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Chapter 19: Bear Bratsky
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
Unfortunately, while Leaf Man got a lot of views, it didn’t go viral—and it made Kimberly think Brendan might be crazy. Brendan decides to make another video to impress her: he’ll splice himself playing a whole bunch of instruments into a single frame so that he appears to be an entire orchestra. Joel reserves the band room for Brendan—and no one’s suspicious, because Joel is “known to be a good kid.” Joel and Kimberly will work the cameras, since Chase is busy retaking a test he missed for a doctor’s appointment.
Brendan persists in trying to create a viral video to impress Kimberly rather than stopping and wondering whether she cares as much about social status as he’s been assuming. By stereotyping Kimberly as a girl who only likes high-status boys, Brendan illustrates that “uncool” kids stereotype others in the same way “cool” kids do. Meanwhile, Joel is able to get away with aiding Brendan in questionable behavior because he's “known to be a good kid,” showing yet again how people’s reputations largely shape how their actions are interpreted.
Themes
With Kimberly watching, Joel films Brendan while he fakes playing each instrument in turn, until, finally, he reaches a marching-band tuba. Brendan wriggles into the tuba-holding position, and Joel hits play on the tripod-mounted camera. Then Aaron and Bear burst into the room and spray them with fire extinguishers. As they cover Joel with foam, Kimberly laughs, thinking it’s part of the video. Brendan yells at her to get help. Bear sarcastically suggests they fetch their “friend” Chase. Brendan, thinking that’s a good idea, tells Kimberly to run for Chase. Aaron scornfully claims that Chase sent them to the band room to get revenge on the person who caused their community service. Nevertheless, Kimberly runs out the door.
Brendan presumably thinks that Chase may help them because, quite recently, Chase physically stopped another football player from bullying Brendan. Yet Bear calls Chase the video-club kids’ “friend” in a sarcastic tone, and Aaron claims that Chase masterminded this current bullying incident. Since Aaron just suggested to Bear that they should prove to Chase who his “real” friends are, readers may infer that Aaron and Bear are trying to show Chase that the video-club kids aren’t loyal friends.
Themes
When Bear kicks a French horn, Joel begs him not to damage the instruments—which sends Bear and Aaron into a frenzy, throwing instruments around. Brendan tries to stop them, but he’s helpless, unable to get out of the tuba. Chase and Kimberly sprint into the room. When Chase demands to know what’s going on, Bear claims it was Chase’s plan and hands him a fire extinguisher, while Aaron urges Chase to “bring it home.” Chase is frozen. Bear, annoyed by Chase’s hesitation, tries to take the extinguisher back. They fight over it—and when Chase wins, the release sends him spinning so that he hits Joel in the head with it.
From Brendan’s perspective, it seems Chase hit Joel with the fire extinguisher by accident. Yet Chase has a (well-earned) bad reputation and has bullied Joel in the past. Readers may ask: will Chase’s personal growth and changes in identity be enough to absolve him, or will everyone assume that Chase went back to his old ways? This is what Aaron and Bear are clearly hoping everyone will assume.
Themes
A half dozen teachers run into the room. When Brendan sees Joel bruised, the music room trashed and foamy, and Chase holding a fire extinguisher, he realizes what the teachers will think and yells that it “isn’t what it looks like!” Right afterward, though, he worries that it is what it looks like: maybe Chase did orchestrate the bullying like Aaron and Bear claimed.
Brendan was the first of Chase’s former bullying victims to realize that Chase had changed, and he and Chase are now good friends. If even he wonders whether Chase was involved in the bullying, it seems likely that everyone else will decide Chase is guilty based on his pre-accident behavior and bad reputation.
Themes
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The teachers ignore Brendan. One escorts Joel to the nurse, while the others take Chase, Aaron, and Bear to the principal’s office. Kimberly follows Chase. Brendan, trapped in the tuba, mourns that Chase is still all she can think about. He scolds himself for caring more about Kimberly than about Chase’s possible betrayal and then argues with himself about whether Chase has changed. Suddenly, Kimberly reappears and offers to help Brendan escape the tuba. He immediately feels more optimistic.
Due to Chase’s past actions and bad reputation, the teachers seem so sure that Chase as well as Aaron and Bear are guilty—and so worried about Joel—that they ignore Brendan, who has not only yelled that the situation “isn’t what it looks like” but is also lying on the floor, covered in foam, wearing a tuba. Kimberly, however, comes back to help him, which hints that he may have misjudged her by assuming she only cares about high-status boys.
Themes
