The title of the book Samurai Shortstop can play a big role in the book. The title mainly summarizes the book and it gives the reader two sides of the story. One is the version of Toyo playing baseball and his struggle to lead his team even though he was a freshman. In baseball in Ichiko, the seniors had taken all of the spots but Toyo had worked hard and got a spot on the team and had changed all of their lives by teaching them Bushido.
The “Samurai” in the title samurai Shortstop signifies the importance of being a Samurai in Japan. It also symbolizes learning the true meaning of Bushido. Taro had been motivated to take Bushido lessons from Sotaro after he had told Toyo about the real reason why Toyo’s uncle had died. He was one of the
…show more content…
One goal that Toyo had achieved is being able to play Besuboru and be in the Ichiko nine. This was one of Toyo’s main goals because his request had been declined. Another one of Toyo’s goals was to understand and achieve the ways of Bushido. He was able to do this during the lessons that his dad had given him and during Besuboru practice. Even though the two paths of Bushido and Baseball seem different, they are very similar because as Toyo was being taught bushido, he had improved at batting in baseball because he was able to be calm and …show more content…
In most books, they usually talk about one topic but this book is well rounded with a mix of Japanese culture, history, and sports. Another book that is very much like this is Number the stars by Lois Lowry. Number the stars is a book about the struggle of a Jewish family’s escape in Copenhagen during World War 2. Like Samurai Shortstop, Number the Stars by Lois Lowry is a book about a struggle in the society back in the 1940s. Both books have settings outside of the United States, and they both have a historic event and/or settings. One difference of the two books is that Samurai Shortstop had two journeys of struggle whereas Number the stars only had one. Another difference is that Samurai Shortstop has multiple genres such as sports and historical fiction whereas Number the Stars only has one genre such as historical
Hutch, the main character of The Big Field, has played baseball all of his life. He has always played shortstop, the same position that his father dreamed of playing as a professional. “Hutch, had always thought of himself as the captain of any infield he’d ever been a part of” (Lupica 1). Hutch finds himself being demoted to second base because there is another player, Darryl, on his new team that is expected to go pro and also plays shortstop. Hutch struggles because he does not want to play second base and his father does not support him because he does not want baseball to break Hutch’s dreams like it did his own. Hutch is betrayed by his father and Darryl when he finds them practicing together. Hutch has to learn to adjust and eventually becomes friends with Darryl, the up and coming shortstop. He understands that if he wants to win, then he needs to work together with Darryl. His father also comes around and finally gives Hutch his approval. Students should read this book in a high school English classroom because it demonstrates how relationships can be difficult, but teamwork can help to solve many issues.
2. The novel, The Brothers K, enables the reader to understand a child’s idolization of a given sport, in this case, baseball.
Baseball is not a difficult game to comprehend, but it can a very long time to achieve a high level of performance. Usually one starts playing this game at a very young age and the first thing they start out with is throwing. Throwing a baseball involves exploiting all major muscle groups in the body to generate a large torque on the arm that will in turn create a high potential for speed when it is released.
John Dower's "Embracing Defeat" truly conveys the Japanese experience of American occupation from within by focusing on the social, cultural, and philosophical aspects of a country devastated by World War II. His capturing of the Japanese peoples' voice let us, as readers, empathize with those who had to start over in a "new nation."
One way for readers to measure their level of comprehension in this story, is to explore the meaning of the title, it's effect on the book's theme and how it provides a deep look into Holden's character. Being an attention demanding tool, the title also can provide a mystery to which the reader can understand by pulling together the clues, hidden in the text. To an experienced reader, who may be familiar with the book, imagery of a catcher in the rye is apparent throughout the story. However, for a new reader the journey begins past the middle of the book.
I chose this piece because it’s the beginning, the reason why baseball got started. Also because I am learning about a sport that began so early and evolved into a major league sport. Many people find baseball can be boring because it is so long, its nine innings and that can last a while. The way the sport is, it is set up in a way that when your favorite team is winning, you tend to forget about how long the actual game is. This first inning takes place as early as the 1800’s and going into the 1900’s, explaining who started baseball. One interesting fact that I took heed to be the fact that baseball was not called “baseball”, it was actually called “base”, the game of ball.
According to the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs, in the U.S. alone, 5.5 million teens suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, which is approximately 4% of teenage boys and 6% of teenage girls. PTSD is a mental health disorder triggered by a traumatic event, in a person’s life and causes depression, anger and loneliness along with aggression, out-of-place sexual behavior, self-harm, abuse of drugs or alcohol, low self-worth, and not being able to trust others. Although only a small number of people are diagnosed with PTSD, most people have felt the effects of at least one of its symptoms in some way after a traumatic incident in their life. Consequently, a literary character that is experiencing many of these symptoms is easy to relate to for many readers due to the fact that they understand what the character is going through. One stellar example of a character displaying the majority of the symptoms of PTSD is Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. Because of Holden’s timeless struggles, along with the novel’s historical setting and important life lessons, Catcher in the Rye is a crucial book for high school students to read.
