Dee
Oct 15
Sam The Athlete
Everyone goes through those ‘awkward preteen years’ of school. The short story “Sam The Athlete” by Stuart Maclean is a comical tale about a young boy, starting his first year of middle school. This story portrays humor and a good theme in many ways, and shows how Sam’s character develops throughout his first few weeks of middle school.
All Sam wanted was new sneakers. His mother knew his old shoes were perfectly good, but she understood the need to have “shoes that fit in”. When Sam’s mother Morley took him to the shoe store, he immediately knew what he was looking for. He ran over to a pair of red shoes with wings on them, put them on and “[cut] along the sidewalk like a terrier…so preoccupied by the wind on his face…that he ran right into a telephone pole.” This kind of humor is pretty abrupt, it makes fun of people getting hurt which seems pretty cruel, but it is a simple form of humor that is seen in society daily. This story pokes fun at Sam’s inability to play sports, and the story turns quickly when he joins the field hockey team…only to find out that the coach had been calling him “Samantha”. He was on a girl’s team. Under his breath, Sam breathed “uh-oh” as the coach handed him “[his] first ever skirt.” Awkward humor is one of the main elements in this story. Sam’s fumbles, him joining the girl’s field hockey team and his father walking in on him shaving his legs and dancing in his new skirt in front of the mirror all build on the awkwardness.
The main theme of this story is that no matter what, never give up on something that you love, and always keep trying because you never know what will happen along the way. Sam is desperate to be a star athlete, and just as he lost all hope, he “spotted a poster outside the lunchroom, [and] stopped in his tracks.” He was overjoyed because the poster said “Field Hockey Tryouts”, hockey without skates! His hope was restored…until he realized that it was an all girls team. Being committed and ecstatic that he finally found something he had a knack for, Sam decided to stick with it. He did not give up because it was what he loved, despite having to wear a pink skirt as a uniform. This ties perfectly into the theme.
Sam goes through many changes from the beginning to the end of this story. At first, he was a shy kid going to a new school with his new red sneakers and no athletic skills. Then, as the story progresses he finds himself on a school team…full of girl’s but regardless he was good at it and proud of himself. He overcame the uncertainties and decided to just keep playing, because he finally found something that he is good at. This story shows how much you can progress in middle school. It is full of big changes, and big realizations, and Stuart Maclean brings out these elements in “Sam The Athlete”. At the end of the story, Mark Portnoy, “the big bruiser, who had teased him relentlessly over the years and caused him so much pain” was standing on the sidelines, stunned. Sam finally showed his bully that he was more than just an awkward kid with no talent. He found what he had been looking for. In that moment he realized “his future might be brighter than he had thought”.
As awkward as middle school can be, everyone finds something they are good at, which is shown in “Sam The Athlete” by Stuart Maclean. The humor, theme and character development all collaborate well to shape this piece of writing.
