Black Girls Must Die Exhausted: A Novel

“[L]ife, not just adulthood, is what happens between the lines of that checklist. You learn that life isn’t really about checklist-type problems. And that’s when you have to find out who you really are, because one minute you had all the answers, and the next you’ve got none at all.”

In this passage, Tabby outlines how her internal conflicts relate to her identity while listing the external struggles that motivate her to change. Allen also uses this scene to foreshadow Tabby's journey of self-discovery, revealing how Tabby will strive to uncover more about herself than she ever expected to explore.

“Laila Joon was always late, but always worth waiting for.”

Time, a frequent motif in the novel, is often represented by characters who run late. With this repeated dynamic, Allen consistently represents time as both cyclical and relative. Although Laila usually arrives late, Tabby never feels as though her time is wasted. However, Tabby does feel betrayed by Marc’s reluctance to commit to marriage and family, and she believes that his dishonesty wasted a significant number of her reproductive years.

“Guess who shot it down? Scott Stone. Rather than argue with him in front of the entire staff, I let it go. I wanted to push it but had nobody to back me up.”

Scott serves as the primary antagonist in the professional aspects of Tabby’s life, and his ingrained racism and sexism often fuel Tabby’s intersectionality conflicts at work. With this frustrated comment, Tabby illustrates the ramifications and feelings of isolation that result from being the only woman of color at her job.