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Sometimes A Dream Needs A Push Theme

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Throughout the short story “Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push” by Walter Dean Myers, many themes and morals are brought up. These themes include: perseverance, optimism and not taking things for granted. The story is about a young boy called Chris who gets into a car accident with his dad, who is a retired pro basketball player. After the accident, Chris is left in a wheelchair which changes his fate. Chris adapts to his new life but his dad is yet to move on. Throughout the text, the author uses things like speech and emotion to channel a deeper meaning. One of the main themes which is explored through the short story is that no matter what challenges we face we must overcome to reach our goals or chase our dreams. Or in other words, perseverance. Evidence of this can be found in the text when it says “ I couldn’t wait to start practising.” This refers to when Chris, the young boy who loses his ability to walk after the car accident starts playing in the wheelchair basketball league. This shows that even when it gets tough, in this instance he is unable to use his legs to play basketball. However, he signs up for the wheelchair basketball league. The author tries to point out that we should always …show more content…

This is made clear by the characters’ actions. For example, in the story, the dad is feeling guilty for his actions as he thinks the accident is his fault. Multiple quotes can be used to support the arguments. For instance, “he talked even less since I was hurt.”As well as “Dad took it hard, real hard.” It is quite obvious that the father, Jim, blames himself and feels guilty as his actions have changed as he speaks less.This can be shown in the quote “he talked even less since I was hurt.” This teaches the reader of the story not to take things in life for granted as you never know when it will all

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