Summary Of Ex Basketball Player By John Updike

The poem “Ex-Basketball Player” written by John Updike is about a former high-school basketball star, Flick Webb, who unexpectedly went nowhere in life. Flick’s life could be described as beginning and ending on the basketball court, “he was good: in fact, the best. In ‘46” (14), the speaker of them poem described him. The dilemma with Flick putting all of his time and effort into his high-school basketball career is that he had no effort in continuing his career or to advance onto something new after graduation. Flick ended up working at a local garage where “he just sells gas, checks oil, and changes flats” (19-20). Being ‘stuck in high-school’ is sadly very common and people live their entire lives reminiscing on their ‘glory days’ instead of actually working towards a future that

Flick had it all in high-school, but sadly he didn’t move on to build himself a better future. Unfortunately, in life not everything comes as easy as one hopes, as the game of basketball did to Flick. Being so successful at something without even having to try can both be rewarding and discouraging at the same time. Flick’s hands were described by the speaker as “wild birds” (18), also mentioning that “he bucketed three hundred ninety points” (15), which shows that Flick had talent when it came to playing basketball. What isn’t told in the poem is if he knew how to use his head outside of the game, after finishing the poem I personally do not think he did. I believe that Flick was held to such a standard with holding a county record and excelling in basketball held him back with the fear of not being able to do anything better in life so he just gave up. I also have a strong feeling that the character