Maverick

Altruistic

This personality trait helps Maverick because being altrusitic is one of the key components in forming strong relationships, instead of trying to dominate others and have power over them, Maverick is trying to see success, growth, and happiness for others resulting in strong relationships

Maverick demonstrates this personality trait of being altruistic in the book when he gave Khalil’s mother money to help her out since he knew that Khalil was not around anymore to help her financially. Khalil’s mom went on to say “I’m gonna pay y’all back every penny” Maverick responded with “You focus on getting better a’ight? And if you give us any money, we giving it right back, God’s my witness”. This shows Maverick is altruistic because he is helping out someone that is in need, he is also not looking out for anything in return and his only intention is to help out Khalil’s mother. Maverick is just trying to bring happiness in Khalil's mom because he knows how much she is going through. He actually cares about what others are going through and tries his best to help them out.

Protector

In the book Maverick is always trying to educate his daughter Starr about how to be safe living in the crime infested neighbourhood of Garden Heights. For example in the book Maverick taught Starr how to cooperate with the cops in case she gets pulled over or questioned. Maverick stated "Starr keep your hands visible, don't make any sudden moves, only speak when they speak to you".

Maverick is successful in this role because further on in the book Starr had been pulled over by the police, she followed the different tips her dad had taught her and this saved her life, on the other hand there was an individual who had not followed these tips and he ended up suffering a tragic accident with the police. If Starr was not aware of these different tips due to Maverick she may have suffered the same accident as well. Maverick taught Starr these different ways to cooperate with the police because he knows how the African-American community is treated in his neighbourhood where you make one wrong move and can end up dead. So he put it on himself to educate his children to keep them safe.

Person vs Person

In the book Maverick's son Seven had told Maverick that his stepfather who is the leader of King Lord's gang has abused him on several occasions. This has caused Seven to transition where he lives, so he lives sometimes with his father Maverick and sometimes with his mother. Seven cannot do anything to fight back as his stepfather is the leader of a gang and he is helpless.

In the book Maverick confronts King and tells him "if you touch Seven again, ill owe you an ass whooping. This does not solve the conflict, though as King does not fear the words of Maverick. King is the leader of a gang and sees himsef as the leader of the neighbourhood. This causes King to have the mentality where he thinks that he is bigger than everyone else and has more power. This causes him not to be affected by the words of Maverick and he is still motivated to continue whatever he is doing.

In the book after Starr hinted the world about King's Gang in a public interview, King performs a drive by shooting to send a message to not talk about the gang at all. King also went as far as almost starting a fire in Maverick's store because Starr almost got King caught.

King had no choice and did not know what to do to protect his family. In the book Maverick stated that "when the Khalil's get arrested for selling drugs, they either spend most of their life in prison, another billion-dollar industry, or they have a hard time getting a real job and probably start selling drugs". In this he talks about how so many people are forced to join the gang because they have no other choice. The conflict does get solved though as volunteers from the neighbourhood inform the authorities about King's actions. This results in King being caught for his actions from members around the community

In the book Maverick grabs Devante and forces him against the fridge after finding out King wants him dead. Maverick asks Devante "what's going on?" as he knows that King would only want you dead if you had done something wrong to him.

The conflict gets solved as Devante bursts in tears and explains how King wanted him to kill a man from a rival gang, but instead he did not and stole $5000 from King to move his family out of Garden Heights into a safer community. He did not stay with his family as that would put them in risk, Maverick understands how Devante was just trying to help his family out instead of being in gang activities so he gives Devante a place to say.

Considerate

This personality traits helps Maverick because being considerate allows Maverick to be caring about others and perform helpful acts of kindness to bring happiness to others. Maverick always tries to help others if they are trying to good for themselves and through these acts he inspire others to change their lives for the better. Being considerate of others causes people to see you as a leader and inspires others to follow your acts and do the same.

Maverick demonstrates this personality trait in the book when Maverick meets a young man named Devante who was involved in the drug trade alongside King, but he wanted to leave and get his family out of Garden Heights. He asked Maverick for help, Maverick responded and said “a’ight i'll help you, but I promise if you go back to slinging or banging, you’ll wish King would’ve got you when i’m done. He also then later goes on to say “we gon’ make sure you stay in school too”. Maverick basically protected Devante from King if he went to school and left the gang. This shows that Maverick is considerate because he had previously been in King's gang and he knew that joining a gang can get you killed or sent to jail. So in order for Devante to not make the same mistakes as him Maverick made sure that he prioritizes getting education and a job to provide for himself instead of joining the gang to make money.

Mentor

This personality traits helps Maverick because it allows him to guide and teach others using his previous experiences. Thhis causes others to see Maverick as a leader and whenever they are in difficult conflicts they can always ask him for guidance. Maverick has grown up in the neighbourhood of Garden Heights and he has the most experience where he can help out the youth with different problems they are going through

Maverick demonstrates this personality in the book when Khalil’s mom explains how Maverick really helped her son to stay out the drug market. Ms. Rosalie explains to Maverick “you were the father he never had” and that “I know he remembered the things you told him over the years, Maverick, and that gave me a lotta faith”. This shows that Maverick was a mentor because Maverick had been in a similar scenario where the only way you can make money is by joining gangs. To make sure Khalil did not make the same mistakes he educated him about the risks of joining a gang and to always make sure to put education first and get a job. He did not want to see Khalil turn to gangs for money like he had when he was younger

Physical Traits

Bald

In the book Starr stated "his veins bulge along his bald head" when Maverick picked up Starr from the incident with the police.

Long Eyelashes

In the book Starr states "I did inherit daddy's eyelashes and i'm cursed with his eyebrows when describing her physical similarities with her parents.