Ex Basketball Player Essay
Ex-Basketball player by John Updike is a poem about Flick Webb. Flick is a mechanic that was a superstar athlete in highschool. Flick wasn't the smartest so he didn't do well in school. Because he didn't do well in school he only became a mechanic and lives in the same town as he did in highschool. I think that the message of the story is that just because you're a great athlete you still have to try hard in school so if sports don't work out then you have a backup option.
The speaker of this story is a person who went to high school with flick and still lives in the same town as him. The speaker has a calm, relaxed way of telling this story. He has a calm attitude and a pretty bland personality. From what it sounds like both the speaker and flick have stayed in the
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The speaker of the story used to watch flick play basketball and football. Flick is very tall which made him really good at basketball. Flick wasn't a great student so he never learned a trade. Because Flick never left his hometown, after work almost everyday he would smoke a “thin cigar” and hang out around a hometown diner called Mae’s luncheonette.
The Subject of the poem Ex-Basketball player is a guy named flick who was a really good athlete in high school. This athlete's name is Flick Webb and he grew up without learning a trade so he works as a mechanic. The narrator used to watch Flick play in high school. This poem describes how Flick used to be a really good athlete. It also goes over his current life and how his work life is.
Tone and mood are shown a few times throughout the poem. I feel like in the second stanza the narrator was showing a little bit of jealousy because Flick was such a good athlete. The overall mood of the poem is happy and the tone is nostalgic. I feel like the vibe of the poem gives off the vibe of an old movie. It has a superstar athlete who turns out to be just a mechanic which is kind of
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