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Cultural influences on sports
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Basketball is a sport that is capable of changing one’s life. This is evident in the story, ‘The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian’ created by Sherman Alexie. The story is told through the eyes of Arnold Spirit Jr., an Indian attending Reardan, a white high school while living on the Spokane Indian reserve. Both sides do not take such a choice lightly, but this all changes when Arnold makes the Reardan varsity basketball team. With basketball, Arnold is no longer shunned for his choices. Basketball is a sport he can play freely, without the constant fear of consequences. Basketball is important to Arnold because it shows him the power of expectation, allows him to build healthy relationships and shows him the impact of support. In …show more content…
Rowdy and Arnold are an inseparable pair, and one of the main reasons behind it is basketball. “Rowdy and I played one-on-one for hours. We played until dark. We played until the street lights lit up the court. [...] We didn’t keep score.” (230) On the reserve, both of them have very little friends, Rowdy is just way too tough to deal with, and Arnold is an outcast in nearly every aspect. However, they were still able to build a strong bond, with basketball being one of the many reasons. They quickly became the best of friends, and basketball built a strong friendship, which may even be stronger than their relationships with their parents. Even after all the events that occurred between the two, such as Arnold leaving the reserve, Halloween night and the basketball games against Wellpinit, basketball never fails to strengthen their bond, and brightens the flame that is their friendship. Another event in the story where basketball aids Arnold to develop friendships is at Reardan. The students of Reardan do not welcome Arnold with open arms, and it remains this way for quite some time. However, after making the basketball team, this all changed. “ “Oh, my, God!” she yelled for everybody to hear. “That suit is so beautiful [...] Even Roger, the huge dude I’d punched in the face, was suddenly my buddy.” (122). The opinions of the students before and after him making the …show more content…
The power of expectation begins to show when Arnold reflects the expectations he had on the reserve and at Reardan, and preceding the rematch against Reardan, Basketball helps to build healthy relationships which are evident in Rowdy and Arnold’s friendship, and his relationship between the Reardan students. And the impact of support is evident when Arnold compares the reactions of the different schools, and how they directly affect his performance and again in the events preceding the rematch against Wellpinit. Even something as insignificant as basketball which may not seem like something impactful at first glance, it can change an individual's life
Students should read this book in high school to learn how to take a negative situation and make it positive. Hutch is extremely jealous of Darryl because he knows that Darryl is a better baseball player, but he also knows that if he wants his team to win the championship, then he needs to find a way to get along with him. This book does appeal to the interest of most teenage students. Most teenagers have played some type of sport and have had to find a way to deal with being on a team with competition. A team that is not able to work together will not win together. It is important for teammates to suppo...
Roger Ebert said, “Everybody in this movie seems to be trying to start over in life, and, in a way, basketball is simply their excuse.” In this film every one was trying to overcome their problems. The team was over coming their losses and to show everyone they can win, Dale was overcoming his past and Shooter was trying to overcome his alcohol problem. Each one of these people was all connected to basketball to help them overcome these
The movie “Basketball Diaries” is based on a series of journal entries written by Jim Carroll during the early years of his life, these entries would later on be published as a novel. Growing up in the slums of New York City, Carroll was exposed to many instances of drugs abuse and as a result of his life being filled with stress such as him living in an unstable household without a father, and losing his best friend he began to engage in substance abuse. As a teenager, Carroll was willing to go to extreme lengths just to fit in with his peers. He was an avid basketball player who seemed to be devoted to the sport and was knowledgeable when it came to teaching others what he knew about the sport. Based on the opening scenes of the movie, one can tell that Carroll was a very impressionable teenager. Like many teenagers, Carroll was left open to the influences of his environment and so he was misguided because instead of trying to steer him on the right path, the older folks led him to what would inevitably become his destruction. This paper will provide background information of the ...
Thirdly, during both their basketball games against Wellpinit, Arnold’s team supported him through everything. Even when they lost, they didn't blame him or get mad. They understood and accepted that playing against his reservations team was hard for him. They encouraged him the next game, giving him all their support, specifically Arnold’s coach. The support from his coach and teammates, and the feeling of acceptance and belonging encouraged him to play hard without any fear of the consequences his family and him will face for being seen as a traitor to the
The men in the town had set up a meeting in a barber shop to have a discussion about basketball with the new Coach Norman the men told Norman they needed Jimmy to play in order to win. Norman Dale did not care about who was on the team, it mattered how the players were playing together. Coach Norman went to go visit Jimmy, Coach Norman tells Jimmy a story when he was younger, he would do anything to win a game whether he hurt someone or pushed away someone to win a game. During the movie his perspective about winning had changed. While the team was playing against another team during the game, it did not matter if they were losing it mattered that they were working together. Another example, from the movie Hoosiers was when a player named Ollie had gotten fouled on he had to make the last winning points. Ollie was discouraged, he would not make the winning shot, he gained confidence in himself, so he shot the first shot and made it Ollie was so surprised that he made the first shot, he still had to make the second shot there was a suspense to make the last shot and he did the team was so happy Ollie made the team
To conclude, the poem “Ex-Basketball play,” is a poem that shows the reality of life. It reflects the nature of life in the real world and it helps people who have a dream and want to pursue their goals to go for it. The poem was formally organized and provides a number of figurative languages that helps to bring out tone of the poem.
