Ghost is obsessed with greatness, which is why he likes to look at his copy of The Guinness Book of World Records in his free time. However, at the beginning of the story, he does not know what it takes to be great. For instance, when Coach Brody tells Ghost how long it took Usain Bolt—the fastest man in the world—to run a 100-meter dash, Ghost is confident that he could beat Bolt’s record. Of course, when Ghost tries to beat the record, he fails miserably; he is a middle school boy wearing high-top sneakers and cannot run anywhere near as fast as Bolt, a professional adult sprinter. However, because he is a young and inexperienced, this is a mistake Ghost regularly makes. Ghost is arrogant in a way that makes him believe he is better and more talented than other people, even when he hardly knows what he is doing or talking about. Over the course of the novel, Coach Brody teaches Ghost humility by allowing him to fail. When Ghost does not live up to one of his arrogant boasts, Coach Brody does not rub it in his face; rather, he lets Ghost comes to terms with his failure on his own. Coach Brody’s method is closely aligned with the message of the novel, which argues that the way to learn humility is through experience—and by learning that failure won’t be punished or ridiculed.
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Arrogance and Humility ThemeTracker
Arrogance and Humility Quotes in Ghost
And the coach kept saying stuff like, “Lu’s still the one to beat,” which was kinda pissing me off because . . . I don’t know. It just made me think about this kid Brandon at school, who always . . . ALWAYS picked on me. Not even just me, though. He picked on a lot of people, and didn’t nobody ever do nothing about it. They just said stupid stuff like, Can’t nobody beat him. Same kind of rah-rah this bowling-ball-head coach was kicking about this kid, Lu. It's just . . . ugh. I mean, he was fast, but honestly, he wasn’t that fast.
“You wanna tell me what happened, or should I tell you?” Principal Marshall closed his door behind him and took a seat at his desk.
“I ain’t saying that. I’ve definitely been scared of somebody before. Real scared,” I added, thinking about how loud a gun sounds when it’s fired in a small room. “That’s how come I know how to run so fast. But now, the only person I’m scared of, other than my mother . . . I mean, like I do things, I know ain’t cool, but even though I know they ain’t cool, like beating on Brandon, all of a sudden I’m doing it anyway, y’know? So I guess . . . I guess the only other person I’m really scared of, maybe . . . is me.”
“Usain ran a nine-five-eight,” Coach said. […]
“But that ain’t even that fast,” I said. Plus it just didn’t seem like one hundred meters was all that long. I mean, I had just run it the day before in what had to be six or seven seconds. Couldn’t have been more than eight.
“You know who’s really tired, son? Your principal.” Coach put his hands up, palms facing me as if to stop me from even thinking about responding. Then he continued, “No, no. You know who’s really, really tired? Your mother. She’s so tired. So tired. And she’s gonna be even more exhausted when she hears about your suspension.”
I was literally shaking with embarrassment, like my insides had turned into ice. Ice that was cracking.
I wanted to break the desk.
Or flip it over.
Scream. Something. Anything.
Brandon didn’t have too much to say to me. I saw him just before first period, and he walked right past me and Dre. 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.
“Because that’s where we lived. That’s where I grew up. So don’t tell me what I know and don’t know, Ghost.”
