Going Beyond Pain in Chris Crutcher's Stotan
High school buddies and members of the swim team Walker, Nortie, Lion and Jeff accept the challenge to participate in Stotan week, a week of rigorous swim training that pushes them beyond physical pain and tests their moral fiber, changing their lives forever. In the novel Stotan by Chris Crutcher a team of teenagers and best friends brace themselves for what’s going to be the hardest week of their lives mentally, physically, and emotionally. A “Stotan” is a cross between a stoic and a Spartan. Through this time of hardship they learn about friendships, relationships, dealing with cancer, racism, and physical abuse. Each of the four best friends learn more and more about each other and help each other when they need help. They come together as a group, team, and family. Each of them have a tremendous conflict that can not be resolved with just one persons help. They all help each other repair the emotional scars if one of them were suffering. They all have one thing in common which was that they all want to be the best they can be and being so determined. In Stotan By Chris Crutcher four boys Walker, Jeff, Nortie, and Lion experience a time of emotional and physical turmoil with the only way to overcome these barriers is to come together as a team with determination in mind.
One of the team mates with a conflict that needed to be resolved is Lion. Lion lives alone in a tiny apartment with a hot plate. He gets lonely sometimes and the only things that stop him from getting depressed are swimming and being with his best friends Walker, Jeff, and Nortie. They never talk about Lion’s life but he knows that they life him for who he is not becau...
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...cause of this amazing unity of the team Nortie is still alive.
In Stotan By Chris Crutcher four boys Walker, Jeff, Nortie, and Lion experience a time of emotional and physical turmoil with the only way to overcome these barriers is to come together as a team with determination in mind. Lion was suffering from depression, Jeff was dying, Nortie was suffering mentally, and walker was suffering emotionally but as a team they all came together and resolved eatch others problems. The unity the team had was unbelievable and helped save a life and helped solve problems. Determination also helped the high school seniors by not letting them slip or fall climbing the mountain of success. The four team members got through a week of grueling pain mentally and physically by coming together as a team with determination in mind to push themselves to maximum.
This novel is based in various High Schools in New York City. One of the main characters Paul, just moved to New York from Saskatoon, Alberta. This novel takes place in the mid 1980’s. At this high school, Don Carey High, none of the students or teachers care about anything that goes on within the school. They have no team spirit at all, there are no teams or clubs because no one shows interest.
Looking through the thick pines, Apollo stops and points his tail. His mouth is bearing the ivory-like jaws ready to greet the threat. The stench of death is blowing through the wind. Bruce looks around. First he spots dead carcasses everywhere, then through an opening in the trees all he can see is the gigantic head of a mountain lion mouth dripping with crimson droplets from its fresh kill. The big cat backs away, snapping every branch on the way out. With the adrenaline racing through his veins, Bruce charges through the limbs raising his knife. He gets to where he last saw the beast and then he sees nothing. Not a single track. He kneels down to examine the lions fresh kill. It was a… just then the sensation of knives jabbing into Bruce’s back awakens him from his confused state. The razor sharp claws sink deep into his flesh. Bruce lets out a blood curdling yell as the pads of the enormous feet slide down his back. The only thing Apollo could do to save Bruce is snap at the legs of the mountain lion. As the weight of the giant cat pushing down on Bruce’s back, his legs collapse. The cracking of bone sends shivers up Bruce’s Spine. As he lays there in pain as motionless as can be, he can hear the fight between the cat and Apollo. Bruce cannot move to help Apollo. The snarls and growls rage on for several
This book shows that in highly emotional situations you react before thinking. Two soldiers named Strunk and Jensen got into a fight. Strunk stole Jensen’s jackknife. When Jensen found out, he retaliated by breaking Strunk’s nose. This shows that people don 't always think and just react to situations. Also there is irony in this. They both are fighting on the same team in this war, but yet are fighting each other.
Both younger brothers feel the weight of their older brothers’ legacies. Joey feels pressured to live up to Mike’s (modest) football success after his death. He even quits the soccer team and plans to play high school football. He wants to be like his brother. Paul also grapples with his older brother’s legacy. In this case, however, he wants athletic success in a different sport. Given that Erik’s football success completely monopolizes his parents’ lives, Paul struggles to make a name for himself in soccer. He wants his parents to treat him like they treat Erik, and he wants the respect that his soccer success
This book has a little bit of everything in it:it has romance, friendship, hardships, sports, family, and a narrative of historical significance. The story is about a group of underprivileged boys who come together to create something powerful. The Great Depression ravaged them at an early age, but it also taught them humility. This shared hardship paved the way for each of the boys to reach out to each other, trust one another, and work together to achieve their dreams. The characters find value in unexpected places, and the author challenges the reader to do the same in his/her own
Everyone goes through challenges, but it is up to an individual to overcome and persevere through them. Daniel James Brown demonstrates his meaning of perseverance by writing The Boys in the Boat. Occurring around the Great Depression, this novel follows a group of boys from the University of Washington row team, who go through severe hardships to receive a gold medal in the 1936 Olympics. The novel focuses on the character Joe Rantz and his life journey to become a row team member. Joe Rantz, perseveres through a rollercoaster of hopeless situations, including rejection from his family, severe hunger, and the struggles from the Depression-era. The Boys in the Boat uses Joe Rantz’s young life to portray our ability to overcome obstacles and
They were a single thing, a crew.” The boys realized they were more than just friends they were teammates. There teammate was sick and they weren’t crossing the finish line without him, so they took him along anyway. They had been working on this for three years their teammate deserved to cross the finish line. The boys learned to become a team and trust each other.
