Tamina Calloway

About
Reenah’s mother. A fiercely loyal and loving woman, she always fights for her children at any cost. When it comes to her children, her intentions are always good and she will always do what she believes to be right, even if it seems to not be in the best interests of her children. At the same time, however, she is incredibly stubborn and occasionally standoffish. She’s not necessarily “old fashioned” or anything like that; rather, she is very stuck in her ways. When she makes up her mind, it is nearly impossible to change. This is perhaps best seen in her interactions with her daughter. She sees Reenah’s mental instability as something of a weakness. While she is often able to help and support Reenah, she doesn’t truly understand what Reenah is going through and refuses to change her beliefs in this way. As a result, she can often be particularly infuriated with her daughter’s “refusal” to listen to reason and sense. This failure doesn’t weigh on her, however; it is her daughter’s pain that truly shakes Tamina. Tamina doesn’t blame herself or her daughter for the pain that Reenah suffers. She just simply tries to help Reenah through the pain.

Tamina is one of the two people who are able to break through Reenah’s delusions of CJ and talk to her honestly. This is, perhaps, why she doesn’t see herself as failing to aid Reenah. Tamina is able to get through to her daughter when she needs to, and her daughter with more consistency than everyone else. She doesn’t truly understand her daughter’s suffering, but she doesn’t have to. She will protect her daughter however she can.