they are actually Dominican (10). Vega’s defining physical feature is his hair, which looks “like a bush of thick wires” (38). Vega is extremely boisterous, playful, and funny. He is also musically talented; he has been playing violin since he was in fourth grade.

Vega and Lolly’s relationship throughout the novel parallels that of Jermaine and Steve. Jermaine and Steve were very close when they were little, but they went down very different paths before Jermaine died: Jermaine started to run the streets with Rockit while Steve started to spend more time in art programs and after-school activities. Over the course of the novel, Vega and Lolly also find themselves caught between these two paths.

In the beginning of the novel, Vega is playful and lighthearted, but after getting jumped by Harp and Gully, Vega grows distant and cold. When Vega’s cousin Frito gives Vega a gun, Vega is faced with a difficult choice: to seek vengeance and violence by joining a crew, or to choose a more hopeful path toward art, creativity, and possibility. His decision to hurl the gun into the Harlem River at the end of the novel signifies that Vega has decided to continue to play music and learn new things, transforming the violence-inflected concept of manning up into one more deeply connected with intellectual achievement, problem solving, and emotional maturity. Vega’s growth over the course of the novel supports the novel’s moral about the importance of choices.

Rosamund Major is a girl in Lolly’s after-school program who gradually becomes a close friend and major influence on his life. In the beginning of the novel, Lolly refers to Rose by cruel nicknames, calling her “Big Rose” and “Frankenstein” (133). Kids make fun of Rose because she of her odd behavior: Her “upper lip was always tucked inside her bottom one” (56), she never speaks, and she always stomps when walking. As Lolly comes to learn, Rose has a cognitive difference. As Mr. Ali explains, “it takes [Rose] a little longer to pick up on what you’re meaning to say […] socially and body language and all that” (137). Rose is on the spectrum for autism, though her grandma had managed to keep her undiagnosed so she could stay in mainstream school and programs.

When Rose starts building Lego, Lolly is furious, but he becomes increasingly impressed by Rose’s skills. She has an impeccable memory and is able to construct Lego versions of St. Nick right down to the smallest of details. She is also an extremely fast builder. As they grow closer, Rose turns out to be a loyal friend, protecting Lolly from Harp and Gully try.

Lolly connects with Rose like he never has with anyone else. They are both artists, and they have both lost someone important in their life—Rose lost her mother to suicide. After Rose moves to a school in Mount Vernon, Lolly is incredibly sad, but it is clear that she will continue to be a part of his life. Lolly says that building with Rose helped him get through the most difficult year of his life.

Jermaine was Lolly’s older brother. He died when he was shot outside a nightclub, so everything that readers learn about Jermaine is from flashbacks and memories. Jermaine was a determined, hard-working young man who loved his family and wanted to provide for them, buying Christmas presents and groceries. He was also a creative problem-solver, fixing the family’s power outage by paying a neighbor to connect an extension cord. Lolly and his parents really thought that Jermaine was going to do great things. However, after getting his first job sweeping up hair in a barbershop, he gradually joined a crew, which eventually got him killed. Jermaine represents one of Lolly’s possible futures. Jermaine is a foil to Steve, Jermaine’s former best friend who became a filmmaker instead of joining a crew.

Mr. Ali is the director of Lolly’s after-school program and a licensed social worker. He has Apert syndrome, a birth defect that causes one side of his face to be malformed. Mr. Ali has an even, relaxed temperament, but he isn’t afraid to present Lolly with hard truths that may be difficult to hear, pushing Lolly to confront his grief, and encouraging him to talk about Jermaine and his father. Over the course of the novel, Mr. Ali encourages Lolly’s Lego building; he also encourages Lolly’s connection to Rose. Mr. Ali is insightful, patient, and not afraid to show tough love to his after-school kids because he wants what is best for them.

Lolly’s mom Sue-ellen is a loving, protective mother grieving the loss of her oldest son. She and Lolly’s dad separated after she came out. Though Sue-ellen and her girlfriend Yvonne often intimidate people because they are “built like New York Giants linemen,” they are harmless and would “usually prefer to joke before they would tackle anybody” (17). Losing Jermaine has made Lolly’s mom extra protective, which sometimes causes her to be hard on Lolly, but her anger comes from love. She doesn’t want to see anyone she loves hurt or in trouble.

Yvonne is Lolly’s mom’s girlfriend. Yvonne is caring and loving, and she loves to do things to make her family happy, such as treating Lolly and his mom to Applebee’s. After Jermaine dies, Yvonne wants to pull Lolly out of his depression and help him cope with his loss. She starts to steal big bags of Lego blocks from her job at Tuttle’s Toy Emporium, lying to Lolly that they destined for the trash. At the end of the novel, Yvonne gets arrested for the theft; Lolly’s mom’s reaction to this arrest leads Lolly to reject getting revenge on Harp and Gully with Vega’s gun.

Lolly’s father is “a handsome man” of almost 40 (51). He and Lolly both have “the same curvy hair and noses with high bridges,” but Daddy Rachpaul is much more muscular due to his job in construction (51). He was originally born in Trinidad and is undocumented. On the weekends, Daddy Rachpaul works as Rocky the Clown at children’s birthday parties. As Rocky, he is friendly and goofy, but when he was still married to Sue-ellen, he was quiet and irritable. Daddy Rachpaul places a lot of value on physical power as a defining feature of masculinity, encouraging Jermaine and Lolly to toughen up and calling Lolly too soft and weak. Lolly feels disconnected from his father, especially after losing Jermaine. Daddy Rachpaul has never been emotionally available in the way that Lolly and Jermaine needed him to be. Lolly wonders if his dad had been around more if things would have turned out different for Jermaine. 

Lolly’s 20-year-old neighbor Steve is “tall and light-skinned” (12). Steve is one possible male role model for Lolly. Unlike most of the men Lolly knows, such as Frito and Rockit, Steve grew up in Harlem without joining a crew. Steve encourages Lolly to pursue art, compliments him on his originality and creativity, and even buys Lolly the book A Pattern of Architecture, which starts Lolly on the path toward building Harmonee and seriously thinking about his possible future as an architect. Steve’s gift is a direct contrast to the game console Jermaine got Lolly before he died—an expensive gift that means little to Lolly. Steve’s gift pushes Lolly not to throw away his talents by following in Jermaine’s footsteps.