Miles Morales: Spider-Man

Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | YA | Published in 2017

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-14

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Chapters 13-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 13 Summary

When Miles returns to his dorm room, Ganke is awake and eating breakfast. Miles begins to change into his Spider-Man suit, startling Ganke. He tells Ganke that he’s considered the situation, and that he needs to confront the Warden. He believes too many people have been harmed by the Warden for him to idly sit by. Ganke becomes serious and asks if Miles is certain about all of this. Miles nods and tells him, “With great power, comes great responsibility” (236). He enters camo-mode, climbs out the window, and runs toward the auditorium. As he runs, he thinks about how the Warden has impacted the past and is actively affecting the future. Miles enters the tunnel, running straight for the castle-like building by the prison.

Miles enters the building and sees the Warden seated on a couch with a white cat laying in his lap. The cat watches Miles, waving its tail in warning. The Warden looks over to where Miles is standing, and suddenly takes off running. The two fight viciously, and Miles is overwhelmed by the Warden’s strength and speed. Miles moves to trap the Warden with his webs, but discovers that his web-shooters broke during the fighting. The Warden reveals that he has the supernatural ability to warp reality itself; he “grabs” the corners of the room and forces the world to close in on Miles. Disoriented, Miles is helpless and unable to fight back.

As Miles reorients himself, the Warden grabs a multi-tailed whip displayed on the wall. He tosses the whip into the air, and Miles watches in shock as it transforms into a gigantic white cat with multiple tails. As Miles fights the cat, the Warden presses a button that alerts the Chamberlains that he is under attack. Miles uses the cat’s own tails to trap it, forcing it to return to its original shape. He holds the whip threateningly, but then watches in horror as the Warden transforms his face into Uncle Aaron’s, his father’s, and Austin’s.

The Warden manipulates reality again, and Miles fights to regain his bearings. He remembers everyone in his community—his family, classmates, neighbors, and those whom they’ve lost. Miles is able to pull himself out of the haze, shocking the Warden. He uses the whip to summon the cat once more, sending it to attack the Warden. An army of Chamberlains break through the door just in time to see the Warden stabbed by all nine of the cat’s tails. The Chamberlains freeze, looking around the room in confusion as though a spell had been broken. Miles enters camo-mode, and watches as they all leave silently.

Chapter 14 Summary

Miles returns to his dorm room, scaring Ganke, who is playing video games. He tells Ganke what happened, still confused by what exactly occurred and how it ended. The boys wonder what this means for their Mr. Chamberlain. As Miles addresses his wounds, Ganke tells him that Alicia stopped by their dorm to ask for him. She told Ganke to give Miles a piece of paper. Curious, Miles unfolds the sheet and reads the sijo that Alicia wrote in response to his. Her poem seems to confirm that she knows about Miles’s crush on her and that it isn’t unrequited. Miles spends the rest of the evening playing video games with Ganke and talking about his family.

The next morning, Miles returns to school as though nothing happened. He greets Alicia, who is happy to see him, and the pair are ushered into Ms. Blaufuss’s classroom. After class, Miles attempts to gauge what to expect from Mr. Chamberlain. He approaches his teacher in the hallway, and is surprised when he is greeted with a genuine tone. Miles eats lunch with Ganke, and then walks to Mr. Chamberlain’s class with Alicia. She tells him about her plan to start a protest in Mr. Chamberlain’s classroom and that everyone is going to join in. Miles enters the classroom feeling hopeful about the future.

As class begins, Miles is told to sit on the floor again, but refuses, arguing that he can just use Mr. Chamberlain’s desk since he won’t be using it. Mr. Chamberlain becomes infuriated and threatens Miles. Miles responds by quoting Alicia from a few days prior, stating that he “is a person.” Alicia takes this as her cue to begin her protest. Alicia begins to chant, and all of their classmates follow their lead. Miles walks out of Mr. Chamberlain’s classroom, chanting with his peers.

Chapters 13-14 Analysis

When Ganke asks Miles if he is certain he needs to fight the Warden, Miles responds, “He’s hurting so many people. […] He’s hurting my family, people in my neighborhood, me…What good is being a hero if I can’t even save myself?” (235-36). Miles’s reasoning is a callback to Alicia’s words to him in Chapter 6, where she tells him that standing up to Mr. Chamberlain impacts more than just them, but all of his students past, present, and future. This quote also includes the motif of saving and what it means to be saved. To Miles, this issue is as much about proving his own ability to stand up to injustice as it is about the Warden’s actual crimes. Ganke eventually relents, understanding Miles’s reasoning, and the two repeat the famous Spider-Man quote: “With great power comes great responsibility.” This allusion to one of the main tenets of being Spider-Man shows that Miles is beginning to accept his role as Spider-Man wholeheartedly—a role he’s neglected throughout the novel due to his recommitment to school. Again, his decision to fight injustice allows him to reconcile his two identities.

As Miles fights the Warden, “His brain wouldn’t quit racing—his family name, the suspension, his uncle, his father, his neighborhood, Austin, everyone who came before him, everyone coming after him” (236). Miles’s sense of community is heightened, and his desire to save those he loves is what keeps him fighting despite his fear. The Warden tries to use his fear against him, but Miles is able to escape the attack by remembering those he is fighting for, those who ground him in reality:

Can you hear me? Hello? Can you hear me? Can you hear us? Listen to us. Listen closely. Our names are Aaron, Austin, Benny, Neek, Cyrus, John, Carlo, Sherman. Benji. Our names are Rio, Frenchie, Winnie, Alicia. Our name is Miles Morales. We are sixteen. We are from Brooklyn. We are Spider-Man (246).

The voices of Miles’s community break through the fog of the Warden’s mental manipulation. This can be viewed both symbolically and literally. As symbolism, the voices represent the way a community can come together to pull people out of darkness—with darkness representing poor decisions and potential evil. It is the support of a community that stops Miles from following in Uncle Aaron’s footsteps. In the literal sense, the moment can be viewed as Miles seeking justice for everyone who has been impacted by the Warden’s schemes. He considers people from both his neighborhood and school, rising above his personal struggles and abuse by Mr. Chamberlain to save those he loves and himself.

Miles ends the novel feeling “[h]ope for his mother and father, his community. Hope for his cousin, Austin…Hope that he’d someday be able to live with what happened with Uncle Aaron,” and is able to come to terms with many of the fears and anxieties that plagued him (257). The repetition of the word “hope” reflects Miles’s optimism, shifting the novel’s tone from one of danger to one of excitement. The use of “hope” also reflects Miles’s revelation that his future is not decided for him, that he can walk a different path than that of his father and uncle. He can now move forward as both student and Spider-Man, with his first significant step after defeating the Warden being his support of Alicia’s protest. While the Warden has been defeated, Miles’s Mr. Chamberlain (and presumably the other Chamberlains) continues to abuse his authority—but by the end of the novel, Miles has gained the confidence to stand up for himself and others. The teacher’s continued cruelty and the ensuing protest are important because they clarify Mr. Chamberlain as acting of his own accord (rather than being manipulated by the Warden) and showcase the students’ part in challenging hateful views (a direct contrast to the Chamberlains and the Warden’s goal).