Summary
Castle comments on how the Chinese restaurant dinner is akin to the trust-fall exercise he once had to do during gym class—close your eyes and fall backwards into other people’s arms. The bonded feeling continues until track practice on Monday. However, the “veterans” on the team tease the newbies for chatting with each other and being friendly during the stretch.
People trash-talk back and forth until Curron has a go at Sunny’s mother, not realizing Sunny’s mother died in childbirth. Aaron, the captain, tries to shut it down, and when Curron doesn’t listen, Castle stands up to him and stares him down. The coaches come over and tease the runners for fighting with each other, reminding them that they are a team after all. Coach Brody tells the veterans to be more like the newbies and defend each other.
Castle soon learns the rhythm of the track practice schedule. Monday is “fartleks,” a funny-sounding name for running one’s legs “to death.” Tuesday focuses on technique. Wednesday they run ladders. Thursdays is the long run, a different route each week, meaning Castle worries Coach will run them past the sports store where he stole his shoes. Fridays are everyone’s favorite—the day off. Castle gets used to everyone’s quirks, and even how Coach makes sure he gets his homework done, often in the cab during the ride home.
Castle is particularly excited for uniform day, which Coach talks about for two weeks. The day they get their uniforms is the day it’s confirmed they are on the team and are about to start competing. However, Castle’s name isn’t called out like the others as the coach hands out the uniforms. Like he has forgotten, the coach pulls out a piece of folded paper and hands it to Castle. Castle unfolds it and sees a photo of himself running out of the sports store. In bold red letters, it says SHOPLIFTER. Castle feels as if he’s going to throw up every sunflower seed he’s ever eaten. The coach explains he saw it taped to the window when he went to pick up the uniforms. He then tears it into pieces and says, since Castle can’t wear it, he’ll have to sit down.
Everyone watches stunned, and no one laughs. Castle tells them to mind their business and not spread this outside the team. Coach Brody doesn’t look Castle’s way the entire practice as he sits on the sidelines. He is gruff with Castle as he tells him to get in the cab. They ride in silence until Castle’s house. Castle is surprised when Coach Brody gets out too—he says he is going to tell Castle’s mother about the theft. Castle grabs his shirt and pleads with him not to. They get back in the car and Coach Brody asks why he did it. Castle says he couldn’t have asked his mother because she has no money. Coach says he could have asked him. Castle says he couldn’t have, because Coach Brody isn’t his father. He asks Coach Brody why he cares about him so much. Coach Brody says he cares about all of the teammates. Castle tells him he doesn’t know what it’s like to be him: to look like him and to get made fun of for being from Glass Manor.
Coach Brody shows Castle a tattoo below the neckline of his gold medal, explaining that his actual medal is gone because his addict father sold it for a “twenty-dollar high.” With those drugs, Coach Brody’s father overdosed on the steps a few buildings down from Castle’s. At this point, Coach Brody reveals to Castle that he grew up on the same block. Coach Brody says he thought he could show Castle that you can’t run from who you are, but you can run toward who you want to be. Castle considers who he is and who he wants to be. Coach Brody promises not to tell his mother about the shoes. He says Castle can run, but he has to do it in his raggedy regular sneakers.
Castle is on his best behavior for the rest of the week. Teammates ask about his shoes, and he lies, saying he is just letting them rest. On Friday, the coach makes Castle clean out his car. The worst is the trunk, which is an abyss of old exercise clothes, gym bags, and track paraphernalia. Castle finds a crumpled photo of Coach Brody and his father. He realizes Coach Brody loved his father, just like Castle loves his, despite both men’s faults and addictions. Coach Brody then takes Castle to Everything Sports and makes him apologize to the sales associate for stealing the shoes. She says she forgives him. The coach then hands over his credit card to pay for the shoes.
Saturday is Castle’s first-ever race day. He wakes to the smell of bacon and eggs. His mother talks to her sister on the phone, arranging for them to watch the race at Martin Luther King Park. Castle puts on his electric-blue uniform and silver shoes. On the walk to the park, Castle stops in at Mr. Charles’s store to show off his uniform. Mr. Charles gives him sunflower seeds and tells him to pretend they’re “power pills.”