In softball, it is common for the crowd to be loud and upbeat. The spectator’s goal is to motivate and cheer on the favorite team. Softball is known for their chants and pre-game warmups. The environment of baseball is the opposite. If you find yourself at a baseball game, you will notice it is more calm and relaxed. The pitcher’s goal is to stay calm, collected, and to handle adversity. Baseball players are known to have a superstition about the game. Never will a professional baseball player be caught stepping on foul lines, or messing with any kind of routine that has caused success in the past, where in softball they don’t see it as a big deal. The speed of the game between the two is very noticeable. In a standard softball game, the length of the innings is shorter than what people would expect in
Like walking through a barren street in a crumbling ghost town, isolation can feel melancholy and hopeless. Yet, all it takes is an ordinary flower bud amidst the desolation to show life really can exist anywhere. This is similar to Stephen’s journey in The Samurai’s Garden. This novel is about an ailing Chinese boy named Stephen who goes to a Japanese village during a time of war between Japan and China to recover from his disease. By forming bonds with several locals and listening to their stories, he quickly matures into a young adult. Throughout the novel, Gail Tsukiyama shows how disease forces Stephen into isolation; however, Matsu’s garden and Sachi lead him out of solitude.
Like walking through a barren street in a crumbling ghost town, isolation can feel melancholy and hopeless. Yet, all it takes is something like one flower bud to show life really can exist anywhere. This is similar to Stephen’s journey in The Samurai’s Garden. This novel is about an ailing Chinese boy named Stephen who goes moves to a Japanese village during a time of war between Japan and China to recover from his disease. By forming bonds with several locals and listening to their stories, he quickly matures into a young adult. Throughout the novel, Gail Tsukiyama shows how disease forces Stephen into isolation; however, his relationship with Sachi and his time spent in Matsu’s garden lead him out of solitude.
Baseball Saved Us is an award winner of the 1993 Parents’ Choice Award and has been given several positive reviewed from known critics. The New York Times quoted that it “Captures the confusion, wonder and terror… with convincing understatement.” Another noticeable source, American Bookseller, quoted that “Surrounded by guards, fences, and desert, Japanese-Americans in an internment camp create a baseball field. A young boy tells how baseball gave them a purpose while enduring injustice and humiliation. The first person narrative is moving.”
...on a minor league (AA Southern League), this was a small climax of the movie, and it was great joy to see that he could succeed after being away from the sport so long. The film showed Jimmy moving up from a small professional team to bigger and better teams. He just kept improving and getting recognized by the right people. Eventually he got a call from the major league baseball team, StingRays, and was being drafted to the big leagues. He went to his first game at The Ball Park in Arlington. At Arlington is where the climax of the movie took place, it happened when he took his first step onto the mound to relieve the pitcher. Jimmy came in and saved the game by making three perfect pitches. This was the climax because he had finally reached his goal, a major league baseball player. The movie ended by a little written excerpt saying that he pitched two full seasons in the Major League’s, and now resides in Texas.
Many people don't understand the point in playing baseball. Why would someone swing a stick, hit a ball, and try to get back to where they started before the ball returns? What pleasure is there in that? Why not participate in a sport like wrestling or track where there is an obvious level of individual improvement and therefore pleasure. Well, I play baseball because of the love I have for the sport, and because of the feeling that overwhelms me every time I walk onto a baseball field. When I walk onto a field I am given the desire to better myself not only as an athlete, but also as a person. The thoughts and feelings I get drive me to work hard towards my goals and to be a better person. The most relevant example of these feelings is when I stepped on the field at Runyon Complex in Pueblo, Colorado during our high school state playoffs in 2003. This baseball field will always be an important place to me.
Today, baseball is known as a game composed of two teams of nine players each who play in an enclosed field. Both teams rotate between the position of offense and defense, where one team is batting and one is on the field. When playing defense, there are positions in both the infield and outfield in order to prevent runs from the offense. In the offensive realm, the batter’s goal is to outsmart the pitcher and move the players around the bases to score a maximum amount of runs. The primary objective of the game is to score more runs than the opposing team by the end of the nine innings. However, the early forms of this sport were played much different.
There are many historical aspects of the Japanese, but the most interesting is the history of the Samurai. In Japans history war played a large role in the country. Controlling clans fought for parts of the land and overall control of the country. These clans were powerful families that resided in the country and who all wanted power and control of Japan for themselves. The families that would be in control were known as Shoguns. These shoguns would have warriors that fought for them if any of the other clan families would try to attack him in order to overthrow him and take his power from him. The Samurai followed a code that developed from Chinese beliefs when in battle. The Samurais code was known as the Bushido. This code was also known as “The Way of The Warrior” which was the main belief s...