THEME ANALYSIS HOOK Perseverance is a trait of success. CONTEXT Successful people, whether financially, academically, or in any human endeavor, need to overcome obstacles they have had to achieve their goals. T.A.G In Langston Hughes's poem, Mother to Son, and Matt De La Pena's short story, How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium, perseverance is conveyed in both pieces of writing as a trait to progress in their goals. In Matt De La Pena's short story, How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium, the main character's perseverance is portrayed as a way for the main character to climb the ranks of basketball and improve …show more content…
The main character's love of basketball leads him to discover Muni Gym. It is the best basketball gym in the city and has the best players. To be able to play there, the main character had to wake up every morning, persevere, and overcome procrastination to be able to wake up and go to the gym. On top of this, the Muni gym team members would not let him play a single game with them. Therefore, the main character had to persevere through insults, consistently show up, and prove to them that he is as skilled as anybody else on the court. This is especially highlighted when Dante forcefully took the main character's spot in a game. However, the main character stayed at the gym and got a spot back in the game, proving his …show more content…
The Muni gym setting in How to Transform an Everyday, Ordinary Hoop Court into a Place of Higher Learning and You at the Podium taught the main character that he had to persevere to achieve the chance at getting to play on the team at Muni gym. He was getting roasted for his size, got physically thrown away, but he persevered and proved he can play ball like anyone else on the court. Mother to Son was a way for the mother to communicate the idea and trait of perseverance to her son through a series of metaphors reflecting her own life of hardship. Both works demonstrate the role of perseverance in life in order to achieve goals and overcome
Wes Moore, the author, had many important role models in his life that would eventually enable him to live up to his full capability. Uncle Howard, Wes’ mother’s brother, filled the hole that was left when Moore’s father died and when“[he] was eleven… and having difficulty in and out of the classroom [he could lean] on Uncle Howard’s shoulder”. Moore’s uncle was the man who convinced Moore that he could achieve more than just basketball at school, that education would allow him to reach his full potential. The persuasion to drop basketball as a career, enabled
Remember that boy in high school that was the star of the basketball team? He still holds most of the records for the team. He scored more points than anyone else in the school’s history. He never studied much because he was an athlete. His basketball skills were going to take him places. But high school ended and there are no more games to be played. Where is that former all-star now? In his poem “Ex-Basketball Player,” John Updike examines the life of a former high school basketball star. Flick Webb was a local hero, and he loved basketball. He never studied much in school or learned a trade because he was a talented athlete. Now years later, the only job Flick can find is working at the local gas station. He used to be a star, but now he just “sells gas, checks oil, and changes flats” (19-20). The purpose of Updike’s poem is to convince the reader that athletes should also focus on getting a good education.
In sports, there is no shortage of black success stories. Meanwhile, two black men of prominence in Odessa (who are not athletes) fell from grace. Willie Hammond Jr. (the first black city councilor and county commissioner) and Laurence Hurd (a minister and desegregation supporter) were glimmers of hope for the black community that were both snuffed out. Hammond was arrested on charges of arson conspiracy and perjury and Hurd is in prison for burglary and robbery, leaving a hole in the morale of the black community that was not repaired. These losses, combined the with negative news of black people circulated via media, made the possibility of succeeding in a white man’s world inconceivable. Yet, there is no shortage of black success stories in sports, like Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson; in every area that is not a “rich man’s sport”, black athletes dominate. To the poor children on the Southside, there is something very alluring about the “Cinderella stories” of men from poor black neighborhoods rising to prominence through sports. Based on these examples, there seem to only be two paths for a black teen to take: criminal or athlete. Many of these teens aspire to be sports stars and depend on nothing else because there is nothing else. Some may become the superstars they hope to be or they fall into ruin as Boobie Miles, Derric Evans, and Gary Edwards
The famous retired basketball player Michael Jordan sees eye to eye with Gladwell vision of success. According to Michael Jordan “ I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career.I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 Times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again that is why I succeed.” by using facts and figures Michael Jordan highlights all his failures and how he grew from them and that to get to success you need work and
Sports play a large part of an athletic student’s life, weighing heavily on one’s identity. In his essay, “Cut”, Bob Greene relays how he and several others are cut from their middle school sports team because “[they weren’t] good enough” (Greene 58). Because of this cut, Greene and his peers end up pushing harder than ever in other areas of their life. He notes, “an inordinately large proportion of successful men share… the memory
Just like the sounding of your alarm every morning, adversities are ultimately inevitable in life. A Roman poet named Horace once said, "Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant." Horace examines the role that adversity plays in the growth of a person’s character and understanding of burdens and times of difficulty. In these times, when adversities are encountered, one’s real character is exposed. The true depth and intensity of human nature is disclosed, but true talent is not always found. But, what is found, is the truth behind that person’s character, and the strength they truly posses.
