Rebound

“My dad was a star

in our neighborhood.

Everybody knew him.

[…]

my star exploded

and everything

froze.”

Charlie uses a black hole to symbolize the impact his father’s death has on his family and community. Charlie’s loss causes him to experience stagnation; he feels stuck, powerless, and unable to move forward. The metaphor of the world freezing reflects this stagnation in grief.

“Today,

I skip school

for the first time ever

so I won’t have to listen,

so I won’t have to laugh,

so I won’t have to pretend

like the center

of my universe

didn’t collapse.”

Charlie extends the black hole metaphor, revealing how the “collapse” of his life causes him to behave differently. This is the first evidence of Charlie engaging in increasingly risky behaviors. Although skipping school to go the arcade begins innocently, he is later chased out by police, initiating a series of activities that culminate in (accidental) drug possession by the end of the novel.

“[C]ause his father got

shell-shocked

in Vietnam

and now walks around

their old neighborhood

mumbling

to himself

about Mars,

whiskey,

and Hamburger Hill.”

This passage reveals Skinny’s family life, showing that he too comes from a fatherless home. Moreover, both Charlie’s and Skinny’s fathers served in Vietnam. However, Charlie loses his father to physical illness, whereas Skinny loses his father to mental illness. This passage aims to elicit empathy for Skinny; his delinquent behavior is another way grief can manifest, particularly as Skinny lacks role models in his life.

“I drift off

finishing

issue #2,

where the Skrulls

impersonate

the Fantastic Four

and wonder

if that’s what’s happening

to me,

‘cause I just don’t feel

like myself.”

Kwame Alexander uses a superhero motif during moments Charlie feels powerless. Charlie feels a lack of control over his own actions, noting that he does not “feel like [himself]” after stealing from Old Lady Wilson (79). This is the first evidence of Charlie’s awareness of grief’s negative impact on his personal choices.

“We sit

inches from each other

at the breakfast table

but it feels like

we’re in different countries,

our treaty disappearing

with each forkful

of French toast

and each spoonful of grits,

our distance

growing further

and further

with each

wordless

moment.”

Charlie and his mother’s strained relationship continues to disintegrate due to their inability to navigate their grief. Charlie describes his relationship with his mother like an alliance between countries, with diplomatic ties deteriorating over time—a comparison that illustrates the momentousness of their relationship falling apart. Charlie highlights “wordless / moment[s],” or their inability to talk about their trauma, as the cause of this disintegration.

“How are you fine one day and not the next? Why did he have to die? […] How am I supposed to be myself again? What am I supposed to do now?”

Kwame Alexander uses interior monologue to illuminate questions Charlie cannot voice due to his trauma. Charlie’s inability to talk about his grief causes the loss to fester, resulting in outbursts of anger, poor choices, and a desire to escape reality through reading comic books. It is not until Charlie witnesses his grandfather navigating his grief that Charlie has a model of how to move forward after loss; this allows him to finally release these inner thoughts to his grandmother.

“Doesn’t matter about before, only after. The game isn’t over son—you gonna learn that. This is the first quarter. We’re just getting started.”

Charlie’s grandfather, Percy, uses sports metaphors to teach Charlie lessons about life and Finding Purpose in Hard Work. Percy highlights an insight that can only come from experience: that even amid hardship, life moves forward. Charlie, at 13, has not yet learned this. Percy’s reminder that “[t]his is the first quarter” illustrates The Impact of Role Models in Adolescence (166).

“Jazz music is like an automobile […]

If jazz were a car,

Miles Davis would be

a convertible Black Mustang GT,

Coltrane would be the Corvette […]

Jazz is smooth.

And slick.

And it takes you places.

[…]

Anywhere you want to go.

[…]

Jazz’ll take you there.”

Percy uses jazz to process his emotions. In metaphor, Percy compares jazz to different types of cars, stating that jazz “takes you places” (197). He is referring to jazz’s ability to incite an emotional response, which Percy uses to process the pain of losing his son.

“Champions train, chumps complain, Chuck. Love. Work. Eat. In that order. Time to get in the game, Chuck!”

Percy imparts wisdom to Charlie, encouraging him to engage in hard work to find purpose after the loss of his father. Urging Charlie to “get in the game” invites him to rediscover his power and agency, which his grief has suppressed.

“I finish

[…]

every last one

of my dad’s comic books

and even though

I don’t believe

in ghosts

I kinda feel

close to him,

like he’s here,

which freaks me out

enough

to pull the covers

over my head

and finally

go to sleep.”

When Charlie discovers that his father also read comic books, Charlie feels close to his father for the first time since the latter’s death. This is evidence of Charlie’s healing, but while this closeness is positive, it initially scares Charlie, reminding him of a ghostly presence.

“In this life, rain’s gonna fall, but the sun will shine again.”

Alice imparts wisdom to her grandson, serving as a reminder of how adolescents benefit from positive role models. When a person is 13, they might not yet have lived long enough to reach the other side of grief and regain a sense of normalcy. Alice uses the metaphor of a rain storm to remind Charlie that happiness will return.

“Sometimes, I wish

I were a superhero

so I could fight back

against all the

doom

and the gloom

that’s trying

to destroy

me.”

