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Friday Night Lights by H. G. Bissinger Friday Night Lights by H. G. Bissinger is the story of the 1988 Permian High School football team in Odessa, Texas. The book examines one year of life of Permian Panthers team, starting with the end of the 1987 season and finishing with the closure of 1988 season.
The book depicts the football-obsessive behaviour of the entire town of Odessa towards its high school team. The author particularly focuses on the great amount of pressure placed on the young boys who are willing to play at a professional level, and how they behave under the pressure. Numerous examples of the issues of interracial, children-parents relationships are given by the author. Bissinger uses common yet sophisticated characters to deliver his understanding of psychological aspects of the game and its impacts on mentally growing players. Though at the end of 1980 s Odessa was not the best place to live (the low prices for oil did do not help social conditions in the city), the people were always fond of football, and Friday night games of high school teams collected up to 20, 000 watchers.
Football was by far the only and most favourite type of entertainment for both the high school kids and adults. Therefore the players seem to be godlike to the rural dwellers of Odessa, but the city demanded a lot from the players too. The team members are given special treatment in the school, where even the principal helps them to cheat on their grades, just in order to devote more time to practicing playing. School administration sees football as one of the means with the help of which the school can differentiate itself among others and receive prestigious awards and merits. The controlling idea of the book, which is, in my point of view, the pressure football players experience when playing, practicing, and just living in Odessa, is depicted by the author through the way he talks about football, which reminds me of the most of the High School Football teams. The narrator of the book, H.
G. Bissinger, talks about all the ups and downs the football team goes through on and off the field. One of the main subjects, which contribute to the disclosure of the controlling idea, is the way Bissinger writes about the Watermelon Feed. The watermelon feed is like our booster club meeting, where team members and all related parties talk about the new business the booster club has to take care of, then they introduce all the players to the whole town of Odessa. The first examples of the pressure of the new environment are evident here: trapped like puppies we stood (page 86). A particular emphasis put by the writer on the characters of the book makes the reader understand that some of the guys are so much into football, that it means so much to them, that they will do virtually anything to stay on top and never move off leaders position.
This is the case of Ivory Christian, an aggressive, loving, and dedication to everything he does young man. Ivory was known to be one of the most aggressive people in the high school. He demonstrates this characteristic very well when he ignores the morning practice rules and tackles his opponent causing him to skid across the gleaming gym floor like a billiard ball hopping over a pool table after a wild cue shot (page 111 - 112). This shows that hes willing to do anything to prove his role as the dominant figure in the group, and at the same time describes the spirit of the team, which will do all it can just to win the game. Another thing that supports the tension in the school and the team is existence of racism. The word nigger is used by the team members towards their black partners.
In the third game of the season one of the players said to the partner in regards to their opponents: and you will tackle that nigger. This helps the book get across its point of racism, and its impact on the team. However, though the book is rather stressful to read, it has some parts, which show that everything is not that bad. People described in the book are truly enjoying the thing they do.
Theres twelve hundred boys in Permian High School. You divide that by three and theres four hundred in every class. You guys are a very special breed. There are guys back there that are every bit as good as you are.
But they were not able to stick it out for whatever reason. Footballs not for everybody. But you guys are special (page 23). A coach gain tells his players this at the being of the season. It is a clear sign that the team is very concurrent in what they do. The coaches support their players, and players in turn want to do better.
In the conclusion I would like to state that the controlling idea of the book of showing what it takes young boys to play football is well passed by the author. After reading the book I developed a new insight of mine on something as simple form the first site, as football. Bibliography: Bissinger, H. G. Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream. New York: Da Capo Press, 2000.
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Research essay sample on Friday Night Lights By H G Bissinger
