Forgiveness In John Grisham's 'Bleachers'

Football was and is a very popular sport in America and has always been a favorite. Erik Fisher plays football because he is great at the sport, hence page 27, “Dad had brought Erik to meet Coach Warner earlier in the summer. Dad had knelt down and held the ball for Erik to drill fifty-yard field goals, one after another, while according to Dad, the Coach’s jaw had dropped lower and lower.” But, Erik played football primarily for and because of the fame. He had never cared about whether he had to hurt someone in order reach the top of the “Erik Fisher Football Dream”. On September 5 (pages 50-94), when Mike Costello dies of lightning, Paul finds Erik and Arthur laughing about how Mike’s hair was singed off. Paul was disgusted. Though Erik and Arthur didn’t kill Mike, their laughter reflects their inner evil and selfish selves. Paul then reflects on his own self and decides to walk a path of truth, unlike Erik. In continuation, Ray Lewis had once said, “Don't walk through life just playing football. Don't walk through life just being an athlete. Athletics will fade. Character and integrity and really making an impact on someone's life, that's the ultimate vision, that's the ultimate goal-bottom line.” Erik never had any character or integrity, whether he played sports or not. On the other hand, Paul did have character and integrity. Paul noticed Erik’s evil actions to get higher and higher up the Erik Fisher Football

The inner conflict he has going on is bogging him down. During the four days in the book, he has often changed the subject if anyone mentions his previous career. “I don’t want to talk about football, okay? I don’t want to hear how great I was (71),” is what he says to Paul Curry at Renfrow’s Café one day. Football leaves a bad taste in his mouth. Coach Rake influences Neely’s hard feelings. Rake is tough and mean; he assaults Neely during halftime of a 1987 game. After the altercation, and the knee injury, Neely says things like, “I wish I’d never seen a football (14).” However, during Rake’s funeral, Neely’s attitude changes. He actually uses “the L-word” toward his old coach. Paul Curry says that maybe the reason Rake picks Neely to do the eulogy is a way for Rake to finally make peace with Neely. If that is what Rake intended, it worked. Had Neely not been so stubborn all of those post-football years, he could have made up with Rake. He could have stayed in Messina instead of running away from his past. All he needed to do was accept Rake’s apology. In the eulogy, Neely says, “With each success in life, you want Rake to know about it… And you want to thank him for teaching you that success is not an accident (222).” As hard as it is to accept the fact that he actually loves Coach Rake, Neely does it; he accepts it. Neely finally buries that hatchet that he has held on to for so

“Forgiveness, assert Fincham and his colleagues, can help restore more benevolent and cooperative goals to relationships” Everett L. Worthington, Jr.(2004). New Science of Forgiveness.

Towards the end of the book when Cole does his anger dance, he says the words “I forgive you” for the first time in his life. “At that moment, words he had never been able to speak before welled up inside him. ‘I forgive you’, he cried loudly. ‘I forgive you’” (194). The thematic statement says to forgive someone you have to forgive yourself. In this passage Cole forgives himself for the first time in his life.

After Gerry’s disastrous car accident, Coach Boone is faced with the moral dilemma of selfishness. Boone has always been a coach who strives to win, not only for himself, but for the team, however after the accident, he lacks empathy for the boys and thinks more about what he wants. When he suggests that the team incorporate more training to cope with the changes so that they can win, Yoast feels that Boone is being selfish and lacking consideration of the team's loss, so confronts him with the questions “Is this even about football anymore? Or is it just about you?” To express his reaction to being described as selfish, the

The idea of justice should be based on the idea of forgiveness. A popular attempt at achieve justice is to “forgive and forget”, however this idea is not the best method. To forgive means to recognize that someone has done something wrong and is attempting to fix it, and in turn, you must accept this attempt in order to move forward. Holding grudges is a part of the Human Condition in the sense that we struggle to get over instances of people wronging us, instead of getting over it, we deeply desire revenge. However this is something that we must move past in order to reach true justice.

It is also vital to look at Wilson’s view on the practice of forgiveness and how if an individual decides to ignore it, it can place a road block in their process of change. She believes that God speaks about forgiveness for the following reasons:” (1) we are all sinners with whom to relate so we’ll need to become skillful forgivers (2) God makes forgiveness a centerpiece of our healing process because living in un-forgiveness is so much worse (Wilson, 2001).

Flashbacks to Tom’s previous rugby games with his brother re-affirm the loss he feels towards his old life. Tom feels the need to have everything the way it once was, and Coghill can’t replicate the joy he found in the endless afternoon training sessions with Daniel and his father, nor the adulation of the local community.

