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Ex Basketball Player Essay

493 Words2 Pages

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 …show more content…

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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