Ghost

“Running ain’t nothing I ever had to practice. It’s just something I knew how to do.”

Castle’s idea of running is linked to his father shooting at him and his mother, rooting the natural act in a traumatic childhood. From that moment, he tends to always feel that he is running from something, putting distance between himself and his problems. This introduces Coach’s mantra and a major theme: You Can’t Escape Yourself.

“I always had this feeling that if I could just get on, I’d be the next LeBron. But I never wanted to be the next…whoever the most famous runner is.”

Reynolds characterizes Castle and creates verisimilitude here by having him reference LeBron James, imitating a young teen’s diction by referring to the famous athlete by his first name only. Castle’s affinity for basketball in place of running creates the foundation for his growth as a track athlete.

“That was my self-given nickname. Well, halfway self-given. The night me and ma busted into Mr. Charles’s store, Mr. Charles looked at us like he was looking at two ghosts. Like he didn’t even recognize us, probably because of how scared we both must’ve looked.”

Like so much of Castle’s self-perception, even his nickname comes from the night they escaped from his father. The night changed him into someone that Mr. Charles—who knew him well—didn’t recognize. Mr. Charles is using a popular idiom that compares someone’s fear to seeing a ghost, and Castle’s identification with the idiom reflects the deep-rooted nature of his trauma.

“I get weird because people always treat you funny when they find out you stay in a certain kind of neighborhood.”

Castle, like many teens, doesn’t fit in—in his case, his bully targets him because he lives in the poorest neighborhood in the zoning district. This relates to the theme of Teamwork and Belonging, as the track team gives Castle the chance to be seen for who he is rather than needing to deal with others’ presumptions and prejudices.

“Let me tell you something. Cas already is a serious problem.”

Reynolds uses a play on words in the conversation between Coach and Teri. Coach uses the word “problem” positively, a slang term for someone who dominates a sport (Castle would be a problem for the other players). Teri counters by being literal, discussing Castle’s real behavioral problems.

“I just want to make sure I’m near her in case I gotta protect her.”

Castle’s frank statement here shows how he was forced to mature quickly; though he is still a child, he sleeps on a pallet near his mother’s room so he can protect her. This emphasizes the theme of Overcoming Childhood Trauma.

“For me, the best way to describe it is, I got a lot of scream inside.”

Castle tries to explain what it feels like when he gets so angry that he can’t control himself. Reynolds uses unusual diction here, using “scream” without an article to reflect Castle’s overwhelming feelings of rage, sorrow, and confusion—it defies traditional structures.

“Trouble is,’ says Coach, ‘you can’t run away from yourself. Unfortunately, ain’t nobody that fast.”

This quote embodies Coach’s mentor role. He uses a well-known maxim—a general truth—to identify Castle’s urge to run from his trauma and problems. The informal diction in his speech puts him on Castle’s level, making him trustworthy.

“I guess the only other person I’m really scared of, maybe…is me.”

Castle worries that he is like his father, even though his actions are the opposite—he constantly protects his mother rather than harming her. Still, Castle worries about what his anger means, emphasizing the theme of Overcoming Childhood Trauma.

“Tomorrow it won’t matter. It’ll be a new day. A new chance!”

Coach always tries to encourage the players after they make mistakes. He does this through maxims, like “tomorrow is a new day.” This maxim is the opposite of Castle’s anxiety and trauma—Coach encourages him to leave each day behind and start fresh, whereas Castle is preoccupied with the past.

“Don’t ever let someone call your life, your dreams, little.”

Mr. Charles offers Castle a different viewpoint about a well-lived life. He runs a small convenience store while his siblings have medical practices, but Mr. Charles likes his life. Like Coach, this situates Mr. Charles as a role model, someone who can show Castle how to be content with his dreams and never apologize for them. This helps develop the theme of Teamwork and Belonging as Castle embraces his community.

“I didn’t even come close to finishing with everybody else, but I didn’t quit. I never stopped running.”

The first time Castle goes on a long run with the team, he learns that his strength is in sprinting, not distance running. However, he completes the run and does not mind that he finishes in last place. He is starting to find pleasure in the practice itself and the feeling of improvement rather than focusing on the need to win. This shows his character development from Chapter 1 when he crashes the track meet because he wants to run faster than everyone else.