Losing a basketball game is not such a big deal, but losing a grandmother, a sister, a best friend, and an entire community all in a couple of months in another story. This is what happened to Arnold “Junior” Spirit in the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. In the diary, Junior tells readers about his experience in an Indian reservation. he tells the story of when he transfers from his unprivileged Indian school on the reservation to a privileged white school outside of the reservation. The white school, Reardan, puts Junior in a vulnerable situation as he is the only Indian at the school. Throughout the course of the story, Junior becomes emotional, brave, and determined.
The main topic of the second article looks at how the Warrior Motif functions in depictions of Native American athletes. The two main depictions that are analyzed includes the depiction of Native American high school basketball players in a 1991 article and Phil Jackson’s usage of the Warrior motif in his book 1995 Sacred Hoops and in a 1999 ESPN television profile.
In Sherman Alexie’s narrative, “The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian,” the struggles of race Arnold, the main character, endured lead him to have a sense of clarity on his position in this world, being a Native American. Arnold Junior experiences many a loss and torment of his peers. He also goes through may hardships because of the color of his skin. Hardship clarify someone’s position in this world, leading one to become wiser in their choices and actions. The theme is developed throughout the narrative by Arnold experiencing struggles of racism and poverty which is explained by what he learned and felt.
Wiggins, David Kenneth, and Patrick B. Miller. 2003. The unlevel playing field: a documentary history of the African American experience in sport. Urbana: University of Illinois Press
...by the Texas Western Men’s Basketball Team of 1966 in emotional abuse, curfew, and stereotypes. The African-American players on the team elicited much harassment and racism. The emotional abuse that the team received threatened to break the team, but the team responded by triumph in the 1966 NCAA Division I National Championship. Then, the concept of curfew was not an important one within the Texas Western Basketball players’ priorities in the beginning of the season. The distraction of partying and girlfriends kept the men up all night and led to them being punished by their coach. In recruiting, Coach Don Haskins overlooked the stereotypes surrounding African-American basketball players and started the first all-black national championship team. This inspirational story is one that explains the reason for the racial equality in the sport of basketball today.
Firstly, Rowdy is not a good friend to Arnold, he bullies and abuses him all throughout the book. When Arnold breaks the news to rowdy that he has to leave the reservation and he was not happy with the news he was receiving. Rowdy reacts violently and Arnold “got punched hard in the face by his best friend” (Alexie 52). * This shows that Rowdy is not a good friend because he physically abuses and repeatedly bullies Arnold.
He puts it likes this “ Back on the [reservation], I was a decent player, I guess. A rebounder and a guy who could run up and down the floor without tripping.” (Alexie__)He continues to tell the reader how he lacked confidence playing basketball at the reservation, and was not expected to be good so he wasn’t. When he went to school, it was different “something magical happened to me when I went to Reardan… my coach and the other players wanted me to be good. They needed me to be good. They expected me to be good. And so I became good.” (Alexie__) When Arnold went to Reardan, his perspective on basketball was changed. Through his coach and teammates made him a star by just believing in him. Alexie shows how believing in people can be a significant role in developing people 's individuality and in this case, he shows this trough Arnold and basketball in a very realistic and convincing way. He makes the reader question themselves and how they have treated others who may be like Arnold. One pivotal scene at the beginning of the novel ends up with Junior throwing his math book at his teacher. He found out that the very same math book he was issued turned out to be the same one his mom used, this infuriated Junior. He felt that part of the reason the Indians on the
After the continuous winning streak that Cordia had, many team players suffered discrimination. For example, in an episode teaser #15, racism was pointed out by many school officials due to the unfair game against Knott’s county. I believe that racial profiling is the pinnacle of this film. It examines the ideology that each community reflects on based off of the pigmentation of skin color. Throughout the film racial profiling is continued which affects the motivation and determination of the team. It creates a negative impact in their mind through the sport of basketball, which contradicts the purpose of being in basketball. The author emphasizes the importance of basketball, by using it as a stage for the players to excel their talents and have an escape from
On his tenth birthday Jim Walker was introduced to the game of basketball by receiving a basketball from his uncle Mark Walker. Jim acted as if he loved the gift to please his uncle but really expected more from him. Jim never really played basketball at this age because he would rather spend his time doing things most other ten year olds did like riding bicycles and playing with G.I. Joes. On the same birthday Jim’s mother, Althea gave him ankle weights. She gave him this because she realized her son had a talent, which was jumping high, hoping this talent would payoff for both of them in the future. Jim and his family were not very wealthy living in the Harlem projects were drugs and constant violence plagued the neighborhood so he didn’t really receive many other gifts.