What This Theme Explores
Identity and Self-Discovery in The Crossover asks what remains when the labels, looks, and legacies that shape a young athlete are stripped away. For Josh 'Filthy McNasty' Bell, identity is first an inheritance—his nickname, his locks, his bond with Jordan 'JB' Bell, and the shadow of Chuck "Da Man" Bell. The book probes how jealousy, love, and grief complicate that inheritance and force him to look inward. Ultimately, it explores how a boy learns to carry a legacy without being consumed by it, and to claim a name that feels like his own.
How It Develops
At the outset, Josh’s persona is electrifying and secure. On the court, “Filthy McNasty” feels like a superpower, and his locks are both armor and wings—emblems that stitch him to his father’s swagger and distinguish him from his twin. He and JB function as a single unit, their identities mirrored and mutually reinforced.
The first disruptions are bodily and relational. When a bet goes wrong and JB snips Josh’s locks, the loss upends more than his look; it fractures the visual shorthand of who he is. The shift intensifies when JB’s attention tilts toward Alexis, loosening the twin bond and leaving Josh alone with feelings he’s never had to navigate—envy, abandonment, and the unfamiliar quiet of walking home solo.
In the third act, the pressure combusts. Josh’s angry fouling of JB on the court doesn’t just break a game; it breaks a role—supportive brother, steady teammate—and the ensuing suspension takes away the identity that made every other loss bearable. With the jersey removed, he confronts a version of himself defined not by highlight reels but by mistakes.
Finally, tragedy reframes everything. Chuck’s death forces Josh to reckon with a legacy he can no longer access through playful banter or coaching tips; it must be lived, not borrowed. Accepting his father’s ring and the title “Da Man” becomes less about replacing his dad and more about integrating what he’s learned—about humility, accountability, and love—into a new self that honors the past without being trapped by it. The closing “We Da Man” signals not just personal growth, but a healed brotherhood and a shared identity remade rather than inherited.
Key Examples
-
The power of a name and hair: Early poems show Josh fusing his game, his nickname, and his locks into one identity. The metaphor of “wings” links his hair to flight and freedom, but also to his father’s highlight—a borrowed script he’s still performing.
Five Reasons I Have Locks
...
2. it helps people know
that I am me and not JB.
But
mostly because- ever since I watched
the clip of Dad
posterizing
that seven-foot Croatian center...
I knew
one day
I’d need
my own wings
to fly.
(Chapter 1-10 Summary)
- ever since I watched
-
The loss of a symbol: After JB cuts five locks, the poem “Missing” frames Josh’s grief as an equation that will not resolve, underscoring how identity resists easy math. The counting of hair plus “one tear” shows that the real deficit is emotional—what’s missing is not hair but certainty about who he is.
I am not
a mathematician—
a + b seldom
equals c.
...
And so each time
I count the locks
of hair
beneath my pillow
I end up with thirty-seven
plus one tear,
which never
adds up.
(Chapter 1-10 Summary) -
Becoming the “third wheel”: As JB grows closer to Alexis, the second-person poem forces readers into Josh’s shoes, making solitude palpable. The shift from “we” to “you” dramatizes the disorientation of a twin losing his everyday mirror.
After practice, you walk home alone.
This feels strange to you, because
as long as you can remember
there has always been a second person.
(Chapter 21-30 Summary) -
Shedding a nickname: When Josh asks his father to stop calling him “Filthy,” he rejects a ready-made persona in favor of something untested and vulnerable. The scene marks a turning point: identity becomes a choice, not a costume.
I prefer to be called Josh, Dad.
Not Filthy.
Oh, really, Filthy? he laughs.
I’m serious, Dad—please don’t call me
that name anymore.
(Chapter 51-60 Summary)
Character Connections
Josh Bell embodies the theme most directly: he begins as a composite of inherited labels and visible markers and ends as a young man who can hold grief, guilt, and responsibility without hiding behind them. His mistakes don’t negate his identity; they complicate it, and his growth comes from accepting that complication rather than performing invincibility.
Jordan (JB) Bell acts as both mirror and catalyst. By pursuing his own interests and relationship, he challenges the twin-as-one identity and forces Josh to individuate. JB’s eventual act of giving their father’s ring back to Josh acknowledges that individuality and restores the brothers’ shared story on healthier, more equal terms.
Chuck “Da Man” Bell represents the power and burden of legacy. He shapes Josh’s early identity through nicknames and highlights, but his death transforms that influence from performance pressure into ethical memory. The standard he sets is no longer about mythic dominance; it becomes a call to maturity, love, and family stewardship.
Symbolic Elements
Josh’s locks signify individuality, confidence, and lineage. Their loss dramatizes the vulnerability beneath his swagger and initiates the inner work of defining self without a visible emblem.
The nickname “Filthy McNasty” symbolizes the seduction of a larger-than-life persona. Letting it go signals Josh’s move from spectacle to substance, from inherited myth to chosen name.
The championship ring condenses legacy into something wearable and shareable. When JB passes it to Josh and they affirm “We Da Man,” the ring becomes not a crown for one, but a covenant between brothers to carry their father’s legacy together, in their own way.
Contemporary Relevance
Adolescents often assemble identity from outside signals—hair, clothes, usernames, followers—only to discover how fragile those signals are when relationships shift or losses hit. Josh’s story resonates in a culture of curated selves: it shows that self-discovery isn’t a brand to maintain but a reckoning to survive. It validates jealousy and grief as natural waypoints on the path to maturity and suggests that real confidence comes from integrating pain, not avoiding it.
Essential Quote
I prefer to be called Josh, Dad.
Not Filthy.
Oh, really, Filthy? he laughs.
I’m serious, Dad—please don’t call me
that name anymore.
(Chapter 51-60 Summary)
This moment crystallizes the theme by turning identity into an active decision rather than a label conferred by someone else, even a beloved father. The request is small but seismic: Josh chooses authenticity over mythology, signaling that the boy who wore a nickname is becoming the young man who speaks his own name.