Tyler Perry’s Straw, starring Taraji P. Henson, is an emotional drama film revolving around an overworked, underpaid mother desperately trying to make ends meet. From the moment Janiyah Wiltkinson woke up, she had a hard time. She had already received an eviction notice, her daughter, Aria, had complained about the rest of the students in her class making fun of her because she couldn’t afford the school lunch, and she also had to buy the very expensive medication that Aria routinely needed for her chronic illness. Janiyah often felt overwhelmed, but she knew she had to keep on grinding for the sake of her baby girl. But things soon started to spiral out of control; she felt almost as if the whole world was trying to go against her, and she snapped. The title can be interpreted as both ‘straw,’ dried and desiccated grass, to signify how society had completely drained Janiyah, or as the ‘last straw’ to hint at the series of events that ultimately triggered her to take an extreme step and completely changed the trajectory of her life.
Spoiler Alert
Did Janiyah imagine everything?
The ending of Straw confirms that Janiyah had started to imagine things after her daughter passed away. Janiyah could not imagine her life without Aria, so she convinced herself that her baby girl was still alive and followed her routine as usual. Janiyah was reminded of the reality when her mother called her up and told her that Aria had been declared dead the previous night after she suffered a massive seizure and was admitted to a hospital. It was at that moment that Janiyah recalled the actual events and realized that she was living a lie. She didn’t know how to cope with her daughter’s absence, so she’d imagined that everything was alright and all she needed to do was get her check and pay her dues. We see a glimpse of the reality at the very beginning of the film.
By the time Janiyah figured out that Aria had passed away, she was in a terrible mess. She’d imagined waking her daughter up, bathing her, taking her to school, and later receiving a call from the school authorities, whereas in reality she was doing everything all by herself, and she received a call about her past due bills, not from Aria’s school. Janiyah had framed the whole story in her head—perhaps because convincing the child services that she was a good mother who could look after her daughter was easier than accepting the fact that her daughter was gone and she would have to live with this constant emptiness. She created a problem in her head that had some sort of resolution, but in reality there was no way she could actually get Aria back.
Did Janiyah Shoot Richard?
Janiyah imagined that she received a call from Aria’s school soon after she reached the department store she worked at. She assumed she had to meet the school authorities immediately. Janiyah’s boss allowed her thirty minutes to sort the issue out. But unfortunately, nothing went according to Janiyah’s plan. She thought of quickly stopping by the bank to cash out forty dollars for her daughter’s lunch, but she didn’t have sufficient balance. She drove to the school and discovered that Aria was being handed over to foster care. Apparently the school had concluded that Janiyah was not taking good care of her daughter, so they called child services for intervention. Even though none of these events had actually taken place, the image of her daughter being dragged away hints at her reality. Janiyah was devastated; she tried to explain how she was working two jobs to make ends meet, but they didn’t care.
She tried to hold herself together and drive back to work, but she crossed paths with a rowdy cop on the road. The cop almost ran her off the road and later threatened to kill her. But instead of him facing any penalty, a police officer walked up to Janiyah and asked her to show her license and registration. When the officer figured out her license had expired, she handed Janiyah a ticket. Janiyah begged them to spare her because she couldn’t afford to have her car towed, but they didn’t listen. After she returned to work, her boss, Richard, declared she was late and that he’d decided to fire her. When she asked for her salary, he told her she would receive it in the mail. She couldn’t stay afloat without the money, and she tried to explain her situation, but just like the rest of the world, Richard didn’t care. By the time Janiyah went back home, she discovered that her landlady had evicted them and had thrown their belongings out in the street. It was pouring heavily, and Janiyah tried to grab her daughter’s medication and the science project she’d been working on. We know for sure that she was evicted because a detective later inquired about Janiyah, and she was told that she was thrown out after she failed to pay her rent.
Janiyah once again showed up at Richard’s office and requested him to pay her, and he strictly asked her to leave. All of a sudden, two young men showed up with guns, and they instructed Richard to hand over all the money he had in his safe. They asked Janiyah to put all the money in the bag she was carrying, but she refused to do so. She explained that it was her daughter’s bag and she needed it for school. Janiyah and one of the robbers got into a scuffle, and she ended up pulling the trigger even though she didn’t plan on hurting anyone. Richard assumed Janiyah knew the burglars and had planned the fake heist to get her money. She tried to explain herself, but he had already called the cops and given them his side of the story. Janiyah was frustrated and clueless; to shut him up, she ended up killing him. She grabbed her check and walked to the bank next door. This incident was, of course, not a fragment of her imagination. Janiyah shot Richard, and while her intention might not have been something so extreme, she didn’t think it through. She did what she had to to get her check.
Did Janiyah rob the bank?
After she collected her check, Janiyah walked into the bank nearby. She didn’t have any ID on her, so the girl at the counter stated that she couldn’t complete the process. Furious, Janiyah pulled out the gun and instructed her to do as she’d asked. The branch manager, Nicole, figured out that Janiyah was robbing the bank, so she called the cops.
