Ghost

by

Jason Reynolds

Brandon Simmons Character Analysis

Brandon Simmons is Ghost’s bully at school. He regularly makes fun of Ghost’s appearance and goads him into fighting. One day in the cafeteria, Ghost lashes out at Brandon and repeatedly hits him in the face. At the end of the novel, Ghost discovers that Brandon runs for a different track team in the city.

Brandon Simmons Quotes in Ghost

The Ghost quotes below are all either spoken by Brandon Simmons or refer to Brandon Simmons. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Running and Trauma Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

And the coach kept saying stuff like, “Lu’s still the one to beat,” which was kinda pissing me off because . . . I don’t know. It just made me think about this kid Brandon at school, who always . . . ALWAYS picked on me. Not even just me, though. He picked on a lot of people, and didn’t nobody ever do nothing about it. They just said stupid stuff like, Can’t nobody beat him. Same kind of rah-rah this bowling-ball-head coach was kicking about this kid, Lu. It's just . . . ugh. I mean, he was fast, but honestly, he wasn’t that fast.

Related Characters: Castle Cranshaw/Ghost (speaker), Otis Brody, Lu, Brandon Simmons
Page Number: 15
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

“You wanna tell me what happened, or should I tell you?” Principal Marshall closed his door behind him and took a seat at his desk.

Related Characters: Principal Marshall (speaker), Castle Cranshaw/Ghost, Brandon Simmons
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:

“I ain’t saying that. I’ve definitely been scared of somebody before. Real scared,” I added, thinking about how loud a gun sounds when it’s fired in a small room. “That’s how come I know how to run so fast. But now, the only person I’m scared of, other than my mother . . . I mean, like I do things, I know ain’t cool, but even though I know they ain’t cool, like beating on Brandon, all of a sudden I’m doing it anyway, y’know? So I guess . . . I guess the only other person I’m really scared of, maybe . . . is me.”

Related Characters: Castle Cranshaw/Ghost (speaker), Otis Brody, Brandon Simmons, Terri Cranshaw, Ghost’s Father
Related Symbols: Gunshots
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“You know who’s really tired, son? Your principal.” Coach put his hands up, palms facing me as if to stop me from even thinking about responding. Then he continued, “No, no. You know who’s really, really tired? Your mother. She’s so tired. So tired. And she’s gonna be even more exhausted when she hears about your suspension.”

Related Characters: Otis Brody (speaker), Castle Cranshaw/Ghost, Brandon Simmons, Terri Cranshaw, Principal Marshall, Ghost’s Father
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

I was literally shaking with embarrassment, like my insides had turned into ice. Ice that was cracking.

I wanted to break the desk.

Or flip it over.

Scream. Something. Anything.

Related Characters: Castle Cranshaw/Ghost (speaker), Brandon Simmons, Terri Cranshaw
Related Symbols: Shoes
Page Number: 81
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

Brandon didn’t have too much to say to me. I saw him just before first period, and he walked right past me and Dre. I saw some of the other kids snickering at him as he passed. But I told them all to chill. I don’t know why because he totally deserved to be roasted, but I guess I felt kinda bad for the dude. I been there.

Related Characters: Castle Cranshaw/Ghost (speaker), Brandon Simmons
Page Number: 112
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

“Yeah,” Lu said from behind me. He put his hand on my shoulder. He runs, real, real, real fast,” he said, taunting Brandon. Lu Pulled me into him, grabbed me by the back on my neck. “It’s me and you,” he said, snapping me out of my Brandon Simmons nightmare state and back into focus.

Related Characters: Lu (speaker), Castle Cranshaw/Ghost, Brandon Simmons
Page Number: 178
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Ghost LitChart as a printable PDF.
Ghost PDF

Brandon Simmons Quotes in Ghost

The Ghost quotes below are all either spoken by Brandon Simmons or refer to Brandon Simmons. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Running and Trauma Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

And the coach kept saying stuff like, “Lu’s still the one to beat,” which was kinda pissing me off because . . . I don’t know. It just made me think about this kid Brandon at school, who always . . . ALWAYS picked on me. Not even just me, though. He picked on a lot of people, and didn’t nobody ever do nothing about it. They just said stupid stuff like, Can’t nobody beat him. Same kind of rah-rah this bowling-ball-head coach was kicking about this kid, Lu. It's just . . . ugh. I mean, he was fast, but honestly, he wasn’t that fast.

Related Characters: Castle Cranshaw/Ghost (speaker), Otis Brody, Lu, Brandon Simmons
Page Number: 15
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

“You wanna tell me what happened, or should I tell you?” Principal Marshall closed his door behind him and took a seat at his desk.

Related Characters: Principal Marshall (speaker), Castle Cranshaw/Ghost, Brandon Simmons
Page Number: 37
Explanation and Analysis:

“I ain’t saying that. I’ve definitely been scared of somebody before. Real scared,” I added, thinking about how loud a gun sounds when it’s fired in a small room. “That’s how come I know how to run so fast. But now, the only person I’m scared of, other than my mother . . . I mean, like I do things, I know ain’t cool, but even though I know they ain’t cool, like beating on Brandon, all of a sudden I’m doing it anyway, y’know? So I guess . . . I guess the only other person I’m really scared of, maybe . . . is me.”

Related Characters: Castle Cranshaw/Ghost (speaker), Otis Brody, Brandon Simmons, Terri Cranshaw, Ghost’s Father
Related Symbols: Gunshots
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“You know who’s really tired, son? Your principal.” Coach put his hands up, palms facing me as if to stop me from even thinking about responding. Then he continued, “No, no. You know who’s really, really tired? Your mother. She’s so tired. So tired. And she’s gonna be even more exhausted when she hears about your suspension.”

Related Characters: Otis Brody (speaker), Castle Cranshaw/Ghost, Brandon Simmons, Terri Cranshaw, Principal Marshall, Ghost’s Father
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

I was literally shaking with embarrassment, like my insides had turned into ice. Ice that was cracking.

I wanted to break the desk.

Or flip it over.

Scream. Something. Anything.

Related Characters: Castle Cranshaw/Ghost (speaker), Brandon Simmons, Terri Cranshaw
Related Symbols: Shoes
Page Number: 81
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

Brandon didn’t have too much to say to me. I saw him just before first period, and he walked right past me and Dre. I saw some of the other kids snickering at him as he passed. But I told them all to chill. I don’t know why because he totally deserved to be roasted, but I guess I felt kinda bad for the dude. I been there.

Related Characters: Castle Cranshaw/Ghost (speaker), Brandon Simmons
Page Number: 112
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

“Yeah,” Lu said from behind me. He put his hand on my shoulder. He runs, real, real, real fast,” he said, taunting Brandon. Lu Pulled me into him, grabbed me by the back on my neck. “It’s me and you,” he said, snapping me out of my Brandon Simmons nightmare state and back into focus.

Related Characters: Lu (speaker), Castle Cranshaw/Ghost, Brandon Simmons
Page Number: 178
Explanation and Analysis: