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Ex-
Pearl Avenue runs past the high-
Bends with the trolley tracks, and stops, cut off
Before it has a chance to go two blocks,
At Colonel McComsky Plaza. Berth’s Garage
5 Is on the corner facing west, and there,
Most days, you’ll find Flick Webb, who helps Berth out.
Flick stands tall among the idiot pumps —
Five on a side, the old bubble-
Their rubber elbows hanging loose and low.
10 One’s nostrils are two S’s, and his eyes
An E and O. And one is squat, without
A head at all — more of a football type.
Once Flick played for the high-
He was good: in fact, the best. In ’46
15 He bucketed three hundred ninety points,
A county record still. The ball loved Flick.
I saw him rack up thirty-
In one home game. His hands were like wild birds.
He never learned a trade, he just sells gas,
20 Checks oil, and changes flats. Once in a while,
As a gag, he dribbles an inner tube,
But most of us remember anyway.
His hands are fine and nervous on the lug wrench.
It makes no difference to the lug wrench, though.
25 Off work, he hangs around Mae’s Luncheonette.
Grease-
Smokes those thin cigars, nurses lemon phosphates.
Flick seldom says a word to Mae, just nods
Beyond her face toward bright applauding tiers
30 Of Necco Wafers, Nibs, and Juju Beads.
How might this poem support Ripley’s argument that we should reassess the emphasis on sports in the American high school? We might interpret the poem as a description of an athletic star who fails to develop intellectually or even emotionally. Updike depicts Flick Webb as the quintessential case of arrested development. Content to be the basketball hero, he neglects learning a trade or developing skills that would lead to a bigger life beyond high school. We can presume that Flick lacked a school environment that prized academic achievement, and can see his sad life as the result of not being encouraged to prepare himself for life off the court.
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But think, too, of ways that this poem might not support an argument about high school sports. If you relied too heavily on this depiction of Flick Webb for your support, you would be vulnerable on several counts. Most obvious, this is one example in a poem — not even real life. Another possible objection would be that the poem was written in the 1950s, a time when high school students’ expectations for college and career were different from now. Still another potential criticism would be that we know so little about Flick; maybe without those glory days, his life would be worse.
So, if you use a literary work as evidence, make sure you incorporate it as a vivid example, possibly using some of the distinctive language to appeal to pathos, but placing it within or alongside other evidence that strengthens your overall position.
As you read more essays by professional writers, you’ll start to notice that they tend to use literary texts to either open or close a piece. Imagine an introduction to an argument against high school sports that opens with the imagery of Flick Webb, who has gone from being a star athlete whose “hands were like wild birds” to an adult gas station attendant “stand[ing] tall among the idiot pumps.” That striking contrast might be just what you need to get your audience’s attention and lead into your claim.