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Chapter 21: 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 now believes that Chase tricked them all into believing he was a new person to pull another horrible prank on Joel. Feeling stupid, angry, and ashamed, she wants to get rid of the video project she and Chase did on Mr. Solway. Brendan tries to tell her that Chase may be innocent—he only arrived after Kimberly went and got him, and he may have hit Joel by accident—but Shoshanna insists that his lie to cover for Aaron and Bear is “proof.”
Chase’s lie isn’t actually “proof” that he hit Joel on purpose. Nevertheless, Shoshanna, as a smart girl, feels ashamed that the boy who bullied and victimized her brother might have “fooled” her into believing that he’d changed, so she is doubling down on her earlier judgments and rejections of him.
Themes
Brendan acknowledges that Chase’s lie seems bad but suggests that maybe they should give him “the benefit of the doubt.” Shoshanna retorts that if Aaron and Bear framed Chase, they nearly got him into terrible trouble—but Chase is still going to football practice and eating lunch with them. When Brendan points out that video club won’t let Chase eat lunch with them anymore, Shoshanna says that they’re “protecting Joel.” She compares Chase to a snake that has struck its prey and wriggled away.
Brendan wants to give Chase “the benefit of the doubt,” which indicates not blind loyalty to Chase but a sense that Chase has earned, with his post-accident behavior, some further investigation before the video club condemns him. When Shoshanna compares Chase to a snake, she implies that he bullies people on vicious, predatory, animal instinct—that he’s fundamentally uncapable of change. Chase’s supposedly unchanging cruelty means that the video-club kids can’t ever trust him but can only try to “protect[] Joel” from him.
Themes
Shoshanna believes that the whole video club agrees with her—even Brendan agrees, deep down. Yet they all keep mentioning Chase: how well he filmed, what good ideas he’d had, etc. Eventually Shoshanna blows up at them, telling them Chase is a terrible person who ought to stay with the football jocks. Yet Joel, unexpectedly, says the video club has gotten worse: no one has done anything as good as Chase and Shoshanna’s video project. When Shoshanna pushes back, he informs her that the club can mention Chase if they want—he won’t break, and he won’t leave town again. Shoshanna realizes that Joel is maturing.
Chase, Aaron, and Bear’s bullying of Joel was cruel not only because of the physical harm they did to him but also because of the state of constant fear they put him in. By asserting that he can handle mentions of Chase and won’t “break” under emotional pressure again, Joel is asserting that he can limit the power their bullying has over him. Shoshanna sees this assertion as evidence of new maturity in Joel.
Themes
