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 …show more content…
After Dante demands the narrator to leave, and then calls him a scrub, the narrator is confused and wonders if Dante is right. “You’re confused almost to the point of paralysis. Because what did you do wrong? Why does he hate you? Your heart thump-thump-thumping inside of your chest. Doubt setting in. Maybe he's right. Maybe you really are a scrub. Maybe you shouldn't be allowed to show up like this everyday, uninvited” (de la Peña). The narrator’s thoughts contribute to the character’s motivation because at this moment it seems like the narrator is thinking of giving up. However, the narrator doesn’t give up which shows he is persevering and has confidence in himself. With these thoughts we can infer that the character builds up motivation to prove Dante wrong about all the things he …show more content…
‘What?’ ‘I wanna play!’” (de la Peña). Since the narrator was mumbling at first, we can infer that the narrator was uncertain if he should stay and speak up to Dante. After Dante shouts back at him, the narrator gains more confidence and repeats with a stronger tone. The narrator is more motivated than he was before because he stands up to Dante using a louder voice, instead of just mumbling. If de la Peña did not use descriptive words, there wouldn’t be any tone and the story would be bland with no emotion. Finally, Matt de la Peña shows the character’s motivation through dialogue. One day Dante finally confronts the narrator. “‘Hey kid, why are you still coming here?’ You pause your dribble, stunned. ‘Who me? ‘Nobody thinks you're good enough to play here, comprende? Why don't you go on back to the barrio, esé.’ Your whole body will freeze up from the shock of his words. Everyone in the entire gym inching closer, waiting to see what happens next. Dante strides over and points a finger in your face. ‘What are you deaf, kid? I said leave!’” (de la Peña). This leads to the narrator wanting to prove Dante wrong. The narrator wants to show Dante that he is good enough to play at the gym. The narrator has a stronger motivation to prove Dante wrong than before because now Dante has verbally expressed that he dislikes the narrator and that the narrator should leave. Before, the other men would not let the narrator play,
Dante came a long way in reaching the lower part of Hell in the “Inferno” to not be to be highly satisfied with what he experienced from seeing, hearing, reflecting, and questioning. Throughout the journey we can see that Dante had two sides to him the one in which his felt sympathy for the sinners and felt frightened along the way and the other Dante in which he judgment that the sinners should have a more cruel punishment. Dante encountered many challenges as he progressed to each level.
He continues to validate his behavior as the story progresses. His effort to filter Sarty with his way of thinking continues. For example, when Sno...
Out of ever perplexity Dante faces throughout his journeys in Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, this one of merit and grace is the most significant one. This thought entails what the whole Comedia is about by essentially determining the principal matter of his revolutionary work – each one’s merit produced by God’s grace. His use of “merit” and “grace” brings the reader’s attention to focus on how this determines the measurement of understanding. The tension between merit and grace plays one of the most important roles in the Divine Comedy because it is seen everywhere especially when Dante finally learns to understand each step of his journey. Dante is enlightened on the judgment of souls and he devotes himself to reach grace and, ultimately, sanctity.
Individually, the characters of Cato, Sordello, Statius, and Matelda each serve as corrected counterparts to other characters, allowing Dante to learn by comparisons. As a whole, these secondary guides are critical in shaping Dante-author’s vision of Purgatory and the lessons Dante-character is meant to learn. They bridge the gap between classical and Christian wisdom, and further the development of his Christian poet identity, to allow him to progress beyond his poetic models. They exemplify freedom, hope, divine guidance, and love as the key values in Purgatory, defining Dante’s Purgatorial experience and shaping his will to be virtuous enough to enter Paradise, the next step of his journey.
All through Canto XVII, both Virgil and Dante showed a great sense of fear before the fraud monster Geryon. Although they have seen terrifying things within Hell, this weird beast is the first to make Virgil’s “flesh tremble”. Seeing this, it makes Dante shudder at the thought of his mighty Master and Guide to react in such a way. Not only is Dante shaken, but the reader finds Virgil’s fear unusual, since throughout the entire novel, Dante presents Virgil as a mighty, strong and wise guide. With this in mind, Dante’s frightening description and word choice portray the diction in this passage. Both tone and diction tie in together fluidly to give off an intimidating and terrifying sense. I completely agree with Dante’s reaction to Virgil’s fear, considering that I have had a somewhat similar experience. As a child, I looked at my mom as a strong and mighty woman. One time, we ran into a stray dog during the night, glaring at us in the dark, with it’s eyes glowing. My mom pushed me behind her and held my hand, but what scared me even more was her shaking hand. To see someone as your guide in life like Virgil is to Dante, to be scared, terrifies me more than the actual dog/beast. Therefore, I believe Dante’s trembling is understandable. This definitely depicts something about Virgil as a person. Virgil’s character is inconsistent throughout the novel, and this is the canto where it is evident. Even though Virgil has been through many scary situations, he after all is human and does get frightened like any normal human being. In situations like these, Human Reason may waver, which explains people’s unreasonable actions while they are in life threatening situations.
