Theme For Big Boy

In the short story Big Boy by Jesse Hill Ford, Hake Morris allows his son, Big Boy, to play football in Somerton because he believes it will give him something to be proud of, when it in fact does the exact opposite.

Due to Hake’s way of living and socioeconomic class, his level of pride begins at a midpoint in the beginning of the piece. He is described in the second paragraph as “a poor man” who “seemed always to be saving enough old plowline to tie what little he and his Indian woman had to a wagon...for the next move to the next place” (Paragraph 2). Hake is neutral about his job and way of life, until Lawyer Oman Hedgepath arrives at his home. He “drove the biggest car made and was not somebody anybody ever told the word ‘no’” (Paragraph 10). Hedgepath initially says that winning football teams are a “source of pride” for him,

This is intimidating to Hake, who feels as though Hedgepath is trying to prove his dominance because of wealth. He then starts to feel more comfortable; feeling “something close to pride at having Oman Hedgepath here visiting” (Paragraph 22). Hedgepath works to change Hake’s idea of pride to a classist ideology, by saying that “Big Boy could work on the weekends and pick up a little money” (Paragraph 24). Hake believes him, and when asked how much money his son could make, Hedgepath begins at sixty dollars per month, but continues on to say that Big Boy could make twenty dollars a week during the school year, and double or more over the summer. Hake sees this as an opportunity to give himself something he could be proud of, now that he feels oppressed under his own classist ideology. He allows Big Boy to play football for Somerton for this reason; however, he later regrets this decision when he