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Chapter 26: 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
Aaron and Bear entertain themselves by tormenting a resident at the assisted living facility: she wants them to help her set up a table, and they invent reasons to delay. After she leaves in a huff, Aaron and Bear spot Chase hurrying down the hall. Bear asks what Chase has in his pocket. Chase, not answering, keeps walking. Aaron and Bear block his path, and Aaron yanks the object from Chase’s pocket. When it falls to the floor, he and Bear see that it's Mr. Solway’s Medal of Honor. Chase recovers the medal, but Aaron says he and Bear are going to take it.
Aaron and Bear have repeatedly claimed that amnesiac Chase is being disloyal to them—but here, they show the limits of their own loyalty: when Chase wants to make amends for their past bad behavior toward Mr. Solway, Aaron and Bear bully and threaten him. If the medal symbolizes people’s reputations, Aaron and Bear’s desire to keep it shows that they deserve their reputations as bullies.
Themes
The resident that Aaron and Bear were tormenting returns to ask about the table. Chase agrees to help her and follows her into another room to escape Aaron and Bear. Aaron and Bear stake out the doorway, waiting for Chase to emerge. Chase sets up a flowerpot on the table, knocks it off, and grabs a vacuum to clean up the mess. Then he drops the medal and vacuums it up too. He grabs the vacuum in his arms and rushes Aaron and Bear. Using the vacuum, he knocks them both over and escapes down the hallway—but soon Aaron and Bear are on their feet and ready to chase him.
Given that the medal symbolizes people’s reputations—whether inaccurate or accurate—Chase’s determination to return the medal to Mr. Solway suggests that he no longer deserves his bad reputation as a troublemaker: he’s trying to change and make amends. On the other hand, his clever and athletic tactics to get past Aaron and Bear show that he does deserve his reputation as a star athlete.
Themes
