67 pages • 2 hours read
Ghost
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Castle Cranshaw / “Ghost”
Content Warning: The source material and this guide discuss domestic violence.
Castle Cranshaw is the narrator of Ghost and the story’s protagonist. He is a dynamic and round character who grows throughout the novel. He starts as an angry teenager with poor impulse control because he is coping with trauma. Castle is profoundly affected by a night when his father fired a pistol at him and his mother, for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. His trauma manifests in fights at school and an inability to back down from conflict. He is also insecure about Glass Manor, the poor neighborhood in which he lives, and feels that he is rarely able to make his own first impressions. Whether people judge his clothes, his haircut, or his neighborhood, he feels like people think they know things about him that aren’t true.
Despite his bravado, Castle is compassionate from the beginning. He stands up for anyone who is bullied, including his own bully, Brandon. He is protective of his mother and sleeps on a pallet near her bedroom so he can help her instantly if anything happens. These traits outline his hidden depths, which are revealed through his first-person narration but concealed from those around him.
Castle is ambitious but also undirected. He believes he could break world records, but until he joins the track team, he is never shown putting focused time and effort into any projects. His assimilation into the team and his relationship with Coach give him structure and a group to belong to, something he has never had. Once he applies his energy with purpose, he grows into a formidable competitor and teammate. In sharing his inner fears with others, he also has an easier time managing his trauma and ends the book ready to take a new path into the world.
Otis Brodie / “Coach”
Coach Otis Brodie is an archetypical mentor or coach. He gives motivational speeches peppered with maxims, he expects a lot from his team, and he puts them through grueling practices. However, Coach is rounded out by his unique perspective on his runners, particularly the “newbies” whom he takes to the Chinese restaurant. Patty, Lu, Sunny, and Castle all run for different reasons, and Coach is adept at identifying the ways that running fills the voids in their lives.
Coach sees himself in Castle because he was also raised in Glass Manor and was abused by his father. As such, he also takes on the role of Castle’s father figure, giving Castle the support he needs to heal his trauma. Coach is an Olympic gold medalist, but he dedicated himself to running because of an incident in which his father punched him while he was watching the Olympics on TV. Coach provides perspective for Castle: Because he has experienced many of the same things as him and still managed to achieve his goals and have a happy life, he creates a positive example for Castle to do the same.
Lu, Sunny, and Patty
Castle’s teammates—and the protagonist narrators of the subsequent Track series books—are important secondary characters in Ghost. Since the narrative is limited to Ghost’s perspective, the novel doesn’t delve into their journeys and arcs. However, Castle’s impression of his teammates evolves as the novel progresses, making them more dynamic.
Castle’s first impression of Lu is that he is arrogant and ostentatiously flaunts his expensive running gear. Lu, however, is an accepting teammate once he sees that Castle is willing to work hard. His competitive rivalry with Castle makes them both better. Lu shows how a person’s appearance can be at odds with what is happening inside them. Castle thinks that Lu looks cool, but because Lu has albinism, he has never felt “normal.”
Sunny is a distance runner and is the only one on the team from a rich neighborhood. Sunny runs because his mother died giving birth to him, and his father pressures him to fulfill his mother’s goal of winning a marathon. Sunny eventually comes to enjoy running for its own sake, but he shows Castle another example of how a person’s looks can be deceiving. Although he is from a rich neighborhood, he is humble, supportive, and never seems angry. He has advantages that Castle does not, but he shows Castle that it is possible to rise above one’s circumstances.
Patty is another sprinter on the team and the only female newbie. She was adopted, and she runs because her biological mother lost her legs to diabetes; Patty runs because her mother can’t. She is kind and compassionate with her teammates and encourages Castle to come back to practice after he falls and embarrasses himself. Patty’s friendship with Castle also hints at a romantic connection between them in future books.
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By Jason Reynolds
