Character Clues

Character Analysis

Names

They don't call John Coogan "Crash" for nothing, yo. He got his nickname because of his love for knocking people over, which is pretty much his whole deal.

Similarly, Scooter, Crash's grandpa, tells us the story behind his own nickname. "I was a speedy little bugger where I grew up," he says. "One time somebody said, 'Look at 'im scoot!' and that was that" (21.21). After his stroke, he loses speed, but he still scoots (with the help of a walker).

Clothing

In Crash, there's an easy way to separate the heroes from the zeroes. The good guys get all their swag at the local thrift store, Second Time Around. A place, it's worth noting, that Crash says he will never patronize. "Me and Mike, we'd come to school in our underwear before we'd wear something from Second Time Around" (9.21).

Crash prefers his clothes brand new and expensive. At one point, he proudly declares himself the owner of a "ten-pizza shirt" (23.2). To him, fancy clothes are everything. Eventually, he changes his mind, and that's part of how we know he's moving from bad-guy bully to good-guy friend.

Family Life

Penn and Crash are both close with their families, but that's where the similarities end. Penn's parents are both artists who work from home. They're vegetarians who don't own a TV, and even as a kindergartner, little Penn reflects those wholesome values.

Crash, in sharp contrast, has parents who work away from home 24/7. He eats a lot of pepperoni pizza, and sometimes he starts dinner with dessert. Accordingly, his values are as questionable as his food choices.

Penn's family structure remains the same throughout the story, as do his values. Crash's family structure changes when his grandfather comes to live with them, and then again when his mom makes a new career choice. And guess what? Crash's values change, too, which is at least in part influenced by his family dynamic.