The book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, follows a horrific part of the life of a boy named Ponyboy Curtis. He is what you might call a Greaser, and has had a rough go at it in his life compared to others. It is difficult, but Ponyboy somehow manages to be himself and has the tenacity to stick through it all. He is in a gang with his friends and family and they are loyal to one another no matter what. A rival gang from the Socs crowd, a richer, more refined group, send him and his pals into a whirlwind of trouble and hurt. This book shows on multiple occasions that perseverance is necessary to get through life .
...es your life and everyone around you. No matter what anyone says, you are a lot different after your life (or another’s) has been placed in the hands of others. The boys not only matured a lot, but leadership roles emerged. It became obvious that Gordie was a leader in the group less than halfway through. And as groups tend to do, they relied on his leadership more and more until the end. The group was faced with the additional challenge of dealing with difficult group members. But the group discovered the concept of synergy when they found if they stuck together and used teamwork, they are a lot stronger unified than individually.
Junior sometimes had to go to bed hungry, but that wasn’t the worst thing about being in poverty. He made a diary entry stating, “Poverty= empty refrigerator+empty stomach. And sure sometimes my family misses a meal…and hey, in a weird way, being hungry makes food taste better (8).” This really puts the diary reader in his shoes about how many times he had to go without food and starve while trying to go to sleep, simply because his family couldn’t afford it. But to Junior, being hungry wasn’t necessarily that bad. What he felt was the worst thing about his poverty was that there was no money to save his beloved animal Oscar. Oscar became really ill and Junior wanted to take the animal to the doctor, but the family couldn’t afford it. When it came down to it, his father had to put the dog out of misery, and decided to shoot him. Visualizing someone having to shoot your best animal friend is heart wrenching. Most people have been in Juniors shoes where they have a sick animal, however they never imagine having to shoot it. This comparison of being hungry and losing an animal, shows Junior’s great strength at a young age about going through poverty, and sometimes even hope...
The nerves are raging, mainly in his stomach as the butterflies flutter till no end. "Is everything ok? Will everything go as planned?" He couldn't stop thinking about what might happen. Images were racing wild as he thought about his teammates going to battle without him. He couldn't comprehend why he had to let them handle it on their own. He has played with them since they were in eighth grade, and when they need him the most, all he can do is sit and cheer. He hates this feeling of helplessness, but at the same time he knows he has to do what little he can do, well.
To be a teacher it is imperative to have philosophies on teaching; why you want to teach, how you want to teach, and what you want to teach. There are six main philosophies of education; essentialism, behaviorism, progressivism, existentialism, perennialism, and reconstructionism. My two strongest philosophies are progressivism and existentialism. Progressivism in short is the philosophy where the student utilizes their ability to access knowledge for themselves with a method they have discovered on their own instead of simply being told answers. This creates deeper thinking. Existentialism is the philosophy that the student decides how and what they will learn, they also decide what they think to be true and false. This creates
I can not narrow down my educational philosophy to one area. I have studied the teacher-centered philosophies and I would consider myself somewhat eclectic, having a mixture of progressivism and essentialism.
My interest in teaching started at a young age. I used to watch my teachers in awe as they were able to find new ways to get their students involved and excited to learn. Their enthusiasm to teach was so inspiring. I would often find myself using that same fervor as I grasped each concept. I, then, was able to relay it to my fellow classmates as a peer tutor. To this day, becoming a teacher is a passion that flows through me. However, my enthusiasm and passion are not the only reasons I would be a good teacher. I aspire to see a student’s ability to grasp the knowledge they never before understood. I aspire to see a student succeed at something they never thought they ever could. I aspire to not only support students with academic skills, but also with life lessons about the value of community, pride in one’s own ethnicity, good citizenship, sportsmanship, and more. I aspire to play a fundamental role in ensuring that all students from all cultures and learning abilities have the opportunity to be guided in a positive learning
My philosophy of education is a combination of essentialism and progressivism . I feel that knowledge can be learned from a textbook, but I also want my students to use other means of knowledge. I fell in certain times, I should be the center of the classroom and other times, the students should be the center. Education is about the students and I am there to guide them through their journey. I think it's important to let children learn by exploring. By doing this, they choose what information is important and should be retained. When it comes to learning, students should always be in the center. The teachers are only there to mentor and improve upon a child's skills. In my mind progressivism with a mix of essentialism is the best philosophy for me to follow.