“I saw some of the other kids snickering at him as he passed. But I told them all to chill. I don’t know why because he totally deserved to be roasted, but I guess I felt kinda bad for the dude. I been there.”

When Brandon returns to school after his suspension, Castle defends him from the other kids, even though Brandon beat him up. Castle is sensitive to seeing anyone mocked because he knows how it feels; this situates Castle and Brandon as foils because Castle has compassion for anyone who gets bullied, while Brandon is a bully.

“I wondered why Sunny didn’t act like the other people I’d met who lived in this neighborhood. He was…cool. A little weird, but cool.”

Sunny lives in an affluent neighborhood, and Castle has always associated kids from Sunny’s neighborhood with aloofness and condescension. By contrast, Sunny is humble and easy to get along with. His example helps Castle rethink his perceptions of people and different groups, another step in his character development.

“I always wanted a brother. But my mom can’t have no more kids. And the reason why I wish I had one is because then I could’ve seen what I would’ve looked like if I wasn’t albino.”

At the dinner for the new runners, each teammate shares a secret with the others. Lu reveals that he is insecure about his albinism and does not feel like he is “normal.” This surprises Castle because Lu always has the most expensive running gear and looks flashy. Castle sees that he was too quick to judge Lu, just as he judged Sunny earlier. Alongside Castle’s character development, this scene emphasizes Teamwork and Belonging; each teammate has their private struggles, but they find support and community with The Defenders.

“But she died. So my father made me run. He felt like I owed it to her. I hated it at first, but I didn’t have a choice.”

Sunny gives another way childhood trauma can manifest—his father expects him to achieve his mother’s dream of winning a marathon since she died before she could do so. This becomes a major plot point in the sequel, Sunny, where Sunny finds out that You Can’t Outrun Yourself when he realizes he doesn’t like running.

“I run for her.”

Patty runs because her biological mother lost her legs to diabetes. Like Sunny, she is trying to help someone live vicariously through her, although unlike Sunny, it is her choice. Like her teammates, the track team is an important part of Patty's Overcoming Childhood Trauma.

“I felt good. Different. Like, even though they were all stunned by what I said, I felt like they could see me. Like we were all running the same race at the same speed.”

Castle uses a running metaphor to describe the difference between holding his secret alone and sharing it with his teammates. While running for his life felt like a solitary trauma, he now feels like he and his friends are running together. This emphasizes the themes of Teamwork and Belonging and Overcoming Childhood Trauma.

“It seemed like everybody at the table cared and didn’t care at the same time. And that made me feel, for the first time, like I was one of them.”

At the dinner, Castle feels a sense of belonging for the first time in his life. He has never had anyone except his mother, and now he has a group of friends—and Coach—who genuinely care for him. His teammates do not define him by what has happened to him but by who he is and what they see. Doing the same for them deepens the team’s bond.

“I know what it’s like to live here. I know what it’s like to be angry, to feel, I don’t know, rage on the inside.”

Coach reveals that he grew up in the same place as Castle, creating a close parallel between the two characters. Through Coach, Castle can glimpse his future—he can grow up into someone he admires. This cements Coach as an archetypical mentor.

“[Y]ou can’t run away from who you are, but what you can do is run towards who you want to be.”

Coach repeats his earlier maxim, turning it into a motif. This creates a bookend in the novel, creating two points for checking Castle’s progression. Before meeting Coach and joining the team, he only had vague ideas about his future; he had no real goals or purpose. Coach helps him see that if he sets goals, he can achieve great things. This creates a sense of anticipation ahead of the track meet in the final chapter.

“As happy as I was that my crazy father wasn’t around to hurt us no more, whenever he wasn’t wasted, he was dope. That was my dad too. And I missed that version of him.”

Part of Overcoming Childhood Trauma for Castle is acknowledging his father as a multifaceted person rather than a monster—the same man who attacked him was the person he loved and enjoyed being around. Once Castle realizes that there are different versions of his father—some that are frightening, others that are worth loving—he realizes that he doesn’t have to define himself by one aspect of his personality either.

“‘CASTLE CRANSHAW AIN’T NO JOKE. YOU ARE!’”

At the race, King holds up a sign for Castle. He knows Castle hates being mocked or made the butt of a joke. Now, however, Castle experiences what it feels like to have family and friends supporting him publicly. He is part of a team, but his support group extends beyond the Defenders.