In The Big Field, author Mike Lupica explores the theme, "Success uses motivation as fuel." Lupica portrays this theme through the main character, Hutch. Throughout the entire book, Hutch, a young boy that has just recently joined a highly talented baseball team, displays moments that exemplify this main theme. Hutch and his team have a chance to play in the stadium of the Miami Marlins, a Major League Baseball team, as long as they can keep winning games and advancing through a challenging tournament; however, Hutch's favorite position on the field, shortstop, the position located between 2nd and 3rd base, has already been filled on the team. Unfortunately, Hutch gets a demotion from shortstop, to second base, the position located between 1st base and 2nd base. Although Hutch was disappointed and melancholy about the switch in position, he was even more upset about the downgrading of leadership, since the …show more content…
Hutch feels pressured because his dad came close to becoming a professional baseball player, but was not at a high enough caliber to play professionally and was forced to quit. The letdown of not making the ''big league'' causes Hutch's dad to not attend Hutch's games or even help him because he does not want to see baseball break Hutch's heart; however, Hutch wants his dad to see him play in order to gain his approval. Hutch was then motivated to work extremely hard in practices and play with as much effort as he could give when it was game-time. The decision made by Hutch was the main reason he had success throughout the tournament as a key component to the prosperity the team had leading up to the finals. He was providing an offensive threat for the team and was an outstanding fielder on defense. The motivation of playing well to earn a spot in his dad's heart allowed for Hutch to have success on the
Grace is a very sweet and sensitive girl. She made some mistakes herself, but because of her foster parents she got through the tough parts. In Far From the Tree written by Robin Benway, she created a character that had a child in highschool and Her little girl was adopted and has a better life than what Grace could have offered her. Once Grace got told she had a sister named Maya she bursted into joy. Her heart was beating out of her chest when she was emailing Maya to meet up. When Maya replied with an answer Grace was ecstatic, but at the same time she did not know what to think. The moment when she saw the answer was ¨yes¨ she ran downstairs to tell her parents. Her whole life was now different because she had a relief that she had someone
“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy of each other’s life” -Richard Bach. Far from the Tree by Robin Benway explores the meaning of family, and the impact that loved ones have on identity. The novel tells the story of three siblings who have three very different lives reunite after spending all of their lives separately. Grace, Maya and Joaquin grow dependant on one another, and unknowingly give and take values from each other that help them solve their own issues slowing being brought to light. With the help of his parents and siblings, Joaquin reveals a critical capacity for change as he leaves his old self behind and moves on to a better future with a loving family.
Hutch, the main character of The Big Field, has played baseball all of his life. He has always played shortstop, the same position that his father dreamed of playing as a professional. “Hutch, had always thought of himself as the captain of any infield he’d ever been a part of” (Lupica 1). Hutch finds himself being demoted to second base because there is another player, Darryl, on his new team that is expected to go pro and also plays shortstop. Hutch struggles because he does not want to play second base and his father does not support him because he does not want baseball to break Hutch’s dreams like it did his own. Hutch is betrayed by his father and Darryl when he finds them practicing together. Hutch has to learn to adjust and eventually becomes friends with Darryl, the up and coming shortstop. He understands that if he wants to win, then he needs to work together with Darryl. His father also comes around and finally gives Hutch his approval. Students should read this book in a high school English classroom because it demonstrates how relationships can be difficult, but teamwork can help to solve many issues.
Bill Meissner is an author who enjoys writing stories about baseball that include nothing about baseball. In his stories there are many hidden messages which the reader tries to decipher and figure out the theme. Meissner uses baseball as his main attraction to catch the reader’s eye. Bill ties the character to baseball so he could demonstrate symbolism, which could help discover the theme of the story. In all his stories he establishes a lesson in which the character will uncover throughout the journey. The character in this story acts as a “weak” (42) human being which triumphs at the end by becoming the total opposite. In the story “Midgets, Jujubes, and Beans”, Bill Meissner expresses the theme of how a person should never lose hope on something they love by using a boy named Martin experiencing various challenges and in the end coming out on top.
In the book The seventh most important thing by:Shelley Pearsall Arthur Owens distributes multiple character traits but only two really stood out to me. Based on what he did most people probably think that he is a crazy kid that always gets into trouble, but not in my opinion. One of the Character traits that stands out to me most is that he is very caring when it comes to his mom and Barbra, an example for that is when he heard his mom crying down stairs he ran down there to check and see if she was ok. That shows that he is caring because he was trying to be there for her, if he wasn't caring he wouldn't have ran down there to see what was wrong. Another Character trait I noticed was that he was pretty kind, he went out of his way to give
In Frank Beddors, “The Looking Glass Wars” a lot of things happen that are bad. There are lots of good things too. The story is about the “Myth” of Alice Liddell stepping through a looking glass into Wonderland. The topic of this essay is the Truth of the story. The purpose of this paper is how Loyal or devoted some people are to white imagination
Hope and joy can be hard to find especially when times are tough. This is a situation in Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse , the character Billy Jo and her family are living in the time of the Dust Bowl and are struggling financially . Her father is a farmer in a time where nothing grows and after an accident Billy Jo’s mother passes away. This is a big part of Billy Jo is effected emotionally and shows seems very sad. Billy Jo has to move and has to move on and find joy and hope even in tough times.