Forgiveness is a reoccurring theme in the Grand Concourse; One of the characters, Shelley is known for her willingness to forgive and her effortlessness at which she forgives, it seems to others as a natural gift. Oscar even comforts Emma after her first time volunteering, “Who Shelley no way she forgives everybody. Don’t worry about it” (27). As readers, we jump to the conclusion that forgiveness comes easy to Shelley, but as the play continues and we see Emma repeatedly fall short one might start to sense Shelley’s struggle to continually provide grace to Emma. Shelley’s internal battle can best be seen in one of her monologues as she prays to God, this comes right after Emma is

My father, Jason Katcher was my Coach for nine years. We have had our ups and our downs. Through all these years of sports there are these unfathomable moments in time that will be frozen in to my mind. One of these moments was for the championship in a football tournament. My team and I needed a touchdown to when the game. I hear the fans screaming, my heart is pounding, the other team is nervous, I look up less than ten seconds left, forty-five yards to go, I look left I look right like I do before every play and then I look at my coach.

In today’s society, forgiveness is sometimes a touchy subject. Some believe forgiveness is not necessary, while others follow the belief in the Bible, “forgive and forget.” However one looks at this subject, forgiveness can be difficult in certain instances, especially between a coach and his players. When conflicts arise between these two subjects, there are instances when forgiveness can take years, sometimes many years. In the book, Bleachers, the author, John Grisham, shows the reader the inside of this quest. The main characters, Neely Crenshaw and Eddie Rake, battle inner conflict as they struggle through ambivalence toward one another. Neely, the All-American football player returns home after 15 years when he discovers his coach is

Neely Crenshaw is a man that deals with a conflict from his past and issues with forgiveness. This is a realistic problem everyone goes through and hope to overcome these demons. Crenshaw is conflicting with himself on whether to thank Coach Rake or if he hates him. He wants to thank him because Rake played a major role on how tough mentally Crenshaw turned out to be, but also hates him for how much football took over his life and for the incident that happened at halftime during the 87’

Boone and his family face horrible experiences when moving to Alexandria. When moving to the neighborhood, many neighbors were so upset but many were also happy that he didn’t back down. He was offered the head coach position but turned it down because he felt it would be incredibly disrespectful to Coach Yoast. Boone & Yoast agreed to make the relationship work. The African American students meet with Coach Boone in the gym, the meeting turns into a disaster when Coach Yoast and the white students arrive and disturb the meeting. Gerry Bertier was one of the students among the crowd of white students to interrupt. “I’m Gerry Bertier. I’m the only All-America you got on this team. If you want us to play for you, you reserve over half the positions …we don’t need any of your people on defense we’re already set.” said by Gary Bertier to Coach Boone. Boone makes it clear that all players will be on the team regardless of the color of their skin.

The short story, “The Charmer,” by Budge Wilson sends the message that failure to hold children accountable for their misdeeds is dangerous as it often leads to dire consequences on their demeanor; this is a vital message to comprehend because parents who do constantly overlook the faults of their children, will often find themselves indulging in feelings of regret in the face of adversity. To begin, Zach’s absurd behaviour during the exposition helps Wilson illustrate her theme about the importance of punishing children for their wrongdoings. For example, Winnifred explains how “Zach stole money out of wallets that were left lying around...started smoking at thirteen…[and smashed up their] ...car one night after a poker party...But afterwards, Zach delivered apologies that would have brought tears to a preacher’s eyes” (Wilson, 4). This clearly proves that Zach is a manipulative son who believes that by using his charm, he is not obligated to abide by any rules. His parents’ excessive usage of forgiveness allows him to gradually magnify the degree of his crimes and impose financial burdens on the family. When a child happens to engage in criminal activity, parents are naturally inclined to be infuriated and impose strict consequences because they do not want their child to suffer in the future. However, since Zach’s parents are irresponsible, Zach is unable to differentiate right from wrong. Unfortunately, Zach’s actions show that he is becoming

“Cause we all make mistakes sometimes and we’ve all stepped across that line” (Toby Mac, 2012). What is asked for by many when a mistake has been made? This would be forgiveness. Toby Mac, a Christian hip hop recording artist sings about the burden of carrying around sin and how hard it is to ask for forgiveness and to forgive. Some people forgive more easily than others and often depending on the situation, forgiveness may take time. In a world full of temptation even Christians make mistakes. In his song “Forgiveness (feat. Lecrae)”, the lyrics: My heart’s been broken and my wounds been open - And I don’t know if I can hear I’m sorry been spoken - But those forgiving much should be quicker to give it - And God forgave me for it all, Jesus bled – Forgiveness - So when the stones fly and they aimed at you - Just say forgive them, Father, they know not what they do (verse 2, Lecrae).