As Miller and Wilson revealed, athleticism is not always analogous with success. Willy regarded Biff highly because he observed Biff’s presence and athleticism, and he believed these qualities would result in immediate success. Today many parents associate sports with success and therefore pressure their children to excel in sports. In today’s society it is very rare that fears of discrimination would cause children to not pursue a lucrative career in sports. Both Miller and Wilson knew the impact of sports on family dynamics, and how sports have evolved from a leisure time activity to a full-time commitment. Clearly, many of the qualitative aspects of sports--competition, teamwork and physical dexterity can contribute to being a success in almost any career.
This theme is very present in the book throughout the whole story but none other than the final race in Berlin. The race itself was not looking up for the boys with race odds getting worse and worse and the race continued. They had the worse lane, the boys were feeling extreme pain in their bodies, they got off to an extremely late start, and Don Hume was in terrible racing conditions and dozing off in the boat. All hope seemed lost for the boys but instead of throwing in the towel and giving up but they persevered and grinded out the rest of the race. With nobody giving up and nothing mattered to them but getting that gold rowing medal. With this determination the team won gold by the slimmest of margins but if they gave up earlier in the race they would have had shame on them plus the fact that their determination was for nothing. This idea can be applied in real life with the fact that everyone has to go through hardships and overcome some of the toughest challenges have to be after a person’s hardest drawbacks. However, this lesson can give us insight of how to survive these
It’s the triumphs as well as the defeats, that I will remember most about my life when I look back in thirty years. If I can look back and say, “I didn’t think I could ever accomplish this, but I gave it my all.” Pursuing the next challenge along with being a well-rounded, compassionate person will allow me to consider my life a success in thirty years. Nothing in my life emulates this attitude towards what I will consider a success, in terms of pushing my limits, in thirty years, than my current pursuit of collegiate level sports.
It is exam week and a guy is stressed out of his mind about it. He needs to do good to get scholarships for his college, but is so worried. He needs to persevere and fight through the stress. Stress happens in a lot of people's lives and persevering past it is a good trait to have. Perseverance is a common topic throughout many poems. “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley and “The rose that grew from concrete” by Tupac both convey the message that being able to persevere will help get through challenging parts of life.
The movie “Basketball Diaries” is based on a series of journal entries written by Jim Carroll during the early years of his life, these entries would later on be published as a novel. Growing up in the slums of New York City, Carroll was exposed to many instances of drugs abuse and as a result of his life being filled with stress such as him living in an unstable household without a father, and losing his best friend he began to engage in substance abuse. As a teenager, Carroll was willing to go to extreme lengths just to fit in with his peers. He was an avid basketball player who seemed to be devoted to the sport and was knowledgeable when it came to teaching others what he knew about the sport. Based on the opening scenes of the movie, one can tell that Carroll was a very impressionable teenager. Like many teenagers, Carroll was left open to the influences of his environment and so he was misguided because instead of trying to steer him on the right path, the older folks led him to what would inevitably become his destruction. This paper will provide background information of the ...
Sports specialization among young people is when a child or teenager trains for and competes in only one sport. They work extremely hard year-round in order to become well-rounded in every aspect of the game. They make sacrifices and put their health in jeopardy in order to become the ultimate participant in their sport. One of the many young athletes who is only participating in and focusing on one sport is fifteen-year-old OJ Mayo from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the young talented athlete who is predicted to be the next LeBron James in the National Basketball Association (NBA). This young athlete provides evidence of striving for perfection in this single sport when reviewing his daily schedule versus that of his siblings. He says, “The other kids go home and sleep. I come back to the gym” (Thompson, 2004). He is obviously putting forth a lot of effort in his sport to become successful at an early age.
If everyone thinks that without struggle, it is easy to obtain their goals that is entirely false. Struggle comes from the progress of our success and achievement. It is an indication that we poured all of our time and patience into the things we pursue. Jeannette Walls, the author of The Glass Castle, explain her struggles. She survives by finding foods from the trash can and earns money by babysitting, exchanging scrap metal, finding jobs, and from her parents. As a graduating student from high school, receiving my diploma is an indication that I ...
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
He sprints up and down the court, as sweat pours down his face and on to the hardwood. The player’s legs are in severe pain, and he is out of breath, yet he continues to run, utilizing every last portion of energy that he maintains. He desires to better himself, not necessarily for his own benefit, but for the benefit of his team. He knows that every single member of the team, including himself, must work as hard as they possibly can on the court to reach their potential and achieve success. Organized sports teach athletes some of the most powerful moral values and life lessons that any individual can attain. Despite the opposing opinion that students who take part in organized sports suffer academically due to time deprivation and focus misdirected away from the classroom, involvement in sports teaches young men and women to maintain imperative values, such as hard work, selflessness, and commitment, which ultimately improves student-athletes’ academic performance.