Summary Of The Novel 'Crash' By Jerry Spinelli

To lose is to win. These words come from ancient China, which means a loser can gain a profit, and the profit brings a loser in value as same as to win. People always want to win to satisfy their own sense of superiority, especially teenagers and boys, who tends to desire to get attention. For example, at the beginning of the school year, teenagers show new goods, which they buy during summer vacation, and they compared their goods with others’ goods. In the novel, Crash, written by Jerry Spinelli, there is a boy named Crash, who always wants to win and get attention as same as other teenagers. However, his desire to win vanishes at the race-off, because he wants his opponent, Penn to run at the next relays, he wants to give a gift in return for the present Penn gives Crash’ grandfather, and he thinks too much about his opponent, Penn. Moreover, he gains a profit to become a loser, for example,

All people usually support the person, who tries hard to achieve something difficult. However, Crash should not support Penn, since Penn is his opponent. In the novel, before the race-off, he advices Penn “Don’t forget lean” (Spinelli, 155). This advice shows that Crash does not consider Penn as his opponent. Therefore, he gives Penn an advice as his supporter. The his counsel Crash gives Penn, is a one of the pieces of evidence, which Crash wants Penn to run at the next relays. Through the events, he learns that state of feeling charging. He said “Lost. If I say the word aloud, it makes me shiver” (Spinelli, 157) These words show that he regrets what he has done, and he is very upset. This is the first time to lose in a race for him, therefore this is the first time he feels charging. Thus, he wants Penn to run at the next race, and he learns the state of charging. Besides this reason, there are other reasons why he loses in the