50 pages • 1-hour read
Football Genius
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Symbols & Motifs
Midnight Express Train
The Midnight Express train is a motif that emerges at the beginning of the novel, signaling to the friends that a change is coming: “[T]he train went by in a rush of hot air, […] As the last car clacked away down the tracks, he asked her what. ‘You see how big that thing was? It’s like a warning, right? Like ‘go back,’ she said” (4).
This motif then recurs whenever Troy is exploring his emerging mature identity, who he is, where he comes from, and what kind of man he will become: “One of the freight trains to Chicago. Troy shut his eyes and tried not to think about it. His mom’s words rang out in his mind: You don’t have a father. The train wailed in the distance. Running north. Running away, to Chicago” (83).
The train stands both as a foreboding unknown and the possibility of the future. Either way, something big is approaching Troy and quickly.
Birds & Forest Animals
The birds and animals are a motif connected to how Troy is in harmony with nature and how nature communicates with Troy.
Like the train, nature seems to call out to Troy at the beginning of the novel, signaling he is going into a place of danger: “An owl hooted somewhere close. A rabbit screamed, then went quiet. The crickets stopped, and only the buzz of mosquitoes filled the air” (2).
Later, when Seth arrives, a Blue Jay marks the occasion, almost as if nature itself were blessing the meeting of the two characters: “When he reached the porch, Troy turned and scrambled inside. Snatching the ball off his dresser, he dashed back out onto the porch, breathless. A blue jay scolded from up in a tree, and Seth had his eyes shaded against the sun, searching for the bird (86).
When Troy finally reveals his gift to Seth, nature utters its approval. “‘In any game?’ Seth asked, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head in doubt. ‘You just see it.’ Troy nodded his head. The jay cawed and took off, flying in a blur of black and blue and white” (87).
Hooch River
Troy approaches the Hooch River as he looks deep inside himself after what happens at the Cowboys game. Dark thoughts begin to overtake him. He begins to see himself in comparison to the older kids who come to the river to drink beer and jump off the trestle into the water below.
The leap into the Hooch River thus symbolizes the plunge that Troy must take into maturity, in order to be reborn and begin his difficult journey into adulthood. The water of the Hooch reminds the reader of baptismal immersion and re-emergence into a world more complex than the one Troy has parted from. Tate takes this plunge with him, and the two emerge with a more romantic connection.
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