77 pages • 2 hours read
Kwame AlexanderRebound
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
How Grief Manifests in Different Individuals
Content Warning: This section references mental illness.
Kwame Alexander explores the different forms grief can take throughout Rebound, using characters’ responses to hardship to illuminate these differences. Alexander uses Charlie to show how grief can make one desire escape, Charlie’s mother to demonstrate how grief can lead one to bottle up emotions, and Skinny to reveal how grief can cause one to engage in dangerous behaviors.
Charlie initially avoids processing his grief by reading comics, turning down a game of basketball with his best friend, Skinny:
[He’d] much rather be
at home
lying across
[his] bed
reading comics (12).
He immerses himself in a fantastical world of superheroes who fight evil, wishing he had the power to travel to the past “and get outta / this black hole / [he’s] trapped in” (14). Charlie spends hours avoiding his friends and family so that he does not have to either feign normalcy or contend with the fact that people treat him differently after his father’s death. He also escapes to Flipper McGhees, an arcade, rather than face his mother or his friends at school. Ultimately, Charlie wants to avoid reminders of his father’s death, but as he can’t do so entirely, he periodically erupts in anger—a manifestation of unprocessed grief.
Charlie’s repression of his sadness bears some similarities to his mother’s response to Joshua’s death, though their motivations differ. Charlie’s mother responds by bottling her emotions, partly so she can stay strong for her son. This backfires, however, as it leads Charlie to wonder if she ever loved his father. When he asks why she acts like everything is normal, she implies that she too is struggling, but as she does not reveal her grief overtly, Charlie has no model of a healthy way to navigate his sadness. That said, Charlie’s mother also does what it takes to get help, giving herself space to process her grief by sending Charlie away.
In his slide toward increasingly dangerous behaviors following his father’s death, Charlie also resembles another character: Skinny. While Skinny’s pain is not a focal point, Alexander reveals that Skinny’s father is no longer able to live with his family due to post-traumatic stress from serving in the Vietnam War. While Skinny has not lost his father to death, he has lost his presence, and in his search for another male role model, he finds his cousin, Ivan. Ivan, however, proves a bad influence: Over the course of the text, Skinny steals, earns an in-school suspension, and gets arrested for drug possession, albeit wrongfully. Skinny’s grief causes him to seek out irresponsible company, leading him to trouble.
Rebound suggests that people respond differently to grief, sometimes in ways that clash with others’ coping mechanisms. This does not necessarily imply that there is a single “right” way to respond to loss, but the novel does caution against denial and isolation, which implies cut one off from others precisely when one needs their support. Skinny’s story further stresses the importance of having a strong support network, revealing what can happen when one relies on an unreliable person.
Finding Purpose in Hard Work
Finding purpose in hard work is tied closely to Charlie Bell’s character arc. Charlie’s initial response to his father’s death is to avoid facing his trauma. Hard work might seem at first glance like an extension of that avoidance—something for Charlie to immerse himself in to avoid thinking about his problems. However, Rebound suggests that hard work can also be a means of affirming one’s connections with other people and of recovering a sense of agency, and it is largely thanks to these factors that Charlie begins to find healing.
Walking Harriet Tubman serves as Charlie’s introduction to the benefits of hard work. While this work is not physically challenging, as punishment for stealing Old Lady Wilson’s bottles, it is emotionally demanding. It’s also challenging because the dog is enormous and forces Charlie to face his fear of dogs. However, the punishment turns positive for Charlie as he and CJ walk the dog throughout the week—a shift symbolized by their renaming her “Harriet Tubman,” which has better associations than the name “Woodrow Wilson.”
When Charlie arrives at his grandparents’ house, he learns much more about hard work’s benefits. His grandfather insists that Charlie “be on the team” and work hard during the summer (166): He has Charlie cut the grass, pick apples, pick peaches, and attend the Boys and Girls Club with him. Much of Percy’s advice similarly centers on topics such as hard work and caring for one’s family. Charlie does not like the chores at first, but he regains a sense of purpose as he falls into the routine of living with his grandparents; in doing tasks for and around other people, Charlie recovers his sense of connection to his family and the world around him.
Charlie’s hard work picking apples also serves as training for basketball, which becomes another way for him to reconnect with purpose. Charlie is in awe of Roxie’s skill and notes the repetitions she practices for each shot, each move, and each play; she practices for hours every day at the Boys and Girls Club. She pressures Charlie into joining her in pickup games, and his confidence grows. By the end of the text, Charlie no longer spends the majority of his time reading comics; instead, he practices basketball even when he is alone, taking pride in his developing skills. When Charlie plays a final pickup game with Roxie at the novel’s end, he says it is the closest he has come “to feeling like / […] normal / again” (392).
Through Charlie’s character arc, Alexander explores how hard work can provide meaning by connecting one with others and instilling self-confidence. As Charlie experiences isolation and powerlessness in the wake of his father’s death, these prove vital to his healing.
The Impact of Role Models in Adolescence
As a writer of young adult literature, Kwame Alexander focuses on issues that relate to adolescence. In Rebound, he explores the importance of role models for young adults by showing the effects of both positive and negative influences on children’s lives.
Percy is the primary positive role model in the text, exemplifying what it means to be a man who supports others. Percy dedicates his retirement to working part-time at the Boys and Girls Club to impact young people’s lives. He invites his two grandchildren, Roxie and Charlie, to join him, giving them access to productive activities during the summer months, including a place to play basketball. He also frequently shares his wisdom with Charlie and Roxie, using memorable rhymes to ensure the lessons stick—e.g., “Don’t shirk the work,” and “Hustle and grind, peace of mind” (158). Similarly, he uses basketball metaphors to teach Charlie a pathway to better living, saying, “Wanna be a gem in the gym? Be golden in life. Wanna be a baller? BE A STAR DAY AND NIGHT!” (235). He also references being a team player, building a “team” of positive influences, recovering from mistakes, and “using / the backboard” to lean on loved ones (377). Through Percy, Charlie sees that one can move through the world while carrying one’s grief and even turn that grief to good purpose.
Roxie is another character who demonstrates the impact of positive role models. Roxie has good grades, works tirelessly to get better at basketball, and makes positive social choices. She encourages Charlie to play basketball with her, going out of her way to practice with him and include him in pickup games at the Boys and Girls Club. She offers to coach him, working with him in the gym on his layups, crossover, and free throws. When Charlie asks her to lie for him during the climax of the story, she makes it clear that she disapproves of his behavior; however, she also reassures him that she still cares for him in the aftermath, saying, “I’m glad you’re all right” (389). She works with him, includes him, and is a positive influence on him during a critical time in his development.
Through Charlie’s well-intentioned but reckless friend Skinny, Alexander also demonstrates the impact negative role models can have on an individual’s growth. Skinny has a cousin, Ivan, who has spent time in a juvenile detention center. It is Skinny and Ivan who have the idea to steal Old Lady Wilson’s bottles for recycling money. While Charlie protests, Skinny negatively pressures him, saying, “Charlie, stop being a wimp. She’s not gonna miss those bottles” (75). Later, Skinny tempts Charlie with cheap Air Jordans, resulting in Charlie and Skinny’s arrest for possession of Ivan’s marijuana. Charlie’s grandfather’s metaphor of choosing a “team” is in part a statement about the harm of surrounding oneself with negative influences; “You put the wrong people on your team and you gonna lose every time” (374).
Percy’s advice highlights that having positive role models is as much a matter of choice as it is of chance. While circumstances (e.g., the death of Charlie’s father) can deprive one of guidance, it is ultimately the individual’s responsibility to take ownership for the people with whom they surround themself.
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