77 pages • 2 hours read
Kwame AlexanderA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content Warning: This section references mental illness.
“It was the hottest summer
after the coldest winter ever,
when a storm shattered
my home
into a million little pieces
and soaring above
the sorrow and grief
seemed impossible.
It was the summer of 1988
when basketball gave me wings
and I had to learn
how to rebound
on the court.
And off.”
In the Prologue, adult Charlie thinks back on the important role that the summer of 1988 played in his healing from the death of his father. He establishes the rebound as a symbol of the process of recovering from loss—part of a broader basketball motif. He compares his loss to a destructive storm to signify the impact his father’s death had on his entire family, establishing the theme of How Grief Manifests in Different Individuals.
“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.
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