Charlie desires to regain control, which he feels he has lost after the death of his father. Kwame Alexander uses a superhero motif to represent Charlie’s desire to take charge of himself and his life.

“You want game, Charlie Bell, then you need a teacher.”

Roxie serves as a coach for Charlie—another example of how adolescents benefit from peer and adult role models. Roxie refers to Charlie wanting “game,” extending the sports motif to refer to actively participating in one’s own life. She teaches Charlie to strive to improve, reinforcing Percy’s lesson that hard work can give one purpose.

“Truer words [have] never been spoken, Chuck.

Own the sadness,

don’t let it own you.

That’s for both of you.”

Percy reminds Charlie and Roxie to take charge of their sadness, whether that sadness is Charlie’s grief at losing his father or Roxie’s disappointment at missing a winning shot in a basketball game. This advice relates to the idea of reclaiming one’s agency after a loss and serves as a reminder of an adolescent’s need for positive role models.

“Losing is a part of the game. There’s always rain in spring. Champions dance through the storm.”

Roxie uses rain storms in an analogy that describes recovering (or rebounding) after hardship, echoing Alice’s remark that “the sun will shine again” after loss (248). Roxie repeats her grandmother’s advice in the context of losing a basketball game, harkening back to Charlie’s foreshadowing that the summer of 1988 was the summer he would learn “to rebound / on the court. / And off” (2).

“If I ever get out of here, I’m gonna do better

I’m gonna go out and save the world

Carry groceries for old ladies

Rescue cats out of trees

I’m gonna practice basketball every day

Have the best crossover in the land

I’m gonna go to school and never skip

I’m gonna listen to all the coaches in my life

I’m gonna love my family.”

Charlie’s arrest marks the story’s climax and a pivotal moment in his character arc, as he afterward commits to changing his life. The decision embodies Roxie’s advice to “dance through the storm” (348); in his time sitting in the jail cell, he recognizes the need to “listen to all the coaches in [his] life” (269), solidifying Alexander’s theme of adolescents’ need for positive role models.

“This is a team sport. You can surround yourself with people who don’t play by the rules, or you can surround yourself with those who do. But if you choose wrong, don’t start complaining when the coach takes you out of the game.”

Percy attempts to teach Charlie the importance of owning up to one’s decisions. He uses the basketball analogy to highlight the importance of surrounding oneself with positive influences. Being taken out of the game signifies losing opportunities, getting in trouble, or being held accountable for choices that negatively impact one’s life.

“You gotta focus on righting YOUR life, ‘cause you got a right to life. We’re all suffering, and it’s ok to feel what we feel, but we still here.”

Percy continues to impart wisdom to Charlie after the latter is released from jail. He encourages Charlie to take back his agency and use it to make better choices regardless of outside influences. It is this power that Charlie felt like he lost after the death of his father; here, his grandfather reminds him that he has had that power all along.

“You’re not always gonna swish.

You gonna miss some.

Heck, you gonna miss a lot.

That’s the way the real world works.

But you gotta grab the ball and

keep shooting.

[…]

you’ll make a lot more

than you miss if

you’re not always going for

the flash

and flair.

Try using

the backboard, son.

You got me.

You got your grandmother.

You got Roxie.

You got your mother.”

Percy uses an extended sports metaphor to depict a person facing hardship. He reminds Charlie that he is “gonna miss a lot,” meaning that he is going to make many mistakes. Nevertheless, he encourages Charlie to “grab the ball and keep shooting,” referencing his ability to take control and keep trying. He assures Charlie that he does not have to face challenges alone, emphasizing the importance of family and role models.

“We are all going to figure this out together, ‘cause we’re a family and nothing matters more than family.”

It is at this point that Charlie recognizes his family’s unconditional love for him. It contrasts with the moment when Charlie got caught stealing from Old Lady Wilson; then, he felt like his mother was giving up on him. Alice here demonstrates that family does not give up on one another and assures Charlie that his family will “figure out [how to help Charlie heal] together” (380).

“We’re on the same team, Mom!”

When Charlie tells his mother they are on the same team, it shows that their relationship is on a path to healing. Their relationship is no longer a rivalry, as Charlie recognizes that he and his mother can work together to heal from the trauma of losing Joshua.

“He may be Iron Man, but he was as scared as [Grandma] was.”

The 1980s brought examples of more emotionally complex superheroes. Charlie’s mother’s reference to Percy as “Iron Man” aligns him with these superhero figures; Percy was “scared” when Charlie was arrested, and acknowledging that provides Charlie (and the reader) with an example of a man experiencing emotions men are often discouraged from feeling or expressing.

“[The peaches are] immature, Chuck. Weak. Scabs and stinkbugssucking the life out of ‘em, he says, like he’s not really talking about the peaches. But there’s a few good ones here. There’s hope.

There’s always hope, Grandma adds, winking at me.”

Percy uses the metaphor of peaches infested by bugs to refer to people who allow negative influences to impact their decisions. He ends the lesson with the idea that there is hope for the fruit, reminding Charlie that even though he has allowed such influences to sway him, he can still become a good man.