The Junction Boys

Genre

Conflict

Point of View

Plot

• Genre: A class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like.
• The genre of this book could be categorized as, nonfiction, dramatic, historic, and sports.
• Other books in these categories are: Money ball, The Blindside, and Tim Tebow- Through My Eyes.

The Point of view is third person:

From a rear corner of the stage, tucked into the shadows, Bear Bryant was bemused by the entire scene-the torches, the chanting, and five men dressed like Mr. Clean.

Theme

• Man vs. Man: external: The players aren't very fond of Coach Bryant.
• Man vs Society: external: Coach Bryant has to deal with his limited talent.
• Man vs Self: internal: The players try to not quite while at Junction

Setting

• Exposition: The exposition is during the first chaper or two when it tells the background of Bear Bryant and Texas A&M.
• Rising Action: When Bear meets with the athletic boosters, coaches, trainers, and players and when they're at Junction.
• Climax/Falling action: When they get back to College Station and start playing games. And at one point they're accused of cheating
• Resolution: When they're successful the next couple of years.

• Texas A&M: At the time was an all male military school with about 6,000 enrolled students.
• Junction: A very hot and arid town with no grass and is small. Is described as "Hell"
• Kyle Field: Like today it isn't as big as many other stadiums (yet) but is still definitely one of the loudest.

• Theme- A subject of discourse, discussion, meditation, or composition; topic.
• The theme is this book is that anything is possible with hard work and dedication.
• "If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride-and never quite-you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards."

Mood/Tone

Linear Plot

Mood- A distinctive emotional quality or character.

Encouraged- "When you win,there's glory enough for everybody. When you lose, there's glory for none."

Tone- A particular way of sounding.

Inspirational- "How ten days in Hell with Bear Bryant forged a Championship team."

"First I want to meet with the president and all the boosters for recruiting needs"

Figurative Language

Jim Dent

Imagery

Imagery- Figurative or descriptive language in a literary work.

"...he looked like a bulldog about to break his chain."

Background info:

• He is an author and sports writer
• He has written 6 books
• He was a writer for the Dallas Cowboys for 11 years.
• Went to jail in 2003 for 8 years because he violated his drunken driving probation.
• The Junction Boys is his most famous book.

Summary

Jim Dent

Language that contains figures of speech

1. ...an all-male institution that looked like a penitentiary

2. I hear your campus looks like prison.

3. He was smiling like he'd just chugalugged a keg of Lone Star beer.

4. He glared at the crowd like a man ready for a back alley fight.

5. He kicked and stomped the tie like a menacing rattlesnake.

In 1954 head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's coaching contract at the University of Kentucky had expired. Instead of staying at Kentucky and coaching another successful team, he accepts the athletic director and head coaching job at Texas A&M university. At that time Texas A&M was an all male military school and any boy who played high school football and whose dad was an Aggie, got a football scholarship. The year before Bryant came, the Aggies had lost they're last 5 games by a combined score of 133-41. Before Bryant's 1st season he took all 110 players to a "camp" in drought suffering Junction, Texas. For 10 days Bryant worked the players extremely hard for 8 hours a day in 120 degree weather and very limited water brakes. The end result was 35 players who were the only ones left and who knew the true meaning of toughness and playing as a team. After that summer the Aggies only won one game out of 10. But Bryant's 3 years after that they were a combined 24-5-2.

The Junction Boys

By:Noah Jasso