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Meaning Of The Perfect Shot By Elaine Alphin

1057 Words5 Pages

Those who are in your heart will never really leave. This is explained in Elaine Alphin’s novel, The Perfect Shot. The book explains the main character, Brian, had to deal with the loss of his girlfriend, Amanda, through a murder. At the same time, Brian has to be the leader on a championship basketball team. The murder suspect was the father of Amanda. Brian doesn’t believe this because the father was a cop and a respected person. Brian believes that he can change this because he thinks he saw the murder suspect jogging past his house one day. He spoke up to a news anchor who was taking on the case. He exposed the ideas and the thoughts that the father wasn’t guilty. When he did this, the threats came in, and the real murderer got involved. …show more content…

One meaning an actual shot of a basketball because Brian has to be the best player and make the perfect shot in the game. Second meaning is about the murderer making the perfect shot to kill those who wronged him. The first meaning of basketball is better explained by Brian’s dad putting the pressure on him to be the best player. Alphin explains, “Stick to where you can make a difference, Brian--here, on the court--in your game” (304). Brian’s dad puts the pressure on because he wants Brian to be the best. Brian realizes this but doesn’t think much of it because he already knows what his dad wants from him. Brian just has bigger things than just basketball. Brian understands that he has to make the “perfect shot” every time. The second meaning of the murderer making the perfect shot is because Brian is coming out with new information against him. The murderer is threatened because he can be found out. This tends to lead things in a dangerous direction for Brian. The murderer wants to take action. The author writes, “...I will come after you, the way I came after your little friend” (Alphin 288). Brian is being threatened because he spoke out about the information he had. This escalates by Brian telling the news and the murderer coming to his house. The title of the book holds two meanings and both hold Brian to difficult

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