Kwame Alexander The Crossover Essay

Introduction
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander is about two twin basketball phenoms named Jordan (JB) and Josh Bell (Filthy/narrator), they will have their emotions tested by problems ranging between relationships and a loss in the family.
In this companion book you will find out why it is important to keep your closest relationships in check because you can lose them over the smallest things.
“Friendship is one of our most treasured relationships, but it isn't codified and celebrated; it's never going to give you a party.”
-Hanya Yanagihara

Characters
Filthy and Jordan’s relationship has changed due to JB getting a girlfriend. Filthy states that they eat lunch together everyday. He also says that they normally walk home together after practice but now they don’t because he has a girlfriend. As Filthy sits at the lunch table waiting for JB, he soon sees him, “strut into the cafeteria with Miss Sweet

Tea holding his precious hand” (pg. 110).This is important because it shows that JB does not eat lunch with or share their mom's tuna salad or argue about who’s a better dunker, because he has a girlfriend. Furthermore, he shows that he is kind of jealous because in his game he runs a pick and roll with JB and normally he passes the ball to the his brother. This time he didn’t, until the shot clock was at one second, he whipped the ball so hard there was blood squirting out everywhere. Nearly breaking his brothers nose he did the same for their relationship, because of this JB did not talk to him until their father unexpectedly died. He did this because he had rage towards his brother for neglecting him for his new girlfriend. His mom punishes and he says he was just angry but his mom knows better and says, “Are you going to get ‘angry’ every time JB has a girlfriend.” Because of that the conflict his mother kicks him off the team and he sits by himself everyday in lunch trying to avoid JB’s girlfriend.

When JB and Filthy’s dad dies, it also has an effect on their relationship. Near the end of the book the mood drastically changes when the Josh and his father are playing a competitive game of one on one and his dad goes up for a dunk and collapses on the floor due to a heart attack.This will come into play because there Dad, “Chuck ‘Da Man’ Bell, dies unexpectedly. Chuck’s death seems to suck all the light out of Josh’s life, but Josh comes to understand that he still has his brother. JB feels the same way, and as such, both brothers regain their relationship.

Author's Craft
The Basket some examples are the basketball rules that they have every couple pages. Every so often they had something said like Basketball Rule #1(pg.20) “In this game of life your family is the court and the ball is your heart. No matter how good your are, no matter how down you get, always leave Your heart on the court.” Which takes basketball terms and translate to real life.This rule really comes into play with basketball rule #4 which is (pg.71)“If you miss enough of life’s free throws you will pay in the end.” This means if you miss enough of the opportunities that life gives you, you will pay in the end. There are a total of 10 basketball rules.

I will be breaking down some of the basketball rules that I think are important in the book The Crossover, just like I did for #1 and #4 in the first paragraph.

Basketball Rule #2 (pg.51) “(Random text from Dad) Hustle dig, grind push, run fast, change pivot, chase pull, aim shoot, work smart, live smarter, play hard, practice harder”, this correlates because at a practice a couple pages later his coach has them do sprints and he says, “The winner doesn’t have to practice today” He is in the lead and he says, “ I let him win and get ready to practice harder”

In basketball rule #10 it show how Filthy deals with the loss of his father, “Basketball Rule #10 A loss is inevitable, like snow in winter. True champions learn to dance through the storm.”This shows that even though that his father died he knows that what happens, happens and a champion knows how to overcome that loss. It also says champions dance through the storm, which means that champions know how to make the best out of the worst situations. Those are not the only examples of symbolism in The

Crossover.

An example of Symbolism is on page 234 “Dad once made 50 free throws in a row, the most I’ve made was 19” he later goes on to make 49 in a row and says, “by every free throw I make I feel closer to Dad” on the last shot his twin brother comes and he passes him the ball and he makes the last and 50th free throw. This is also used as repetition when they narrator say that his dad constantly made him practice free throws this also ties in with the use of symbolism the narrator also constantly states the he has never been very good at free throws.

Father's Legacy
In the Crossover early on we find out how there Jordan and Josh’s father is Chuck “Da Man” Bell who played basketball in the European league. Josh had asked him if he misses basketball he simply replied by saying, “Like hip-hop misses Tupac.” He also means a lot to the boys by coming to every single one of their games. We also find out that he was the one that taught his boys how to play basketball. He was making them shoot free throws on a real hoop when they were only 3 years old.

Later on we see Filthy in their parents closet trying to get something. When he is in there JB comes along and convinces him to look in a box with newspapers all about how good “Da Man” was in his prime, like how he held 3 point records and how he made 50 free throws in a row in a how. At the bottom of the box there were 2 letters directed to Chuck Bell, a letter from the Los Angeles Lakers inviting him to free agent tryouts, and the others says, “Your decision not to have surgery means that realistically, with patella tendonitis, you may not be able to play again. Later in the book we see Chuck and JB and Filthy’s mom have a argument, “Get a checkup Hypertension is genetic.” He tries to convince her and says, “I don’t need a doctor, I’m fine.” She says, “your father didn’t ‘need’ a doctor either. That quote supports that having bad health is hereditary. This also makes me believe that Chuck is afraid of the doctors office because what happen to his father.
In the end of the book we read this, “Article #2 in the Daily News Professional Basketball player Charlie (Chuck) ‘Da Man’ Bell collapsed in a game of one-on-one with his son Josh.” It’s states that he had a scarred heart and one of Chuck’s former teammates came out to the news and said, “He wasn’t a big fan of doctors and hospitals, that’s for sure.” which proves that Chuck was afraid of doctors.

Conclusion
Kwame Alexander writes an extraordinary book that gives the reader a lot to think about. Josh trying to regain his relationship with his brother throughout the book. How Josh’s “basketball rules” translate to real world and how they guide him. And how their father’s legacy has an effect on their life.