Miles Morales: Spider-Man

“Perhaps, for a kid like him, being a Super Hero had an expiration date. And it wasn’t worth being punished by his folks—it wasn’t worth failing a class, or being expelled—if he couldn’t even guarantee he’d be Spider-Man by graduation.”

Miles feels friction between his role as Spider-Man and his life as a normal teenager. In this quote, Miles introduces the reader to one of the most significant motifs in the novel: duty and heroism, responsibility. He questions which of his two identities, his two responsibilities as hero and student, he needs to focus on.

“Love is deed, papi. Not just fine phrases.”

Miles’s mother reminds him and his father about what it truly means to love someone. Love as a form of duty is a recurrent motif in the novel, and it is what helps Miles escape the Warden’s mind manipulation. This quote explains why Miles feels he needs to support his parents, meet his incarcerated cousin Austin, and see Alicia at the open mic event despite the potential consequences.

“So this was about you saving somebody, huh? Yeah, well, let me ask you something, Super Hero… Who’s gonna save you?”

The concept of “saving” is a recurring motif. Miles struggles with the idea of allowing bad things to occur and turning a blind eye to them; he feels it is his duty, as Spider-Man, to help those in need. Here, Miles’s father reminds him that, while he is a hero, he is also still a child.