Odessa Permian High School Football Team example essay topic

Friday Night Lights is a remarkable book. Having come from a small town where the local high school football team was also state champions during the late eighties and early nineties this book caught my attention right away. It displays the dream of a small town in West Texas as but as well mentions about segregation, the oil boom, and the oil crisis that came after. What makes this book important is the work the author did of putting everything together.

He not only highlights the times when economic prosperity in Odessa was at it's best, but he also mentions the time when all the luxury went down. The author's work is remarkable because he mentions several social factors in this sports book. By mentioning about racism, and the segregated school system this catches the reader's attention and makes us aware of the different issues that took place in a place in Texas that is so close to us. Despite all the economic downturns and other social problems the members of this small town still shared the same dream They still dreamed of having the Odessa Permian High School Football Team of going to state and winning the so wished championship. The book caught my attention right away. I identified with the theme.

As one sees the picture in the front cover, they quickly have an idea of what the book will be about. As I saw the picture, I knew it had something to do with football. The first couple of chapters were mainly explaining how football was a big deal in Odessa. The author shows it when instead of describing Odessa in the first pages he begins with how the first day of practice started. After explaining a little bit football practice he then gives some background on the history of Odessa. I liked the way the author, Bissinger, organizes his first points because this shows how important football was to the members of Odessa.

He focuses on one single thing which is football and sticks with it to the very end. Although, he also gives out information on other topics that are not so much related to football but do affect some of the members of the town. I enjoyed this because the reader can also learn a little bit on the history of Odessa especially because it is close to where we are from: El Paso, TX. The author's job on writing the book was so well done. The only thing that angered me was to see how racism was abundant in Odessa. Being a Mexican- American it angered me to see how white Odessans were no t only racist with Blacks but also toward Mexicans.

The author's job on describing different situations was so well described it almost seemed to be a present situation. It made me imagine what it really is to be a racist victim. It made me think it could have been I in the place of any of the victims. Just to think about it made me more angry.

Learning how Blacks and Mexicans had to live on the other side of town opposite from that of the whites made the reader aware of how racism went too far. Even having Blacks and Mexican students go to separate schools was somewhat frustrating. When the author points out about the Crane area where Boobie's uncle was from, this assures the reader, once again, that racism not only harmed people in Odessa but also in different partes of Texas. When Boobie's uncle explains the different neglecting acts blacks suffered the reader sees to what extreme racism was taken.

Having to enter restaurants through the back door, not being allowed to go to high school football games, and not being able to enjoy other pleasures whites did, are acts that prove that racism was exaggerated and greatly affected Blacks, most of all. This book also shows the social differences Odessa had with other towns, like Midland. But, it also portrays with many details how Permian fans were always on the stadium every Friday to cheer for the players. The author balances very well all the negative and positive situations. I enjoyed how Bissinger tries to show not only positive images of Odessa but also negatives, which makes it more realistic. He shows things just how they were.

This helps the book sound more convincing. When speaking about politics, this book also does a good job at it. Portraying how big, Odessans fate was on their football team, is mentioning about George Bush's campaign there. The people instead of going to the Midland airport to give hime a welcome, they preferred to go buy the tickets for the next football game..