Restart Themes

Restart suggests that taking responsibility for past actions is an important part of understanding and shaping one’s own identity. Of course, the characters in the novel aren’t necessarily defined by what they can remember about themselves or what they’ve done in the past, but there is a clear sense that everyone should be accountable for their past.

More specifically, the novel illustrates the complicated dynamics between identity and memory in the character Chase Ambrose…

Restart suggests that judging people solely based on their reputations is often an inaccurate way to assess them. By spotlighting Chase Ambrose and Mr. Solway, the novel illustrates how misleading these external perceptions can be. When the novel begins, 13-year-old Chase has more than earned his reputation as a bully—yet after a serious accident, he develops amnesia, forgets the forces that incentivized his bullying, and becomes a much kinder, more thoughtful person. Nevertheless, people…

Restart represents social hierarchies as harmful not only because they can lead to bullying but also because they encourage people to stereotype themselves and others, thus closing off possibilities for new interests and friendships. In the novel, Hiawassee Middle School has a clear social hierarchy, and the football players sit at the top of it. This hierarchy enables bullying. The school’s star football player, Chase Ambrose, bullies musician and video-club nerd Joel Weber so…

While people often think of loyalty as a virtue, Restart suggests that loyalty can lead people to behave badly and distort their judgment. For example, when middle-school football star and popular bully Chase Ambrose develops amnesia after an accident, he loses his memory of all his football friends and thus his loyalty to them. Thus, when he sees his team’s quarterback Joey pushing around geeky video-club president Brendan Espinoza, he gets between them physically…