Introducing 

Prezi AI.

Your new presentation assistant.

Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.

Loading…
Transcript

The Ex-Basketball Player

POEM

Ex-Basketball Player

by John Updike

John Updike

Pearl Avenue runs past the high-school lot,

Bends with the trolley tracks, and stops, cut off

Before it has a chance to go two blocks,

At Colonel McComsky Plaza. Berth’s Garage

Is on the corner facing west, and there,

Most days, you'll find Flick Webb, who helps Berth out.

Flick stands tall among the idiot pumps—

Five on a side, the old bubble-head style,

Their rubber elbows hanging loose and low.

One’s nostrils are two S’s, and his eyes

An E and O. And one is squat, without

A head at all—more of a football type.

Once Flick played for the high-school team, the Wizards.

He was good: in fact, the best. In ’46

He bucketed three hundred ninety points,

A county record still. The ball loved Flick.

I saw him rack up thirty-eight or forty

In one home game. His hands were like wild birds.

He never learned a trade, he just sells gas,

Checks oil, and changes flats. Once in a while,

As a gag, he dribbles an inner tube,

But most of us remember anyway.

His hands are fine and nervous on the lug wrench.

It makes no difference to the lug wrench, though.

Off work, he hangs around Mae’s Luncheonette.

Grease-gray and kind of coiled, he plays pinball,

Smokes those thin cigars, nurses lemon phosphates.

Flick seldom says a word to Mae, just nods

Beyond her face toward bright applauding tiers

Of Necco Wafers, Nibs, and Juju Beads.

This personification of the gas pumps relates to his education level. Idiot pumps, only idiots with little or no education use these pumps

And one is squat, without/ A head at all-- more of a football type

Third Stanza: This is the first time the speaker mentions Flick's high school basketball career.

There are 5 stanzas, only 1 of which mentions his success

This supports the fact that his high school career is insignificant in everybody else's eyes, but is still of importance in his eyes.

Flick seldom speaks to Mae...

This partial line shows that Flick thinks he is of higher status than Mae

Flick still believes he has the status as the town Jock

just sits and nods/Beyond her face toward bright applauding tiers/of Necco Wafers, Nibs and Juju Beads

Flick remembers the crowd and the adrenaline rush from the thundering applause

Imagery:

the Imagery in this poem is very literal. It's almost as if the speaker is telling a story from his perspective, so the descriptions are emotionless at best. He describes the bleak settings in which Flick works everyday. Describing the gas station he works at, and the way he "Dribbles an inner tube" as a gag.

Figures of Speech:

the speech patterns of the speaker present an emotionless tone towards Flick, with a few lines of personification in the mix. In the third stanza, there is a part of a line, "the ball loved Flick". This shows that Flick was always passed to, so he could score. We all know that a ball cannot have affectionate feelings towards the people, but we do know that people can have attachments to inanimate objects or ideas, as Flick does to basketball.

This shows the insignificance of Flick's achievments in the eye's of others.

His Basketball career ended, but he's still dreaming, still judging people for Basketball

Written in 1954, the ex-basketball

player represents a dream gone awry

"Flick stands tall among the idiot pumps"

The First Stanza represents victory road, the way all great small town basketball players take.

John Updike, Author

By John Updike

Theme: If a person is to have more than one outlet, they are destined to have an easier time getting a worthwhile career in anything.

In other words, nobody cares about his past!

The tone has a reminiscent vibe, also an emotionless feel to it. It's almost as if the speaker doesn't need to show emotion, the story has motion itself.

He's living in the past, it's like he's still in shock for not getting a professional career in the sport he loves

Learn more about creating dynamic, engaging presentations with Prezi