Hey guys, thanks for checking back into my blog. So far, reading Shadow Ball has been very enjoyable and entertaining for me. Peter Rutkoff is a very talented author, and his writing style and content has been very pleasing so far.
So far, one of my favorite things about the novel is Rutkoff's way of describing the characters. Each character had a thorough introduction into the storyline, including where they grew up, their parents, etc. I thought this was a great way for Rutkoff to characterize them. This section was mainly about Rube Foster and his upbringing. His life was very interesting. His father was the preacher and extremely well known barber in his hometown. He was a very influential and even-tempererd man, and Rube learned from his advice. In fact, Rube recognizes that there is a lot of his father in himself. I thoroughly enjoyed the chapter on Rube's background and upbringing, which kept me entertained throughout.
Something that has surprised me about the novel is its use of foul language. During the time period of the novel. there were many words tossed around that are considered extremely poor today. Most of the ones exhibited in this novel are prejudice profanity towards the African American characters and towards Sam Weiss, the Jewish character. The fact that these words appear in the novel has added a number of different effects to the read. For one, it has added to the authenticity of the historical context. These words were very commonly used during the early 1900's. Putting them in the thought process and dialogue of the different characters adds to the "real" feeling while reading. However, it has also been somewhat unappealing to me. To be reading down a page and all of a sudden see a word as offensive and distasteful as that can be very surprising and annoying. If there were one thing I could change about the book, especially this section where it was most prevalent, it would probably be this.
Here, I will attach a link to a website about the Chicago Race Riots of 1919.
http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=1,7,1,1,33
This event is a very similar historical context as Shadow Ball. The setting is Chicago during the year 1919. In both scenarios, there is a lot of racism towards African Americans. This builds a lot of tension, and eventually something terrible happens. Thirty-eight people are left dead, and over five-hundred injured. On the back of the book, it says that that this event will cause a lot of stir within the city and characters. Since the main characters are both black and white, I think that this event will cause a larger gap in their relationship. Additionally, I think that if John Henry is unable to sign with the Chicago White Sox, this will be the main reason for it.
Here is a video about Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball.
This video very closely relates to the plot of the novel. Although this event did happen about thirty years later, many facets of the time period were very similar. During both, there was an extreme amount of racism towards African Americans. This had a large impact on the professional baseball system. Just like the novel, there were two separate leagues; one for whites and one for blacks. John Henry Lloyd's character plays a very similar role that Jackie Robinson did during the 1940's. They are both very talented African American baseball players. When both try to break the barrier, they are faced with an enormous amount of obstacles. Jackie Robinson was able to overcome these obstacles and break the color barrier. I am interested to see if Lloyd will be as successful.
Well, that's all I've got for this week. Hope my posts are keeping you entertained. Check back again next week for more.
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