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Chapter 1: 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
Shoshanna messages her twin, Joel, to let him know that “Alpha Rat” (Chase) fell off his roof and just left the hospital. When Joel asks whether “Beta and Gamma Rats” fell too, Shoshanna tells him not to be “greedy” but asks whether he’s happy. His muted response worries her enough that she calls him. When he answers, she asks whether his time at Melton Prep and Musical Conservatory is improving. He calls it “exile,” and Shoshanna privately agrees—even though her brother’s musically talented, he would be entering eighth grade with her in their hometown, Hiawassee, “if it weren’t for what happened.”
Shoshanna and Joel call Chase “Alpha Rat,” a nickname that reveals both their dislike of him and their belief that he’s an animal who acts on instinct and is incapable of personal change. Context suggests that “Beta and Gamma Rats” are friends of Chase’s, perhaps the boys in the Halloween photo. Joel’s belief that he’s in “exile” and Shoshanna’s musings about “what happened”—together with the twins’ hatred of Chase—hint that Chase may somehow bear responsibility for Joel enrolling in a prep school.
Themes
Shoshanna asks about the other Melton students. Joel replies that he’s unlikely to be bullied because all the Melton kids are “losers” like him. When Shoshanna protests that kids end up at Melton due to their skills, Joel retorts that he’s at Melton because of Chase, not because of his skill at the piano.
Joel derisively refers to himself and other talented young musicians as “losers,” implying that he may have been bullied for his interest in piano and may have internalized the cruel things bullies said about him. That he blames Chase for his “exile” at Melton implies, in turn, that Chase was one of his bullies.
Themes
Shoshanna agrees: Chase and his friends Aaron Hakimian and Bear Bratsky bullied Joel relentlessly enough that her and Joel’s parents sent Joel away. The principal Dr. Fitzwallace tried to punish Chase, but the school board mitigated the punishment because (Shoshanna speculates) Chase is “the town sports hero—and the son of the last town sports hero.” The one real punishment he, Aaron, and Bear got was community service for hiding cherry bombs inside Joel’s piano during a recital, and that was only because they damaged the instrument. Sometimes Shoshanna thinks about pushing Chase off a roof—but she wouldn’t, because she’s superior to Chase.
Chase wondered uneasily what kind of person he was when he saw a photograph of himself gloating over a Halloween pumpkin that he and his friends had mangled. Shoshanna’s thoughts reveal that before Chase’s accident, he was a bully—but given amnesiac Chase’s unease at the thought of Halloween mayhem, it’s possible he won’t want to be a bully anymore. Chase got away with bullying because he and his father had “sports hero” status, which indicates that the town values traditional masculine attributes like physical prowess so highly that they are willing to overlook cruel behavior in high-status men who are good at sports.
Themes
The day before school starts, Shoshanna’s parents always take her and Joel to a frozen yogurt shop called Heaven on Ice. Shoshanna doesn’t want to go without Joel, but her dad pressures her into it. At the shop, after getting her frozen yogurt, Shoshanna spots Chase wearing a sling. When he sees her glaring at him, he gives her “a shy smile.” She’s so incensed that she yells about his “nerve,” upends her frozen yogurt on his head, and storms outside. She’s especially furious because Chase looked at her like he didn’t recognize her, after everything he did to Joel.
Amnesiac Chase’s “shy smile” shows that he’s willing to be friendly to Shoshanna. Shoshanna, unaware of Chase’s amnesia, misinterprets his smile as “nerve”—a callous indifference to the history between him and Shoshanna’s family. This incident indicates that Chase’s pre-accident actions will shape how people react to him, even though he doesn’t remember any of said actions.
Themes
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