The novel’s first-person narrator and protagonist, Rusty-James, seems a miniature version of his six-foot-one brother, with hair “an odd shade of dark red, like black-cherry pop” and eyes “the color of a Hershey bar” (25). The idea that the brothers’ coloring resembles processed foods accompanies the allusions to metal and machinery in their nicknames, Rusty-James and the Motorcycle Boy. Both their names and appearance firmly ground them in the artificial, urban landscape of their neighborhood. However, while the Motorcycle Boy “look[s] like a panther or something […] [Rusty-James] just look[s] like a tough kid, too big for [his] age” (25).

Rusty-James’s feelings about his appearance—being almost but not quite like the charismatic Motorcycle Boy—reflect his preoccupation with being like his brother in other areas. He is nostalgic for the gang violence of his brother’s heyday and welcomes the idea of future fights as an opportunity to boost his reputation. However, the fights he gets into during the course of the novel result in him being beaten to the extent that he needs to be rescued by the Motorcycle Boy. Rusty-James’s physical injuries also coincide with periodic blackouts and lapses in memory. There is an overall sense that an impulsive, fragile Rusty-James is on dangerous ground, particularly when his brother jokes that at this rate, he will not live to see the return of gang culture.