The Universal Baseball Association
The disappearance of Henry in the final chapter adds a certain ambiguity to Coover’s text. Readers must question why Henry is not present and the reasoning behind his disappearance from the final chapter; has he merged to become one person with the players he created, have his players and league progressed to a maturity in which they no longer need him, or has Henry crossed the line of insanity causing the league itself to turn into a chaotic mess.
The possibility exists that Henry has merged to become one with his players. Many characters Henry created appear to reflect some of his desires and needs that he is unable to fulfill in his outside life. For example, we can see him "in the character of Paul Trench" who embodies many of the mutual traits between Henry and Sycamore Flynn during the previous chapters (Agelius 171). We sense "Henry’s presence. . .through Paul" in the structure of the final chapter (Angelius 172). Henry’s thoughts and feelings now portrayed through Paul Trench, who plays Damon Rutherford in the remaking of the tragic death. Henry, having merged to become one with his players, has lost touch with reality completely. No clues exist that the Association is not "the real world":
The imaginative recreation of sport as play has become the world. There is not the slightest sign here of any other reality; even the existence of a creator external to the play-world may now only be inferred (Berman 219).
Henry crosses the line to insanity he has flirted with for so long, merging with the players in his novel, and leaves no indication that a world outside the game exists. However, the possibility does exist that Henry has not merged with his players, but rather the game has taken on a life of its own.
Some would argue that Henry, the creator of the Association, has not merged with his players, but rather they have progressed to a maturity where they have a life of their own, with the God-like presence Henry offers no longer necessary. This notion suggests that the creation of a game and of the people would eventually take on a life of their own:
Perhaps Coover wishes to suggest that the autonomy of the creative fantasy, how once the artist creates, the child of his imagination takes on its own identity and serves others in totally new terms (Gordon 45-46).
Hal’s remark to his father indicates a now strong, independent mind, predicting that Douglas and Hotspur will not accept Henry’s offer because of their love for fighting. Henry’s reply in turn indicates a change in attitude towards his son, a newfound respect. Acknowledging Hal’s prediction, the king orders preparations to begin, and we see he has his own set of solid moral values: knowing that their ‘cause is just’ helps him to reconcile with his highly honourable conscience that there is indeed cause for war. Still maintained is the conflict between the very format of the text, with Hal and Henry’s conversation held in formal verse typical of the court world, in which Hal is now firmly embedded. Falstaff, however, sustains his equally typical prose speech, which indicates to the audience the enduring division between the court and tavern worlds.
...s inner self. What is seen as a relationship amongst these two young men is now torn apart by the transformation of Henry caused from his witnesses during warfare.
Henry suffers from retrograde amnesia due to internal bleeding in the part of the brain that controls memory. This causes him to forget completely everything he ever learned. His entire life is forgotten and he has to basically relearn who he was, only to find he didn’t like who he was and that he didn’t want to be that person. He starts to pay more attention to his daughter and his wife and starts to spend more time with them.
Women don’t receive the spotlight in sports very often. Usually, the men in baseball, football, basketball, and soccer have higher salaries and are paid attention to more. This wasn’t the case with a special league of female baseball players. These ladies sparked a thought in peoples’ heads in the mid 20th-century. Could women really play a professional sport instead of staying home to do the housework? From 1943-1954, women in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League helped to change the rights women were believed to have in society and in the workplace as they began playing a professional sport as a form of entertainment. Men, who would usually fulfill this role, were drafted into the military with the responsibility to serve during the war. The AAGPBL quickly became a world-winning group of women athletes and kept baseball and peoples' hopes alive during a time of weakness in American history.
This idea Henry has gotten in his mind about war being so exciting and making heroes makes a lot of sense. War has always been something that is glamorized in the world. Whether it be a book about it or a movie, war always seems like something fascinating. They make it seem war is this fascinating adventure that changes you for the better and you are seen as a hero afterwards. Henry takes a lot from the Greek gods where a lot of them are war heroes. What people don't realize is that these stories and movies are not realistic. They show war in a prettier way. They romanticize it and make it something better than it really is.
In 1 Henry IV, Prince Henry’s gradual development was evident throughout the play. A comparison of Harry’s character during the first act against Harry in the fifth act almost seems like two different people. Prince Henry has carried out his plan to prove to people that he will be a worthy King by following his father into battle and killing the leader of the rebel army. Prince Henry’s act of bravery marks the transition between the young Henry and the mature Henry but more importantly, has earned Henry the respect and acceptance from his father.
