Jam received a hormone implant when she was 13 and “watched her body change with delight” (20). As a toddler, Jam only used her voice to insist that she was a “Girl! Girl! Girl!” when she was misgendered after being assigned male at birth (20). Jam occasionally vocalizes with the people around her, especially her mother Bitter, but mostly communicates via sign language. In Lucille, individual differences are not eradicated, but each individual is supported according to their unique needs and abilities. Jam speaks verbally with her mother but uses sign language with nearly everyone else, and has anxiety, which Emezi employs to distinguish between societal ills and individual differences in the utopian town of Lucille. Jam is also fiercely protective of her loved ones. Jam’s name evokes the sweetness and sourness of preserved fruit, and it indicates both Jam’s compassion and resilience. Jam is a 15-year-old Black transgender girl who “was born after the monsters, born and raised in Lucille” (11).
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