In the poem “The Ex-Basketball Player” by John Updike the use of literary devices, adjective to describe diction, and reminiscent tone all contributed to the theme of the poem. The theme of this poem is about a high school basketball star that has taken his talent nowhere. The poet uses literary devices to portray the current lifestyle of a once-popular athlete. The character Flick spends his days going nowhere and daydreams about his former glory days. Flick could have went somewhere with his talent but he just ended up selling gas, checking oil, and fixing flats. The story has many different literary devices. An example of imagery is when it explains his love for the sport when he dribbles the inner tube. “Their rubber elbows hanging loose
In The Rebounder by Thomas J. Dygard it is more of a sportsbook that follows a high school senior named Chris Patton through his journey in playing basketball again after an accident that he had at his other school in Indianapolis. Also this story follows the Hamilton High Panthers basketball team's journey to win the Spoon River Conference in Illinois.
Conroy was the team’s backup point guard for most of the season. To be a point guard, especially for the time he plays, you have to be quick, smart, and strong to be able to find success. Conroy’s favorite part about being a point guard was the swiftness needed to operate the court. He uses multiple examples of similes to help describe this part of the game, “Fleet of foot, I loved pushing a basketball up the court as much as I have loved anything in this life. (Conroy 154)”
The use of imagery to depict a Golden Age is evident in John Updike’s poem “Ex-Basketball Player.” This piece of poetry tells the story of a man named Flick Webb, who works at a garage pumping gas and repairing cars. As the poem continues, we learn that Flick once was an incredible basketball player; he holds the county record for points in a season. However, after high school, he never continued with his abilities, and never studied another trade. There is one stanza of the piece—the third stanza—that focuses on Webb’s ball-playing days. Updike describes his incredible abilities with beautiful language, comparing Flick’s hands to “wild birds” in the sense that they were delicate yet impressively skilled; as the poet describes them later on,
The basketball represents or symbolizes childhood in this novel. The basketball represents childhood because it shows how or what bobby used to do when he was a not a parent and had innocents he played basketball. This also shows us as bobby forgets about feather and runs back to her, sits the ball down and it rolls away it shows how his innocents are rolling away and how he is now a parent and needs to take care of feather. As or when bobby sees his brother nick he throws the ball back at him it shows him getting his childhood back and the
First i'll be talking about what the basketball really means in the First Part Last. This basketball symbolizes childhood. Of course it can be something else but it's the way how the author had used the basketball in the book that makes it a symbolism of childhood. It's used to tell the readers that the character Bobby is finally Maturing since he is becoming a father.It's getting to him that he can't be a kid anymore because now he has to be the grown up. It's hard for him but it wasn't anyone's else choice it was his and Nias.
The poem Ex-Basketball Player by John Updike, discusses the life of a once well known “star” named Flick. During Flick’s high school years, he was a successful basketball player who held several county records. The speaker of this story expresses the greatness that Flick possesses as he is a fan of Flick. The narrator shares an experience of a time when he watched Flick play and describes his talent with great remarkability. In contrast, the speaker discusses Flick’s current life.
He never had a chance to go very far in life because he put all of his efforts into basketball and he did not focus on his academics. Updike stresses the point of the lowly position Flick holds at the gas station by referring to Flick as Berth’s helper.
The poem tells the story of the life of the former high school basketball standout, Flick Webb and his fall from grace and fame. The speaker takes us on a journey through Flick’s life, beginning with the main street in town, developing to Flick’s fall from fame to his lowly job, and then ends by telling us of his menial daily habits. He was once the best basketball player in his area. However, he has since his fall from grace he is now just a lowly gas attendant who checks oil, and changes flat tires for a living.
Towards the beginning of the novel, there is a scene where Bobby is caring for Feather, his infant daughter, when his basketball rolls away from him, towards the door. This basketball symbolizes Bobby's old life, and his old responsibilities. Before he had Feather, Bobby would play basketball with his friends, and just have fun. Now, the responsibility of having a child has consumed all of his time, and when the ball rolls away from him, it represents his old habits and actions leaving his life. This supports
Bernard Malamud’s award winning novel The Natural achieves organic unity through his expletory use of details to help maintain and sustain the major themes throughout the novel. The Natural contains many themes, perhaps the most visible of these themes is dissatisfaction. Roy Hobbs a once great, thriving baseball player projected for great things is shot by a serial killer that attacks young star athletes. Hobbs was dissatisfied with how his life turned out and how he couldn’t play the game he loves. You see Hobbs’ physical ability and mental strength taken from him after he is no longer a sought after. Through his ambition to return to the game that was taken from him when he was so young you see his strength and skill return to him,
In contrast to the imagery used by Housman, Updike stresses the athlete’s fading glory as the athlete has lived past his triumphant days. As “To An Athlete Dying Young” begins the poem through the imagery that shows the athlete’s success and his gain of honor, whereas “Ex-Basketball Player” indicates that the athlete’s life is no longer filled with glory. The road leading to the place where he works shares with the readers how meaningless and empty the athlete’s life has become as the road “runs past the high-school lot, bends with the trolley tracks, and stops, cut off” (2). Flick, the subject of the poem, has had his years of glory when he played for his high school since he had the skills and talent to break records. He had extra talent that made him become one with the basketball and handle it like no one else could as “his hands were like wild birds” (18). Although Flick had his glorious years, unlike the athlete in “To An Athlete Dying Young” Flick’s glory does not last because he now “checks oil, and changes flats” (20). “To An Athlete Dying Young” emphasizes that it is better
In the poem, “Ex – Basketball Player” by john Updike, (which is a narrative poem) illustrates the nature of life on how life is potentially is seen has a mirror to other people’s life, especially people who play sports. Life is the physical and mental experience of an individual. An in the poem the main character Flick, supply the poem with a good example of how life is potentially a mirror for other people. This poem is formally organized, even though it locks some qualities, it still haves the qualifications of a good poem. The “Ex Basket Player” is an interested poem because it has a good theme, tone and lots of figurative languages.
A.E. Housman was a poet born in 1859 who became very successful during his lifetime. “To an Athlete Dying Young” represents the theme of glory is fleeting by illustrating the point that if a successful athlete dies young, they will not have to worry about their glory of victory fading. They can rest in peace knowing they will be remembered at their athletic peak when they were successful and victorious. They will not have to go through the pain of watching their fame disappear or whither out with time. In this poetic masterpiece, Housman pulls together figurative language, sound devices, and structure to illustrate that glory is fleeting through a
Have you ever wondered who truly was the greatest NBA player of all time was? There are very many players that could be selected for this title. Some names that you would be likely to see when discussing this topic are: Bill Russell, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird, LeBron James, and Michael Jordan (Top 10 Players in NBA History). Most people can recognize most of these names but one of these people may be the most well known people in all of sports. The reason for this is because he is you doubtfully the best person to every play the game of basketball. This man is Michael Jordan and he was the greatest player to ever be apart of the NBA because of his accomplishments in basketball, his impact on
Another way the author shows the player's emotions in the poem,”Slam Dunk, & Hook” is with his heavy verb usage seen often in the poem. Line 29-31 states,”Trouble was there slapping a blackjack Against an open palm”. The boys coming together for a game when they weren’t at their best was the only positive thing in their lives. The game was like an escape from reality because without it, they would have no control over themselves with all the bad in their lives. The