According to Professor David Ball, “A play’s conflict is between what someone wants and what hinders the want: the obstacle” and “an obstacle is any resistance to [one] having what [one] wants” (28). Prince Henry has three main and interrelated “wants” in the play: to restore his image, kill Hotspur and become King. He tells us from the beginning that he wishes to avenge his wanton behavior in the tavern:
We recommend that you stop reading the book at the end of Henry's story (p. 86). You won't want to, because the ending is very bleak and you will be looking for some respite from the story, something to encourage you. Unfortunately, the final part of the book consists of H.L. Roush's theological reflections on the story, and for the most part they aren't edifying. Best to think through the story yourself, perhaps even read it to your children, and together as a family consider what went wrong for Henry, how he might have avoided the downward spiral, and what lessons can be applied to your own circumstances.
In “Regarding Henry” Henry Turner portrays a complex nuanced id and superego. Henry has positive and negative qualities on each side. What happened to Henry was that he was shot in a store when he was trying to buy some cigarettes. He later became disabled by forgetting everything and everyone he knew or loved. Henry wasn't able to walk or move but finally after after some time of physical therapy he was able to walk and talk.
Mr. Farrey makes a fascinating argument in support of unorganized sport. In today’s society, we pay a lot of attention to unorganized sport, and from this early age kids is open to this form of organization. However, in other countries, organized sports are uncommon, and children study and observe sports through playing sports with their peers. One of soccer’s all-time famous athletes has learnt their craft this way, including Zinedine Zidane, won the World Cup in 1998. He mastered how to play soccer on the ground of his town’s central square, and in his family’s house, not from playing organized sports. Many great athletes learned from unorganized playing instead of being instructed what to do. Organized sports and practices play a big role
Henry’s character is introduced in the movie when his cousin Mark, who is just about the same age as him, suddenly comes to stay with their family because his father had to go away on business. Mark’s mother recently passed away right in front of his eyes and he was still dealing with the repercussions of it all. Dealing with feelings of loneliness, Mark immediately developed a close bond with Henry. He found Henry to be adventurous and nice but was not aware of who Henry really was and what he was experiencing. At first, Henry seemed like a decent young boy who enjoyed experimenting with new things. On ...
Within gaming or anything that is interactive there is an element of “play” that coexists with the activity. Play becomes an important characteristic because it contains elements that are mentioned by Johan Huizinga to signify the importance of play culture. Huizinga elaborates on “play” through the concept of the magic circle and that “play” is not either “ordinary” or “real” life. These two characteristics within Huizinga’s play culture helps the reader define the idea of play, but rather puts it into question of whether or not “play” can have a definition or not. Play culture is reinforced with characteristics by Huizinga, but can be further argued that play inherit the characteristics, but does not fully define what “play” really is; especially not through the magic circle or having play being ordinary or real life.
Hemingway uses different scenes and events to show Henry’s different personalities, such as on the front line in one chapter then in a behind the lines town setting in the next. This shows the readers the difference in Frederick's attitude between the war and when Henry goes back to town on his breaks. Hemingway also uses Henry’s conflicts to show how he reacts to situations. For example, Henry gets hurt and moved to a hospital but still tries to make the best of his situation.
Throughout Cosi, the characterisation of Henry by James Stewart evolved the dramatic mood into one of sympathy towards the character and engaged the audience members through his development. Henry’s insecurity and self-consciousness is evident as the production began with his shape being in a hunched manner and his movements being defeated and small. His actions were nervous and jerky whilst his arms were kept closely wrapped around his body to protect himself. These actions remained continuous until someone would approach him, physically contact him or bring focus to him, where he would make percussive and startled movements in attempts to protect himself from the focus of others. This provoked from the audience a yearning for a connection. The unusual and introverted posture signified his lack of self-confidence and engaged the audience further by intriguing them to know more about Henry and his mental illness. Henry’s posture was in contrast to Doug, who ove...
In Book I, the army is still waiting for action, and the world is one of boredom with men drinking to make time go by and whoring to get women. War itself is a male game; ”no more dangerous to me myself than war in the movies” (34). Love is also a game. When Henry meets and makes his sexual approach to Catherine Barkley he is only trying to relieve war’s boredom; ”I knew I did not love Catherine Barkley or had any idea of loving her. This was a game, like bridge, in which you said things instead of playing cards” (28).