Previous
Chapter 18: Chase Ambrose
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
The school is summoned to an assembly to watch Chase and Shoshanna’s documentary project about Mr. Solway. When Bear and Aaron realize what they’re watching, they’re furious. Aaron complains that Chase has not only made them look bad by voluntarily doing community service but also boasted about his own virtue through the video—and teamed up with Shoshanna, whose family got them in trouble. Bear adds darkly that it can’t be a “coincidence” that they chose Mr. Solway to interview. When Aaron reminds Bear that Chase can’t remember “that,” Bear again expresses doubts that Chase really has amnesia.
Bear and Aaron’s references to a “coincidence” and “that” hint that they and Chase had some meaningful encounter with Mr. Solway that Chase can’t remember. Additionally, Aaron believes that Chase is showing off his moral fiber by working with Mr. Solway and betraying them by teaming up with Shoshanna, whose family Aaron blames for their community service—a paranoid interpretation of Chase’s behavior as “disloyal” that betrays how unwilling Aaron is to take responsibility and deserved punishment for his own participation in bullying Joel.
Themes
When the documentary shows a clip of a generic Medal of Honor, Shoshanna’s voiceover explains that Mr. Solway was so modest that he forgot where he put his. Bear says: “Yeah, right.” Aaron shushes him fiercely. After the video ends, everyone claps, annoying Bear, who’s sure the other kids found the video as tedious as he did. Ms. DeLeo reads out a letter from the assisted living facility’s director praising Chase and Shoshanna. This infuriates Bear, who feels that everyone at the facility hates him. When he complains, Aaron suggests doing something to “remind [Chase] who his real friends are.”
Bear’s “Yeah, right” could be expressing disbelief either about Mr. Solway’s modesty or about Mr. Solway having lost his medal. If the latter, the novel may be hinting that Bear knows what really happened to the medal. Bear’s anger that people at the facility like Chase but dislike him once again shows his difficulty taking responsibility for his own behavior: after all, people at the facility dislike Bear because he mistreats and disrespects them. The last time Aaron told Chase to remember “who [his] friends are,” he was criticizing Chase for disloyalty after Chase got between Brendan and a football player who was bullying Brendan. By echoing that line here, Aaron implies that he wants to punish Chase for his perceived disloyalty.
Themes
