Ghost

When Castle meets the rest of the team, he sees them all as potential rivals. He is once again prepared for friction with Lu, but he softens his stance when Patty tells him that Lu is mocked constantly about his albinism. Like Castle, Lu is compensating for his insecurity with his posturing attitude, though he has access to fancy clothes that Castle doesn’t. This conversation deepens Castle’s characterization; even at his angriest stage early in the book, he feels compassion for anyone who is tormented by circumstances that they can’t control.

At the same time, his actions in these chapters show that he is still in the early stages of accepting himself and Overcoming His Trauma. When he falls on the track, he is embarrassed enough to take drastic action and cut his shoes with scissors. He hopes that this will make him faster, but more so, that he will never trip and embarrass himself again because of the wrong shoes. Cutting his shoes is a metaphor for his journey; healing is not easy, and there is no shortcut to it. As such, it doesn’t get him his desired results—he is teased for his ruined shoes and cuts school. He makes another rash decision when he steals the expensive sneakers, and while they help him on the track, he feels the weight of his guilt as he lies to Coach and his mother about where they came from. This is another example of the idea that You Can’t Escape Yourself—at heart, Castle is a good and honest person, so he struggles with having done something he knows is immoral. His theft is another thing that will need to be resolved before Castle feels sure of himself.

With this, running itself emerges as a motif in this chapter as Castle responds to stress by fleeing. Along with cutting school when his peers make fun of his shoes, he has a panic attack and runs from Mr. Charles’s store when getting locked in the storage room triggers his trauma. Although he is making progress with the team and feeling better about his life, he is still dealing with deeper issues that he can’t articulate until they manifest as anger or panic. While his violence doesn’t emerge in these chapters, Castle instinctively tries to outrun his problems but can’t do so. By contrast, running also provides opportunities for Teamwork and Belonging—while pushing himself on the long run, Castle does something he’s never done before and earns his teammates’ respect and praise. This sets the stage for the cathartic moments that come in the book’s climax and falling action.