Previous
Joel Weber
Frank is father to Chase, Johnny, and Helene, ex-husband to Tina, and current husband to Corinne. A former middle-school football star, Frank peaked in adolescence and remains obsessed with maintaining a masculine identity based on sports, physical toughness, meat-eating, and cool cars. He has a tense relationship with his oldest son, Johnny, because he openly believes Tina’s parenting turned Johnny into a “wimp.” Frank’s obsession with masculinity and football implicitly encouraged his younger son Chase’s bullying. Frank focuses so intently on Chase’s middle-school football career—even finding a doctor to give a second opinion when Chase’s physician advises Chase not to play after a serious concussion—that he inadvertently leads Chase to believe that he only likes him insofar as Chase is “a chip off the old block.” Frank is even dismissive of post-concussion, amnesiac Chase’s attempts to befriend Helene, Frank’s four-year-old daughter with Corinne. Frank thinks Chase playing dolls or princess with Helene is an effeminate, embarrassing waste of time. Yet after amnesiac Chase realizes he stole a Medal of Honor from elderly veteran Mr. Solway, he turns himself in and takes sole responsibility, refusing to implicate his accomplices, Aaron Hakimian and Bear Bratsky; Chase’s unswerving acceptance of responsibility forces Frank to acknowledge that Chase has more strength of character after his accident than he did before. Not only does Frank feel proud of Chase’s moral bravery, but he also belatedly praises Chase’s new kindness toward Helene and testifies during Chase’s juvenile court hearing for stealing the medal that he wishes he’d had a personality-improving head injury when he was Chase’s age. Thus, ironically, Chase models a better model of masculine strength for his father than his father ever modeled for him.
Frank Ambrose Quotes in Restart
The Restart quotes below are all either spoken by Frank Ambrose or refer to Frank Ambrose. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1: Chase Ambrose
Quotes
I note the window I must have climbed out of, since it’s the only one with roof access. For some reason, I expected it to be higher, and I’m embarrassed. Like it’s an insult to my manliness that such a puny fall scrambled my brains.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5: Chase Ambrose
Quotes
When I got amnesia, I lost thirteen years of myself. I have to replace those memories using what I can pick up from other people. But everyone has a slightly different version of me—Mom, Dad, my friends, the kids at school, even frozen yogurt girl. For all I know, the lunch ladies know me better than anyone else.
Who should I believe?
Chapter 8: Chase Ambrose
Quotes
“That’s who we are, Champ. We’re Ambrose men. We’re the doers. Other people take pictures of us!”
Chapter 21: Chase Ambrose
Quotes
Dad says the old Chase is back. I wanted that once. But right now the new Chase is the life I’d rather have.
And I’ve lost that too.
Chapter 29: Chase Ambrose
Quotes
“I just didn’t know the new you yet. It takes strength to eat the blame and not rat out Aaron and Bear, especially when they more than deserve it. Or to try to make things right with Solway or even the Weber kid, whether they appreciate it or not. You’re strong, all right.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Restart LitChart as a printable PDF.
Frank Ambrose Quotes in Restart
The Restart quotes below are all either spoken by Frank Ambrose or refer to Frank Ambrose. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1: Chase Ambrose
Quotes
I note the window I must have climbed out of, since it’s the only one with roof access. For some reason, I expected it to be higher, and I’m embarrassed. Like it’s an insult to my manliness that such a puny fall scrambled my brains.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5: Chase Ambrose
Quotes
When I got amnesia, I lost thirteen years of myself. I have to replace those memories using what I can pick up from other people. But everyone has a slightly different version of me—Mom, Dad, my friends, the kids at school, even frozen yogurt girl. For all I know, the lunch ladies know me better than anyone else.
Who should I believe?
Chapter 8: Chase Ambrose
Quotes
“That’s who we are, Champ. We’re Ambrose men. We’re the doers. Other people take pictures of us!”
Chapter 21: Chase Ambrose
Quotes
Dad says the old Chase is back. I wanted that once. But right now the new Chase is the life I’d rather have.
And I’ve lost that too.
Chapter 29: Chase Ambrose
Quotes
“I just didn’t know the new you yet. It takes strength to eat the blame and not rat out Aaron and Bear, especially when they more than deserve it. Or to try to make things right with Solway or even the Weber kid, whether they appreciate it or not. You’re strong, all right.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