There once was a man and a woman, and they had a son named Timmy. Timmy was tall and lengthy with very long legs. When he grew up, he wanted to be a professional basketball player. He had the height and quickness but not really the other skills like shooting and agility. In fact, most people considered Timmy as mediocre or developing. Timmy`s parents informed him of a competition where there would be a competitive and a developmental team Each team would play 10 games against their level, and then there would be a tournament to determine a champion. Timmy decided to register and soon learned that tryouts would be next week.
Lea Ramsdell states that Richard Rodriguez has chosen to write in English as a means for what he expects would bring him success in America. Ramsdell studied autobiography of three authors, and Rodriguez is the one that is farthest removed from his original Spanish speaking culture. The change for Rodriguez came when nuns from school informed his parents that if he did not master English, it would disturb his education. This causes his parents to encourage speaking English at home and rarely speaking their native...
In the classes, Coach provided the class with a safe and warm environment to learn, providing every scholar with an equal opportunity to succeed higher and higher above all society’s critics about students in New Orleans. We proved and continue to prove what people said were impossible, by our rapid growth. On the court other coaches look for skills, but not my coach. She looked for growth, she confidently believes in the idea of a no perfect team, there were always room for growth. Despite how many losses, the scores weren’t what mattered. Instead, it was about the growth and fight of never giving up until the buzzer went off at the end of every game. I was a part of a team that came from 0 wins from freshman year to having my team finally able to enter the playoff with just one more win to reach. My view of life began to change and evolved over time since
The characteristic form of the story is not confession but self-defense. It is an attempt to provide a rational reason for irrational events and behavior. In this story, there is quite a bit of dramatic immediacy of this defense. The narrator addresses an unnamed “you” and his aim is to disprove “you”‘s claim that he is insane, a charge that has apparently been both specific and formal enough for the narrator to feel it necessary to respond in detail. From the opening, “True!-nervous-very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?” to the final breakdown, “and now-again!-hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!” The narration sounds more spoken than written, something like a courtroom outburst or a final statement from the accused”
Both the book and movie versions of the Count of Monte Cristo Start with Dantes being betrayed and thrown in jail. In both versions, his downfall is caused by Danglars, Villefort, and Fernand. This gives Dantes a want for revenge against these three, but responsibilities slow down and, at times, stop his revenge. These responsibilities are listening to his conscience and being faithful to God.
In conclusion, we can see that Dante presents the reader with a potentially life-altering chance to participate in his journey through Hell. Not only are we allowed to follow Dante's own soul-searching journey, we ourselves are pressed to examine the state of our own souls in relation to the souls in Inferno. It is not just a story to entertain us; it is a display of human decision and the perpetual impact of those decisions.
Ruud, Jay. Critical Companion to Dante: a Literary Reference to His Life and Work. New York: Facts On
Richard Rodriguez immediately recognizes the separations in his early life. He considers the inside of his house to be private and the outside of his house to be public. His family and the Spanish language belong to his private society. It contains a feeling of intimacy and a sense of belonging.
Accordingly, Dante the character is established in the Everyman symbolic convention: Dante's circumstance is intended to speak to that of the entire human race. Consequently, Dante, the character does not rise as an especially very much characterized singular. He exhibits over the top pride yet stays unsatisfied in many regards: he feels that he positions among the immense writers that he meets in Limbo however profoundly wants to discover Beatrice, the lady he cherishes, and the affection for God (Sparknotes.com).
Despite having the grandiose honor of being the main character of The Inferno, Dante is still a normal human being. He is lead by his mentor, Virgil, who attempts to guide him through the perils of sin. The ultimate goal is for Dante to hate sin, and he steadily progresses from initially feeling pity to aggressively terrorizing the sinners. This can be seen through his journey from swooning to the Lustful to ripping the scalps of sinners. The Everyman's actions and viewpoints for sin changes as he ventures through Hell with the aid of Human Reason.