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Chapter 17: Joel Weber
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Restart, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Identity, Memory, and Responsibility
Reputation vs. Reality
Masculinity
Social Hierarchies and Bullying
Loyalty
Summary
Analysis
In the cafeteria, Chase is reading the court sentence commanding him, Aaron, and Bear to community service, which he found while looking for his birth certificate for Frank to give to the new doctor. Brendan touches his shoulder, and Chase startles so badly that Brendan leaps backward. When Brendan asks what has upset him, Chase thinks about the judge’s extremely negative take on his character, Helene’s fear of him, Corinne’s discomfort around him, and the loyalty that the morally dubious Aaron and Bear have always showed him.
Although Chase’s court sentence is another external report on him, not as immediate as a memory, the judge may be more objective than the other people who have been giving Chase an understanding of his pre-accident reputation. With this more objective document harshly judging him, Chase begins to see Helene and Corinne’s unease around him as a damning indictment of the person he used to be.
Themes
Chase asks how terrible he really was before his accident. At first, Brendan avoids the question, but then he points to a scar on his face: Chase shoved Brendan’s head into a water fountain and strolled on like nothing had happened, but Brendan needed stitches. Chase, speechless, thinks about how meaningless the loyalty he, Aaron, and Bear share must be. Brendan somberly assures Chase that he’s changed since then and leaves. Yet Chase is coming to believe that even if some of the people he’s wronged accept him now, he can’t change the things he's already done. He’s horrified that he and his friends hurt weaker kids to feel “like big men.”
Here, Chase realizes that loyalty can be an irrational and even a destructive force if it leads you to defend and cooperate with people who are doing bad things. He also makes an explicit connection between his desire to embody stereotypical masculinity—a desire inculcated in him by his father—and his bullying; he believes that he and his football-player friends physically harmed kids like Brendan because they wanted to feel macho, “like big men.”
Themes
Chase’s past sins notwithstanding, he and Shoshanna are working well together on the video project and continuing to visit Mr. Solway. On their way to the assisted living facility, Shoshanna often stops at her house to back up ongoing edits to their video project. Chase waits outside, aware he isn’t welcome in the Weber house. One day, while waiting, Chase hears Joel playing the piano superbly and—without thinking—walks to the window to listen. Miserable that he bullied Joel for being talented, Chase doesn’t notice the Webers’ dog barreling toward him till it’s already bitten him. He topples into some bushes.
In the previous passage, Chase concluded that he bullied kids like Brendan because he wanted to feel masculine. Here, he assumes that he bullied Joel because Joel was talented—suggesting either that he was jealous of Joel’s talent or that he held Joel in contempt for being talented at something not currently associated with rugged masculinity, like playing the piano extremely well.
Themes
When the Webers discover Chase in their bushes, Shoshanna explains what he’s doing there—narrowly preventing her mother from calling the police. Mrs. Weber, somewhat resentfully, takes Chase inside to disinfect his scratches from the bush he fell into (the dog didn’t bite through his clothes). Chase notices that she, Joel, and even Shoshanna take a little pleasure in his obvious physical pain. Knowing the reason behind their pleasure makes him feel awful. Yet the next time Chase is waiting outside the house for Shoshanna, Joel opens the window while practicing—apparently so that Chase can enjoy the music more easily.
Yet again, Chase’s (well-earned) bad reputation puts him in danger of arrest, even though he wasn’t trying to harm anyone. The Webers’ amusement at Chase’s physical pain reveals how much they resent Chase for bullying Joel—despite Chase’s prior awful behavior, it is disturbing that an adult woman, Mrs. Weber, is enjoying a 13-year-old’s pain, even if she’s ultimately trying to help him. At the same time, Joel seems to recognize and respond to Chase’s genuine pleasure at his musical talent, which suggests that Joel is coming to appreciate more fully just how much Chase is growing and changing.
Themes
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Chase is finding lunch at school stressful. He alternates between eating with the football team and the video club; the football team is constantly criticizing him for hanging out with the nerdy video club, and the video club is awkward about Chase and Joel being anywhere near each other.
Chase’s decision to split time between the football team and the video club causes angst in both camps, which shows not only the middle school’s extreme social stratification but also the lingering effects of Chase’s past bullying of Joel.
Themes
Bear criticizes Chase for spending time near Joel, whom Bear blames for their community service. Chase replies that they weren’t sentenced because Joel snitched—they boobytrapped a piano in an auditorium full of witnesses. Though Aaron tries to get them to stop sniping at each other and move on, Chase demands to know why Bear thinks Joel is extra-deserving of bullying—is it his size or his musical talent? Bear angrily points out that Chase targeted Joel in the first place because he thought it was hilarious to watch Joel lose his mind. Even if Chase didn’t feel good about Joel switching schools, he was more focused on his own community service at that point. Chase is horrified by this insight into his own former mindset.
Bear blames Joel, the victim of his and his friends’ bullying, for their well-deserved punishment, which shows that Bear isn’t self-reflective enough to recognize that they’re responsible for the consequences of their own actions. Chase, by contrast, has come to recognize that he and his friends are—as the saying goes—lying in the bed they made. Aaron’s attempt to make peace between Bear and Chase demonstrates his continued loyalty to both his best friends. When Chase keeps snapping at Bear, Bear snaps back that active, sadistic enjoyment of Joel’s psychological suffering (not mere callousness) motivated Chase’s bullying of Joel. Bear may or may not be right—it’s not clear how insightful he is—but Chase, already disturbed by his own past behavior, is more than ready to believe his condemnation.
Themes
Later that day, after Chase and Shoshanna have finally finished editing their video project, they stop by Shoshanna’s house to back it up before going to show it to Mr. Solway. Though Chase is planning to wait outside as usual, Shoshanna asks whether he’ll come in. Chase, startled and trepidatious, follows her inside. Both Mrs. Weber and Joel pause when they see him, but then they go back to what they were doing—and the dog actually seems friendly. This reaction fills Chase with a strong, unnamed feeling.
The Webers—somewhat cautiously—accept Chase’s presence in their house, a sign that they recognize how his identity is evolving in a positive direction even if they haven’t entirely forgiven him for bullying Joel. Their cautious acceptance moves Chase so deeply that he’s not even sure exactly what emotion he's feeling.
Themes
