Analysis of Friday Night Lights

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Analysis of Friday Night Lights Friday Night Lights is a good view of how football envelops the live of everyone in the Texas town of Odessa. While it does use football as a main theme, I don't believe it is a book mainly about sports. The story is mostly about the people in a town that has nothing to look forward to except football. The story chronicles the lives of a few players and their parents. The author describes their background, characteristics, and reactions to football and life in general in Odessa. The story seemingly focuses on football because football is the focus of everybody's life. During the fall months the residents did nothing but live and breathe Permian football. The town was full of people like Ken Scates who went to the first Permian practice and "hadn't missed any games, except for the time he had heart bypass surgery in Houston (41). The school would do anything to make sure the football team had anything it needed. In 1988 Permian spent $70,000 to charter jets for away games (146). At most any other school such a thing would be considered unthinkable. Pretty much any other sport could have substituted football in the book. Football is obviously the main sport in Texas, but if the setting were changed to a small farming town in Iowa, a sport like wrestling could easily be used instead of football.

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...ne family that did seem close was L.V. and Boobie. L.V. had made Boobie into the player he was. Even when Boobie was hurt L.V. still believed in him and believed he could go play for a good college. Other than that one relationship, it seemed that the players had more of a mutual respect for their parents than a love.

The town of Odessa had many problems from the poverty to racism. It would be hard for most people to survive in a place like that and the only reason anybody did was because of the football team. The team provided hope for people who would normally just be a loser. The book did a good job of illustrating all aspects of the team, town, and Texas in general. After reading this book, it becomes obvious that only in America could a story like this unfold.

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