Theme Of Escape In Boy21

When I was first reading Boy21, I realized the theme of escape would become very important to the novel. Finley uses basketball as an escape from everything going on in his life. He uses it to block out the past and the future. Erin, Finley’s girlfriend, uses basketball as an escape. She uses it as an escape from her ties to the Irish mob. Russ also known as Boy21 uses his own methods to escape from his troubles. He uses space to block out his past. Russ has a troubled past since his parents’ murder and has to adjust to the horrible town of Bellmont. Bellmont is a hellhole of a town with mobs and gangs taking over. That reason alone is why Finley and Erin want to leave. The theme of escape is very prevalent in the lives of Erin, Russ, and Finley.

His parents were murdered in a car-jacking incident while living in California. Before his parents were murdered, Russ was one of the best high school basketball players in the country. Once his parents were gone, he shut down. He had to get help from so many people and even change his last name so that people would not recognize him. He used space as a way to escape from his past and present. Space was a memory of his parents which was why he used it to escape. Russ always talks about how he was going to leave this planet soon because his parents were going to come pick him up. I interpreted the fact that he was leaving soon to mean he was going to commit suicide. He found Finley to help him ease into the Bellmont life even though he acted as Boy21. Boy21 would act as if he were from outer space. He would talk and dress different from everyone else. This was a way for him to cope with the events that happened in the past. “I can always look up at the cosmos and marvel, no matter what happens. And when I look up at it, I feel as though my problems are small. I don 't know why, but it always makes me feel better.” This quote describes the way that Russ feels about space and how he uses it to escape from everything. Russ originally does not want to play basketball when he first comes to Bellmont. Coach was a strong influence on how he got into basketball again. Coach really wanted Russ to play because of how

He used basketball to escape from the horrible past of losing his mother to the Irish mob and having is Pop lose his legs to them as well. At a young age Finley was kidnapped from the Irish mob, and bad thing happened to his parents. That is when he became silent. “Silence has always been my default mode—my best defense against the rest of the world.” (pg. 182) This quote is Finley describing why he is quiet. Even though basketball was a way for him to escape, Erin was another way that he would escape. When he was growing up and shooting hoops in his driveway, Erin would come over and shoot with him. They would always be together and they eventually started dating. He saw her as the most beautiful girl in the world and as a way for both of them to escape Bellmont. Erin was a star basketball player and getting recruited to play out of state, so his plan was to follow her and get out of the hellhole. Once Erin shattered her leg, plans changed. “You can lose yourself in repetition—quiet your thoughts; I learned the value of this at a very young age.” (pg. 11) This quote describes Finley when he is playing basketball. He would use basketball to block out everything. When he was growing up he would spend hours and hours playing basketball to forget about everything going on in his life. Then he met Russ which was a blessing in disguise. Russ helped Finley find a way to escape with his love for the cosmos. One