Miles Morales Suspended

In Chapters 6-7, the novel’s creators continue to use strategic blends of visuals and typography to reinforce Miles’s internal experiences and the novel’s layered storytelling. For example, the poem “Not to Mention” uses a series of abrupt line breaks to convey the sense of an unspoken understanding between Miles and his friend; when Miles writes, “Ganke knows I’m—” // ”and he knows I can—” (141), it is clear that Ganke has full knowledge of Miles’ special abilities as Spiderman. These gaps use the absence of information to illustrate the connection between the two friends, emphasizing their mutual trust and loyalty. In this way, the authors uphold yet another convention of the superhero genre—the presence of a friend in the know—without distracting from the main plotline of the novel, which remains primarily within Miles’s thoughts.

As Miles endures the tension of his punishment in real time, his thoughts wander widely, providing narrative access to other times and places that have a bearing on the person Miles has become. In one prime example, he examines his memories of the barber shop, where older men praised his intelligence, and he also recalls the bus trip on which he was bitten by a spider: an event that changed the very essence of his day-to-day existence. These details hint at his roots and showcase the people who have shaped his character, creating a mood of nostalgia and reflection that further reinforces the protagonist’s preoccupation with The Duality of Identity. On a daily basis, Miles must embody multiple versions of himself, acting as both a teen negotiating the pressures of school, a dutiful son fulfilling family expectations, and a budding superhero upholding the responsibilities that come with being Spiderman. As a result, the novel’s mood blends tension, hope, and introspection to capture the anxiety of his current punishment and the ongoing weight of his familial and societal expectations.

While all of these conflicts remain relevant, these chapters focus specifically on Miles’s preoccupation with Reckoning with Family Legacy. The metaphor of the green bananas versus the brown bananas provides him with a whimsical but vivid method of expressing the important ways in which people influence one another’s lives. However, Miles challenges the metaphor’s underlying assumption that “brown bananas” are inherently negative. To combat the prejudice inherent in this imagery, he counters that life’s bruises have a positive connotation. As he defiantly writes, “what some call // bruises be Brooklyn // beauty marks” (149). By celebrating the idea that even perceived imperfections can be a source of strength, Miles rejects the tendency for people to discount those who have broken society’s rules and laws. Thus, reflecting on his cousin Austin imprisonment, he describes his cousin’s life as “a book slammed shut. A judged cover. But a sturdy spine” (139). Likewise, Miles decides that he is a “brown banana” and embraces the hard-won growth that comes from adversity.

When Miles expresses his concern for Austin and defines his cousin as “an unfinished story” (139), this metaphor shows his empathy and reveals his desire to intervene positively in the lives of others. Dovetailing with his consideration of life’s treacherous choices, he also reflects on his own transformation, noting that a spider bite has dramatically altered his life’s trajectory, and he notes his belief in the “small things” that can “chang[e] the course of reality” (163). 

Yet even as the main thrust of the narrative concerns itself with these philosophical details, the brief yet ominous descriptions of Tobin’s increasingly odd behavior challenges Miles with new unspoken pressures and emphasizes The Duality of Identity, for he willfully ignores the twinges of his “spidey-sense” in order to conform to the conventional role of a dutiful, rule-following student. In this way, he negates one aspect of his identity in order to perform another, and his reticence in this area foreshadows the classic superhero-style conflict that will soon play out within the school’s walls.

Even in a structural sense, the narrative honors Miles’s many complexities by merging poetry and prose in an intricate illustration of the protagonist’s moral character. In “Thirty Seconds Before Sitting,” for example, Miles links the act of standing up physically to the decision to metaphorically stand up against injustice, writing, “Aint no way a body gonna // be good with curling up when // it knows what it means to unfold” (153). The dynamic structure of this assertion reflects his own moral determination to fight against the world’s prejudices, and this idea extends to his broader awareness of Combating the Undercurrents of Systemic Racism. Significantly, his completion of the various worksheets situates his personal challenges within the systemic structures of the school, showcasing the constraints of his environment even as he labors toward greater self-discovery.