At the race, Castle is happy to see everyone’s family members in the stands with pompoms and signs. He watches the first races, impressed by the hurdles, which Coach says he will get to learn eventually. Castle worries briefly that Coach won’t race him that day, but he and Lu run the 100-meter together. Castle is startled by the starting pistol, which provokes the memory of the night he and his mother ran from his father. As he is walking to the starting blocks, Castle is shocked to see Brandon Simmons running for the Bolts. They size each other up and ask the same question: you run?
Lu informs Brandon that Castle “runs real, real, real fast.” He tells Castle that it’s just “you and me” and gives him a high five. Castle gets in the starting blocks, thinking he should have invited Dre and Red to watch so they could see him smoke Brandon. In the crowd, his mother is tearing up and his aunt is shouting encouragement. Little King holds a sign over his head that says: “CASTLE CRANSHAW AIN’T NO JOKE. YOU ARE!” The novel ends with Castle’s heart pounding as he waits for the gun to go off, remembering the sound of the door unlocking before he and his mother ran.
Analysis
The afterglow of the Chinese restaurant trust exercise lasts until Monday’s track practice, when the newbies chat amiably with each other, cultivating their new sense of camaraderie. Unfortunately, the insular bonding of the newbies seems to provoke the “veteran” runners, and trash-talking ensues. In an instance of dramatic irony, Curron unwittingly touches a nerve by talking trash about Sunny’s mother, unaware that Sunny’s mother died during childbirth. Luckily, the team captain steps in to remind everyone that they are meant to be working as a team.
Time moves forward quickly as Castle falls into the rhythm of being on a track team. Even though he is a sprinter, Castle—along with every other runner—must follow the schedule, training in longer-distance runs as well as sprint exercises. This well-rounded approach instills humility and discipline in the runners, making them develop their skills even in areas where they might not be as talented. This newfound discipline extends beyond Castle’s track running, as he gets into the habit of completing his homework during rides home in the coach’s cab.
Having had to run in a cut-off pair of his mother’s not-breathable cafeteria scrubs, Castle is particularly excited for the day Coach Brody hands out the team’s official uniforms. However, in an instance of situational irony, Castle’s past misbehavior finally catches up with him and he learns that his coach has found out about his theft. Coach Brody disciplines Castle with the shame of having to sit out practice without a uniform, leaving Castle to sit in the uncertainty and discomfort of not knowing whether he will be allowed to stay on the team.
However, Coach Brody is invested not just in developing Castle’s talent as a runner but also in teaching him to be a more disciplined human being. In an instance of situational irony, the coach reveals that he grew up on the same block as Castle and comes from a similarly dysfunctional family. Like Castle’s father, Coach Brody’s dad struggled with addiction issues that made him unreliable and led him to leave Coach Brody’s life in shameful circumstances. But Coach Brody overcame this adversity to become a gold medal–winning Olympian, and he believes Castle can overcome his adversity too.
Because he understands the circumstances that have contributed to Castle’s misbehavior, Coach Brody gives Castle an all-important opportunity to redeem himself as he learns to be a more disciplined person. Thus, instead of telling Castle’s mother about what her son has done, Coach Brody makes Castle apologize to the salesperson he stole from, and teaches him the importance of humility as he returns to training in his raggedy shoes. Trusting that Castle won’t waste this second chance, Coach Brody purchases the silver shoes for Castle and gives him the uniform that confirms Castle’s place on the team. Lastly, at the track meet, Coach Brody allows Castle to run in the 100-meter dash, a gesture that signals to Castle that his period of punishment is now over.
After all the difficulties Castle has dealt with over the course of the novel, the book finishes on an optimistic note as Castle prepares to run in his first track meet. However, in an instance of situational irony, it turns out that the bully Brandon Simmons is running against him on a competing team. While the revelation momentarily throws off Castle’s focus, Lu is there to encourage Castle and remind him that they are running together as teammates.
Reynolds concludes Ghost by emphasizing how Castle’s traumatic past has contributed to his motivation as an athlete. Returning in his mind to the night he and his mother ran from his father, Castle remembers what it was like to run for his life. In this way, he uses his adversity as fuel, pushing himself to achieve the greatness he imagines.
