Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Runner, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Money, Class, and Community
Growing Up
Grief
Ambition
Crime
Summary
Analysis
Charlie and Mr. Redmond eat dinner with the proprietor of the lodging house, who reads Charlie’s palm and has a vision of two pairs of running shoes: one white, and one black. That night, as Charlie falls asleep, he remembers the first time he went running to escape the cold. Now, he realizes, he is running the race tomorrow for more than himself: he is running for his loved ones. As Charlie and Mr. Redmond leave the next morning, the proprietor tells them she had a vision in her sleep that confirmed the black shoes in her previous vision were Charlie’s.
Before Charlie left Richmond, Alice told him to run the race for himself. This advice was important at the time because Charlie had only recently left Squizzy and needed to feel free while running. As the race approaches, however, Charlie realizes that running for the people he loves is even more liberating than running for himself.
Themes
To compete in the final race, Charlie must place in the top three in the preliminary rounds. Charlie unlaces his father’s boots, and he remembers Mr. Feehan giving him the boots on his deathbed. Charlie wonders if his father had planned all along to be here with Charlie in a moment like this. Before the heat starts, Mr. Redmond reassures Charlie, and Charlie notes that Mr. Redmond has no idea what Charlie has planned. The racers line up at the starting line, and before Charlie joins them, he takes off his shoes. He rejoins the line barefoot.
The race is easy for the first three laps. On the final lap, several runners go wide on the bend, but Charlie does not and gains an advantage. The runners reach the final straight, and Charlie sprints forward with all his strength. His goal is to come in third, and he succeeds. After the race, Charlie explains to Mr. Redmond that while working for Squizzy Taylor, he learned never to show his strength before a fight. He raced barefoot to convince his opponents and the spectators that he is a bad and reckless racer, thus increasing the odds against him. With that accomplished, he gives Mr. Redmond his earnings from Squizzy and asks him to bet all the money on Charlie.
One of Mr. Redmond’s foremost lessons to Charlie when he was training as a boxer was the importance of strategy. Charlie has taken that lesson to heart and combined it with what he learned working for Squizzy Taylor. Though Charlie has left his life of crime behind, it has still shaped who he is, and he has to try to take the right lessons from the experience. Charlie is also not suddenly morally upright––his plan depends on fixing the odds against himself so he can inflate the winnings when he bets on his own victory.
Themes
Mr. Redmond doesn’t want to gamble Charlie’s money, but Charlie insists that it is “dirty money.” He wants to increase it in the bet and use the results for “somethin[g] good.” Eventually, Mr. Redmond agrees. Charlie is anxious at having given away his fortune, but he is also relieved to no longer carry his illegal earnings. He promises Mr. Redmond that he will pull no more tricks. Mr. Redmond kisses him on the cheek and tells Charlie to make him proud. Before Charlie walks to the starting line, he reads Alice’s note. It is only one line: “Run like the wind. Love, Alice.”
Charlie has wanted to do “something good” with his earnings since Daisy Maloney advised him to do so, and now that he has the opportunity to increase those earnings, he takes it. Charlie has realized that although poverty is stressful, frightening, and often traumatic, wealth gained by taking advantage of other desperate people will not relieve those feelings. What can ease the anxiety of poverty is the support of a community, and Mr. Redmond and Alice remind Charlie he has that.
Themes
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The race commences. On the fourth and final lap, Charlie is in a sprinting match against the man on the train with white running shoes. As he runs, he imagines Mr. Feehan, Mrs. Feehan, Jack, Alice, and Nostrils all on the track cheering him on. Charlie runs toward them desperately, and he wins the race. Mr. Redmond is overjoyed, and Charlie tells him that he couldn’t have won the race without his help. Mr. Redmond bet Charlie’s money like he asked, and the resulting sum is 1,200 pounds. In addition to that, Charlie is awarded a silver cup and 50 pounds. He is the youngest runner ever to win the Ballarat Mile race.
The importance of a strong support system becomes clear as Charlie needs to think of his loved ones to finish the race. Charlie could not have made it to the Ballarat Mile without the people he imagines at the finish line, and the thought of them is what propels him forward to the finish line. He earns the small fortune he has always dreamed of through a combination of his own inventiveness and running skill, as well as the support of his loved ones.
Themes
