Summary Of Eddie Rake's 'Bleachers'

How does one live with oneself knowing they are the reason for killing an innocent boy? In Bleachers, John Girsham, Eddie Rake did not intentionally kill Scotty Reardon; he is still the primary reason for his death. Rake got so caught up in winning, and with football he did not care how brutal, or long, the practices were. After Scotty’s death, Rake would spend the rest of his life regretting killing Scotty, and how he treated the rest of his boys. For the rest of his life, Eddie Rake would work hard to have the people of Messina forgive him, and to forgive himself.

Eddie Rake changed the lives of everyone in Messina; some for the better, and some for the worst. The boys of Messina had very different opinions about their coach, but deep down they all cared about him in various ways. Rake was a tough, hard headed man who did not show very much emotion other than aggression to his players, or so it seemed. The players felt the need to always do their best for their coach. They spent their whole school career working “for his smile of approval”(Grisham 222). None of the boys wanted to let him down. They worked hard at practice, and for the most part kept their noses clean, all in the hopes of Rake showing them he was proud.

When Scotty Reardon died, he died in Rake’s arm. In that moment Rake had to face the fact that he just killed a fifteen year old boy. From then on Rake could never forgive himself. John Reardon, Scotty’s uncle, was a higher class man. John made sure Rake was fired from coaching, and he fired anyone who got in his way. Even though Rake had a big group of supporters, John had more power than any of them. Rake obviously ruined the lives of Scotty’s parents, and his own, and he would never stop fighting for their forgiveness, and to show them how truly sorry he was for what had