Tish is a young girl from Harlem whose boyfriend, Fonny, is in jail as the book opens. She is reflective and empathic, and she says, "I hope that nobody has ever had to look at anybody they love through glass" (4). She has to visit Fonny, the father of the baby she is carrying, in jail. Rather than being bitter, she, in her empathic way, hopes that no one else has to endure what she has endured.

Though she is thoughtful, Tish has grown up on the streets of Harlem and is a survivor. She says, "you somehow just have to fix your mind to get from one day to the next. If you think too far ahead, if you even try to think too far ahead, you'll never make it" (11). She is committed to getting Fonny out of jail, and she works doggedly to make it happen and to make a good life for herself, Fonny, and her baby. She is tough and able to survive through her ordeals.

Tish is also intelligent and able to see through the hypocrisy of society. She says, of the school that Fonny attended, "Those kids aren't dumb. But the people who run these schools want to make sure that they don't get smart: they are really teaching the kids to be slaves" (36). She understands the way the system is rigged against poor black kids like herself and Fonny, but she is determined not to let the system destroy them. She doesn't believe the messages that the society sends her, and she is able to think for herself.