In the nonfiction book My Losing Season by Pat Conroy, he mainly expresses all the trials and tribulations he goes through as a child and in his current livelihood as senior at Citadel college. Conroy never had a good relationship with his father, no matter what he did the constant banter and hurtful play from his father always lingered. Conroy had a military family which meant that they were constantly moving every year to two years, this never gave him the chance to really settle in with the community and create steady friendships. This also made it hard for him to adjust to the way that certain area played basketball and how well he fit in with the teams. Basketball made him happy and having such an all-star basketball player as a father
Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding focuses on Henry, a small town boy that learns the value of life through the sport of baseball. Henry comes from humble beginnings of small town America, but suffers from a case of perfectionism – he will not stop short of achieving total perfection and this will eventually lead to his demise. He meets Mike Schwartz, a college baseball player that convinces him that college baseball is his future. Henry’s curiosity gets the best of him as he stumbles into the dark, cutthroat, and competitive world of college athletics. Once he steps foot in this world, Henry’s hunger for perfection is amplified. He sees the real world of athletics and
For example, Dr. Kristin Heredia, who is a dean of students of a high school in Ottawa, claims, “Not everyone is going to be a starter. People earn these things by their performance.”.” In the same fashion that not all actors can be the star role in a play or movie or gets to be the lead singer in a band, not everyone gets to be the starting forward or pitcher. Some players are not fit to play some positions just based on natural abilities, and if the coach gives the same amount of time on the field or court for these positions, the game’s competitiveness, moral, and enjoyment is destroyed. Finally, Dr. Alan Goldberg, who travels across the nation to help coaches learn and teach young athletes, describes, “The really maddening, discouraging and frustrating thing for kids and their parents is watching the coach's favorites put in minimal or inconsistent effort into practice, perform poorly in games and still get more playing time from the coach”..”
Everyone wants to get better at something, but some want it more than others. In “How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium”, the narrator wants to get better at basketball, so he wakes up everyday at 4:30 to go with his dad to his work. Everyday, the narrator would wait 3 hours in his dad’s car until the gym opened, only to sit on the bench and watch the other men play basketball. Finally, one of the best players, Dante, tells the narrator he can play but he’ll get “smoked”. However, the narrator proved him wrong. The narrator learns that if you persevere, work hard, and have confidence, your dreams may come true. In How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place
In the book “Out of the Dust” by Karen Hesse, Billie Jo is the main character; a fourteen year old girl who has had to deal with an exceptional amount of loss. She has lost her mother, brother, one of her close friends, and so much more. Billie Jo has to go through her normal life even after dealing with the loss of her mother. Billie Jo takes about her and her pa stating, “We are both changing, we are shifting to fill in the empty spaces left by Ma.” (76) Loss is something experienced by most people. However, even though it is a hard thing to deal with, everyone has to keep strong and keep going through all of the sorrow.
The main character in the book Savvy, written by Ingrid Law, is a girl who just turned 13 named Mississippi Beaumont. Mississippi or Mib’s just discovered her magical power that all Beaumonts get on their 13 birthday called her Savvy. Mibs embarks on a journey to go to Silina Hope Hospital so she can see her father who was just involved in a car wreck. She thinks her Savvy will be the one to save her father from the coma that he is in. But she faces many obstacles on her way to Silina. Mibs will find her true Savvy on this adventure with her friends and her many character traits such as being brave, caring, and selfish at times.
With more and more children participating in some sort of organized sport than ever before, there is a constant concern regarding the pressures kids are brought into to excel. Emotionally over-involved parents often think that it is their responsibility to persuade, push, or support the children's fantasies or sporting objectives, even if the kids themselves do not share the same aspirations as his/her parents. Part of growing up is learning what interests you the most. It's how one becomes familiar with who they really are and what they enjoy doing in life. Unfortunately, for many young children, his/her parents seem to take his/her own lives into their own hands. Most parents want their kids to grow up to be "superstars", make it big after the college scenario, and perhaps go on to play professionally or succeed in the Olympics. We all know that there are the few that make it professionally, and having your parent paint a picture for you as you're barely going into grade school is unethical. Yet for the unfortunate, these kids are helpless to the pressure that is put on them at such a young age. Take Todd Marinovich, for example. For the child's entire life he was exercised, fed, schooled, and drilled with his fathers' one g...
Noah is the one of the main characters of The Notebook. He is the hero of this novel. Noah represents true love and true loyalty. In a way, The Notebook is similar to every modern day romance movie, and Noah represents the “dream man” that all the girls always imagine of having. The characters in movies are used to symbolize ideas, and in this novel, Noah represents true, faithful, committed love. Noah remains loyal to Allie even in the situation where he is unsure whether they will ever meet again or not.