May 29th

A Family, Self Changing Situation

Author's Note: This my second text analysis essay and it was written to demonstrate the major value one text can provide a reader to help guide and understand the significance of symbolism. The novel One Million Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica involves a young boy named Nate Brodie who is a big Tom Brady fan and basically admires and wants to follow in Tom's footsteps.

 Butterflies floating around in my stomach like no other, a sense of anxiety tickles as it quickly runs down my spine, nearly 40,000 eyeballs gaze down towards my direction, I was almost getting the chills, hoping this would be a positive outcome. I can not characterize the thoughts encircling in my mind that moment, but I can assure you those very thoughts were stressful, while being ones of excitement. One Million Dollar Throw tells the emotions in effective text evidence a young boy named Nate Brodie is confronted to when he has an opportunity every kid would dream of, but this opportunity is more important to Nate than it would be to your typical, ordinary person. 

One major symbol in the novel that the author described through a text was from the narrator describing Nate's feeling about the game of football. For example, he says " This was always the best of it for Nate Brodie, when he felt the slap of the ball in his hands and began to back away from the center, when he felt as if he could see the whole field, and football made perfect sense to him. " The narrator really pointed out to the reader that football means everything to him. Football, particularly one game, is very symbolic to Nate, representing his dreams, efforts, and determination  This quote from the narrator really helped provide the reader an understanding the value football has on Nate.

Another major symbol in the novel that the author describes through a text is the attitude from Nate's dad has on him. For example he says " Believe in the great Tom Brady had said ". Symbolizing how his dad really believes in his son and is encouraging his son to have confidence in himself. The dad was being a very good role model for Nate and I thought the quote  in particular stood out to me the most. His attitude giving Nate an endeavoring  approach to the situation.

Not only does this symbolize the characters, but also these quotes the narrator put in there really symbolizes the author's message. Analyzing these quotes, I understood that the author's message is to believe in yourself because you need confidence to get through life. So the purpose of analyzing a text is not all about the characters. Especially in this story, it is mostly about understanding the author's purpose for writing this novel. Sometimes, it is better to think about the overall meaning of the novel, instead of just knowing what it is about.

Overall, the purpose of analyzing a text is to give insights to the reader about certain characters from a novel. And this book is a great example of showing not only the feelings and emotions surrounding Nate, but the other characters such as his dad giving quality advice when his son needs it most which really entertains the reader, while informing the significance a text brings to the reader's mind. We can all agree in the novel One Million Dollar Throw is truly a family, self changing situation.