While Detective Grimes had deduced that Janiyah had faked the heist, his partner Detective Kay Raymond was convinced from the very beginning that Janiyah was simply a victim of her circumstances. The fact that she didn’t take the money from the locker suggested that she was not interested in looting her boss; she simply wanted her check. Detective Raymond became all the more certain when Janiyah’s colleague and neighbor testified that she was an honest woman who worked hard to provide for her daughter and to pay for her treatments. Detective Raymond was not only raised by a single mother, but she was also a single mother herself, so she was familiar with the struggle. She deduced that Janiyah got caught up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Detective Raymond couldn’t believe it when she was told that Janiyah was seen robbing a bank. She apparently had a gun and a bomb (which we later learned was Aria’s science project), and naturally the police department was on alert. Detective Raymond insisted on negotiating with Janiyah, and she was allowed to do so.
Janiyah didn’t have any intention of robbing the bank; she simply wanted five hundred dollars. She was so frustrated with how no one listened to her that she resorted to using the gun because she’d noticed it was effective. She had no idea what she was doing, and by the time she figured out how messed up the situation was, she didn’t know how to get out of it. She initially refused to talk to the cops, but Detective Raymond managed to convince her that she could be trusted. The surveillance footage from the bank showed that Janiyah had offered her hostages chairs to sit down. Detective Raymond knew that her hunch was right; Janiyah had been through a very difficult day, and she’d snapped. She’d also by then learned that Janiyah had lost her daughter the previous night, so she understood the emotional turmoil Janiyah was going through.
One of the employees at the bank had started a live stream, and the entire country became a witness to Janiyah’s struggle. She expressed how difficult life had been for her. She did her best to survive, but she was always reminded that it was not enough. She didn’t have a job, she didn’t have a roof above her head, her daughter was taken away from her, and she’d even had her car towed—she had started to believe that life couldn’t get any worse. Janiyah thought that her paycheck could change everything, or at least let her fix some of her problems. But accessing her hard-earned money also seemed to be an impossible task. She clarified that she didn’t have anything to do with the robbery at her workplace, but she was unlucky enough to get dragged into the mess. The entire country sympathized with Janiyah. The working class knew how challenging it was to make ends meet, and they completely resonated with Janiyah’s struggle. Common people started to gather in front of the bank, and they showed their support for her. Janiyah didn’t expect such a reaction, but she finally felt seen.
How did Det. Kay Raymond convince Janiyah to leave the bank?
Detective Raymond tried to convince Janiyah to walk out of the bank, but she repeatedly stated that there was an officer waiting for her outside who’d told her that he would kill her if he ever saw her again, and until he was removed from the area, she would not step out. While initially they didn’t know which officer she was talking about, Detective Raymond eventually learned that Officers Oliver and Sam had gotten into an altercation with Janiyah that morning in Dale County.
Janiyah had also found a friend in Nicole, who’d promised to look after Aria if she got arrested. As a mother, Nicole could imagine the pain of losing one’s child, and while she was asked by the cops to pretend as if she didn’t know about Aria’s death (to avoid triggering Janiyah), the truth had deeply affected her. She counted her blessings for having a loving husband, a well-paying job, a house in the suburbs, and two healthy children; she had everything that Janiyah could only dream of. Nicole chose to remain by Janiyah’s side because she knew how difficult it was for a Black working-class woman to put food on the table. She made an effort to convince Janiyah to face her reality instead of running away from it.
As the crowd grew bigger outside the bank, the FBI decided to take over the case. But Detective Raymond refused to give up. She tracked down the officers who’d towed Janiyah’s car. She confronted Officer Sam, who eventually confessed that Officer Oliver had threatened her after he damaged her car. The detective punched Oliver in the face and explained that he was the reason behind Janiyah’s frantic behavior. He had driven her to the edge, and now they were facing the consequence. While the FBI planned on breaking into the bank, Detective Raymond insisted that she could peacefully solve the case. She contacted Janiyah and told her that she’d removed Officer Oliver and that she had nothing to fear. Janiyah promised to walk out of the bank if Detective Raymond showed her a picture of the officer so that she could confirm that the detective was not lying. Just when the detective thought it was all over, the FBI stated that they would not wait anymore and immediately enter. Detective Raymond decided to do what she thought was the right thing to do. She walked up to the bank door and showed Janiyah the picture of the officer. Janiyah finally decided to walk out of the bank.
What does the future have in store for Janiyah?
Even though for a moment it looked like the FBI had entered the bank and shot Janiyah, we quickly found out it was all in Janiyah’s imagination. Losing her daughter almost felt like taking a bullet to the chest, and at the end of Straw, when her mother called her and reminded her of Aria’s death, she perhaps wanted to die. In reality, Janiyah and Nicole walked out of the bank with their hands in the air. Janiyah was relieved to see Detective Raymond on the other side. She was arrested and driven away in a police car.
Presumably, Janiyah will face charges for murder, though she might be granted some concession because of her situation. After everything she’d been through, it will not be surprising if Janiyah loses her will to live. Her daughter meant the world to her, and coping with her absence might be extremely challenging for her. She needed special care and treatment, and one can only hope that she will be offered therapy. Officer Oliver will also hopefully face repercussions for hitting the car of a civilian and for his aggressive behavior. The incident definitely left everyone involved completely shaken. Perhaps it will be a wake-up call for common people who’d watched Janiyah narrate her side of the story. Instead of turning a blind eye to others’ misery, Tyler Perry perhaps hopes that Janiyah’s story will encourage even the audience to stand up for the right thing or lend an ear to those going through similar experiences.
