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Chapter 17
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Runner, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Money, Class, and Community
Growing Up
Grief
Ambition
Crime
Summary
Analysis
Later, Charlie returns home from a training session with Mr. Redmond to find Alice Cornwall in the living room with Mrs. Feehan. She quietly thanks him for helping Mr. Cornwall, and she gives him a box of cream buns in gratitude. Charlie can see that Mrs. Feehan enjoys entertaining Alice’s company. Mrs. Feehan tells Charlie that she and Alice both love to dance, and for a moment Charlie imagines his father smiling at him from across the room.
Charlie has missed the easy way conversation flowed when Mr. Feehan was alive to host guests. The conversation with Alice shows that the Feehans are learning to carry on Mr. Feehan’s legacy as a magnanimous host, especially as the conversation turns to dancing, which Mr. Feehan loved. Taking these small steps toward a life Mr. Feehan might have wanted for Charlie makes Charlie feel closer to his father.
Themes
Alice and Mrs. Feehan dance around the room while Charlie enjoys his cream buns. When Alice leaves, Charlie offers to walk her home, saying he has someone to visit in her direction. Alice hardens, but Charlie reassures her “it ain’t that kind of visit.” He explains that he is training for a footrace, and he appreciates that like Nostrils, Alice listens without pushing matters. As the two part ways, Alice says that she hopes Nostrils is alright. She adds that his injuries are a shame, considering his skill as a football player.
Alice is still wary of Charlie’s connections to Squizzy Taylor and Richmond’s criminal underworld. Charlie understands this and takes no offense. Alice again demonstrates her passion for sports as she comments on Nostrils’s potential as a football player. That comment reminds Charlie that while he can still achieve his ambitions, his inaction has prevented Nostrils from ever doing the same.
Themes
Charlie visits Nostrils in the hospital and apologizes for leaving him in the garden. He says that Nostrils and Mrs. Feehan are right––working for Squizzy is too dangerous. Nostrils insists Charlie shouldn’t blame himself, but Charlie believes that he should be the one in the hospital, since Nostrils had the potential to be a “champion.” After the visit, Charlie goes to Squizzy’s house. He asks the bouncer where Dolly is, and finds out that she and Squizzy have broken up. Squizzy is with his men, celebrating a success with whiskey. He offers Charlie some whiskey, and when Charlie says no, he insists Charlie take some anyway.
It took his best friend being seriously injured on a liquor run, but Charlie has finally come to accept that working for Squizzy is too dangerous. His mother and Nostrils tried to tell him this before, but Charlie needed to learn it himself for the truth to sink in. Squizzy and Dolly’s breakup hints that Squizzy has continued to grow more aggressive, since Dolly was the gentler of the two and usually persuaded Squizzy to be kind to Charlie. This appears to be true when Squizzy forces liquor upon Charlie. He is no longer trying to subtly lure Charlie deeper into a life of crime: now, he is pushing Charlie into it.
Themes
Squizzy drunkenly tells Charlie he is celebrating his men’s drive-by shooting of a house in Fitzroy. Charlie tells Squizzy about what happened to Nostrils, but Squizzy suddenly turns cruel. He says that he doesn’t care about Nostrils and orders Charlie to leave. Charlie is furious, and then “something click[s] inside his head.” He changes out of his new boots in his father’s old boots and sets the new boots on the table in front of Squizzy. Squizzy, enraged, pulls a gun on Charlie, but Charlie stays calm, waiting to see what will happen. Squizzy shoots the wall, remarks on Charlie’s bravery, and tells him to get out. As Charlie leaves, Squizzy mockingly asks if he expected Squizzy to send Nostrils flowers. Charlie runs through the streets, feeling free as he runs not for Squizzy but for himself.
Squizzy at last reveals that his care for Charlie has been an act. He helped Charlie with Mr. Peacock to secure Charlie’s loyalty, but now Squizzy is too concerned with his fledgling criminal empire to pretend to care about Nostrils. Squizzy makes clear when he points a gun at Charlie that he is a dangerous criminal whose ambition is more important to him than his employees. Charlie takes off the boots Squizzy got for him and puts on Mr. Feehan’s boots, marking Charlie’s commitment to leading a life that Mr. Feehan would be proud of. As he leaves behind Squizzy, Charlie leaves behind his life of crime, and the feeling is freeing.
Themes
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