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The purpose of this essay is to discuss the theme of loyalty within Fever Pitch and how Nick Hornby does so by use of humour, characterisation and setting. The genre of this novel is that of humour. Fever Pitch is a book that has no chapters but a series of match reports that fall into three time frames within the authors life childhood, adolescence and manhood. The time span ranges from 1968 to 1992 The novel is an autobiography about the author, Nick Hornby, a memoir of a life devoted to Arsenal Football Club. However, it is also a book which deals with rights of passage within the authors life. Hornby begins the book in the year 1968, the year he turned eleven.
This was the year in which his parents separated, and the year that his father took him to watch Arsenal play for the first time. His father had initially hoped that Saturday afternoon would draw him and his son closer together, but instead Hornby became obsessed with the game and all hope of conversation was lost. As the reader progresses through the novel, the reader realises that Hornby allows football to dominate his life, loves and relationships, and ends with Nick Hornby realising how obsessed he actually had become with the game. Throughout the novel, Nick Hornby writes in the first person narrative as Fever Pitch is an account of the authors life. At the beginning of the book, he uses the flashback technique as he reflects on his life so far. I believe Nick Hornby to be the protagonist within the novel.
He tells the story retrospectively, that is after he has lived through it. This retrospective narrator knows more than the reader and so is in a position of irony in relation to the events of the story. Characterisation plays a very important part within the novel, and the only character the reader really learns about is the author himself. The reader learns about all his thoughts throughout his life such as his social status as a working class person and his missed opportunities of a normal family life.
As time progresses throughout the novel, so does the authors personality and the reader can see the change that has been made from childhood to manhood. One such change within him is when he realises how obsesses he has actually become with football. When he is in adolescence, he sees nothing wrong with being obsessed with football and he feels that he can control his obsession. Although throughout the book, there is evidence that this is not the case. At the end of the book, he realises that his obsession has gone too far and that his life has never changed, he has only lived according to the way that Arsenal had played. Hornby writes, It was strange trying to write about how miserable most of my footballing life had been.
my whole life flashed before my eyes. A nil-nil draw against a nothing team, in a meaningless game In the book, Arsenal becomes a metaphor for life. I feel that his description by Hornby is important to the theme of loyalty, as he had remained loyal to the team, devoting his entire life to supporting it. Through the perspective of Nick Hornby, the reader is shown how Arsenal affects his life in many different ways. Nick Hornby uses narrative techniques and vivid descriptions to describe his feelings throughout the novel. There are many examples of his happy and sad feelings throughout the book.
One such quotation describes the way that Hornby feels about going out with his father, I didnt want to do anything at all. None of this was intended to punish my father for his absence: I really thought that I would be happy to go anywhere with him, apart from every single place I could think of On the positive side, Hornby describes his girlfriend at a football match and how she found it funny to watch the immediate knee jerk reaction of standing up by fans to a goal being scored in the game. I feel that Hornby looks to Arsenal as a surrogate father, carrying him through disappointment and achievement in his life; suspicious by its absence at crucial times, but there to cheer him up when all looks bleak in his life. Arsenal provides comfort and security to Hornby and this is shown when he describes his thoughts on going to University.
In truth I was scared of the place, and my football, my childhood comforter, my security blanket, was a way of coping with it all Within the novel, Hornby uses Hyperbole to describe how he feels about his team losing. I feel that this is effective in conveying the theme of loyalty as it helps me identify with Hornby in the way he feels. I was back with the feeling, much deeper and more frightening this time, that I was chained to the club forever, and thus to this miserable half-life, forever. I was stunned and exhausted by the result This shows how he has so much loyalty, that one defeat such as this, can change his life dramatically, and change his mood to one of depression, by merely losing a football game. This made me think of how strongly he must feel for his club and how much the team means to him and his life. Another important element used within the characterisation of this novel is that of humour.
Hornby takes the serious subject matter of his life and deals with it in a humorous way, so as to lighten the tone and mood of the book and create a positive atmosphere for the reader. In a humorous way, Nick Hornby again conveys the theme of loyalty by showing how everything in his life plays second to football. He imagines that, even if a girlfriend was to go into labour at an impossible moment in the game, I wouldnt be able to help her out until the final whistle In this quotation, Nick Hornby uses Hyperbole again to show exaggeration. I believe this to be humorous as he proffers the question would he leave someone in such a state and continue to watch the game? Surely nobody would be that obsessed? . There are many other ways in which Hornby uses humour in the book.
In the following quotation, Hornby uses a simile to describe a fan, we all remember the large bearded man, the one who looked like Pavarotti. In using these techniques, the reader can be more involved in the book and enjoy this sense of humour. Setting plays a very important part within Fever Pitch. Setting may be used to create a sense of realism or to create a mood within a book. Setting may also have a coded significance, and different situations can be constructed through its use. Setting can be used to compare and contrast and add significance to a story, which I feel is demonstrated in the novel.
The title of the novel also contributes a great deal to the novel as a whole. Fever Pitch is a phrase that describes a very intense atmosphere whereby tension has been created. Nick Hornby has deliberately named the book this as it can be used as a metaphor for the feelings and the atmosphere felt inside the football stadium. It may also symbolism the influence that football had on his life choices and his view of the world.
Fever Pitch is also a play on words, the use of the word pitch, as in football pitch, and fever as in excited. These techniques contribute to making the novel exciting and appealing to the reader. Nick Hornby uses imagery when he describing the fans and himself when he describes what happened after a winning goal had been scored by Arsenal. I was lying flat out on the floor, and everyone was jumping on top of me. Eighteen years, all forgotten in a second He then describes the fans reactions in and out of the stadium, I could hear whoops and screams from pubs and shops and houses all around mysore sitting on top of tooting cars, everyone embracing strangers at every opportunity In this last quotation, Hornby uses onomatopoeia with the words whoops and tooting, so to allow the reader to imagine the sounds heard at that time in the book.
In my opinion, I believe that Hornby expresses the feeling felt within the stadium at the time, making it both real and vivid to the reader. Using imagery, sound and descriptive language makes the book more enjoyable as the reader can be part of the story also. In this essay I have shown how Hornby uses characterisation, humour and setting to convey the theme of loyalty to the reader within the book Fever Pitch. He conveys his feelings and viewpoints throughout the book, exploring his obsessions, crises and weaknesses throughout his life. The book explores the nature of his obsessions and uses his feelings to explore questions of his masculinity, growing up and looks at the effect obsession and loyalty can have on a person.
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Research essay sample on Hornby Uses Hyperbole Plays A Very Important Part Life
