Acceptance In John Grisham's Bleachers

One could describe acceptance as simply letting be, disagreeing but not making a protest. The truth is, acceptance is much more than that. One cannot truly accept another without trying to fully understand and care about the other. The theme of John Grisham’s Bleachers is acceptance. Eddie Rake fully accepted all of his players, and because of his acceptance, they in turn grew to accept him. Some of his players will never realize acceptance was one of Rake’s lessons, but then others like Reverend Suggs and Nat Sawyer learned this especially well. Rake’s acceptance of them helped them to learn to accept themselves.

Eddie Rake was the man that all of the Messina boys wanted to be noticed by. He was a great, shining pillar of the town. Rake was

a man who had come from the outside and taken the town by the hair, pulling it to football glory. He refused to treat anyone as less than human, although he worked his players like dogs. In his mind, nobody deserved to be treated in any disrespectable way. As Reverend Suggs said at Rake’s Funeral, “He hated injustice . . . no person had the right to mistreat another” (Grisham 215).Though it undoubtedly did damage to the players, Rake’s style of coaching and relations with people certainly taught all of the players the value of acceptance.
An example of Rake’s acceptance is Reverend Suggs. When Rake integrated the team in 1969, he completely baffled the town. This was something they had been fighting hard to avoid, just like every other southern state. In accepting the African American players, he was making a statement, a statement of the importance of acceptance and equality. As Suggs later recounted while speaking at Rake’s funeral, “He made us all shake hands, then he sat us down on the mats and gave us a little speech. He said he didn’t care what color we were. All of his players wore green. His playing field was perfectly level” (Grisham 212). Rake forced the entire school to integrate, he planted the seeds that later grew into acceptance of the African Americans in Messina. Without Rake’s forcing hand, the town would never have discovered some of its heroes, like Jessie Trapp.
Rake’s integrating of the school also had another important effect, and that was in the boys themselves. As quoted above, Suggs felt like he was treated the same as any of the white players. Rake was never an easy coach to follow, but he was a fair one. He accepted any player and their abilities as long as they could, figuratively speaking, survive the practices. Once the boys realized this, they accepted each other as well. Their being able to play so well as a team came from their acceptance of each other and their abilities.
Nat was another obvious example of Rake’s acceptance.

Nat was a terrible football player. He had tried every position, but was simply not the right fit for any of them. He made the most mistakes, was the slowest player, and was certainly the most unsightly in the green Spartan jersey. Nat’s failings were documented in the novel as such, “Nat Sawyer was the worst punter in the history of Spartan football. His average yards per kick had set record lows, and he fumbled so many snaps that Rake would normally just go for it on fourth and eight, regardless of where the ball was” (Grisham 86). For some reason, however, Rake never cut him. He simply accepted his faults, and pushed him the same as every other player. Rake even gave Nat an award, despite the fact that it was for the ugliest touchdown. Rake was showing that even though it was horrendous, Nat had achieved something in his own

way.
It could be assumed by Rake’s outward demeanor that he was not an accepting, or even civil, human being. This is a sound assumption to any who does not look deeper into the actions of Rake. When he showed his support for Nat, he showed his feelings in a way his words never could. Nat said of his shop opening in relation to Rake, “He gave me courage, man. Then he convinced me to open this place, and when I was sure I had made a huge blunder, Rake started hanging around here and the word spread” (Grisham 95).
Nat had so many problems and he needed Rake’s help because he had come back from the city different.

He now knew himself, and he was gay. Nat was now an oddity in Messina; just he was once a king for being on the football team. Nat now got to meet Rake again, this time on a truly personal level. Rake came in to talk, and by accepting Nat he acquired a friend to forget his mistakes with. Nat started learning about Rake and accepting him as a man who has made many mistakes. Nat’s talking about books with Rake made Nat realize how sorry Rake was for Scotty Reardon, because Nat knew he was helping Rake forget it for a time. Had Rake not accepted Nat, Nat would not have accepted him and player nor coach would be the same. Nat would have to close down and Rake would still be wallowing in self

pity.
Eddie Rake was an accepting man, despite his being a monstrous coach. His acceptance helped all of his players, from the integrating of players like Reverend Suggs, to playing the horrible players, and helping the gay players like Nat Sawyer. The acceptance that the Messina players learned from Rake would later help them in life. This is because acceptance is the thing that helps people understand each other and, indirectly, understand the human existence. This is a lesson Rake instilled in all of his players. One cannot follow such a strong influence without also beginning to embody the same principles. For all of the players, Rake’s voice would always be in their heads, asking if this is the acceptable thing to do. His teachings of accepting everyone would forever be stuck in their heads and hearts.