Athlete Vs. Mathlete

Owen is one of the protagonists and point-of-view characters of Athlete vs. Mathlete, embodying the “athlete” part of the book’s title. Though Owen and Russell are twins, they are fraternal (meaning they don’t look alike), and Owen is shorter but more athletically built than Russell, cementing his role in the novel. Owen’s tragic flaw is his selfishness, something he is not aware of until the end of the novel. Throughout the book, Owen takes what he wants without asking permission or even acknowledging that he has availed himself of something that doesn’t belong to him. This is most keenly seen in his desire to help Russell prepare for the basketball tryouts. Owen’s motivation is to keep Russell from embarrassing both of them. Owen is more concerned with how his brother’s tryout will reflect on Owen’s status with the other kids, and he worries that his friends will judge him because he’s related to someone who is so obviously poor at basketball. As Russell’s latent basketball skill is revealed, Owen’s selfishness morphs into jealousy, which causes him to take more and more until he’s hogging the spotlight in an ill-fated attempt to build himself up and tear Russell down.