Earlier in the novel, Francis
and Larry LaSalle compete against each other in an intense game of table tennis
(ping pong).
o
How does the interaction
between Francis and Larry on pages 109 through 118 resemble a game of ping
pong?
o
How is ping pong a larger
metaphor for Francis’ and Larry’s relationship, in general?
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Austin Adamo
ReplyDeletePeriod 4/ Miss Drosdick
2/10/14
When Francis goes to Larry LaSalle’s apartment, he has a mission. They talked for a long time and Francis was impatient because his goal was to kill Larry. According to the text, “He opens the box and withdraws a pistol like my own relic of the war.” Larry doesn’t want to kill Francis. He wants to defend himself and get Francis to put away his gun. The two men talk back and forth like a game of ping pong until they both put their guns away. It is like a game of ping pong because you have to try to beat the other player.
Ping pong is a metaphor for Francis and Larry’s relationship because Larry used to be his hero in the flashback. But when the book is in present time, Francis talks about how he wants to kill Larry and that he is his enemy. According to the text, “Then didn’t you know that we loved you, I said. You were our hero even before you went to the war.” But after the war, Larry LaSalle and Francis hated each other. First Francis admired Larry LaSalle but then he hated him and wanted to kill him. But he decided not to because he can’t. This is like a ping pong game because their emotions were constantly going back and forth. Francis changes his mind as often as the ball goes over the net.
Smack, smack, smack. The ping pong ball races across the table, just skimming the small net. Francis has been playing a tournament that never seems to end. He is one player while life is another. With each hit, life throws him a problem, or opportunity, and his return is his response to the problem. A major problem Francis seems to have been forced to handle is depression and severe grief. And sadly his response isn’t the best it couldn’t have been. During pages 109 through 118, Larry and Francis had a ping pong game head on and the winner got the others head. Francis has been on a mission since his return to Frenchtown to kill Larry. During those pages Francis has finally found Larry and went to his apartment with his gun. The whole time they bounced back and forth with Larry trying to convince Francis he didn't do anything bad and Francis trying to get to complete his new found purpose. “The sound from this distance is almost like that of a Ping-Pong Ball striking the table. “ Every game must have a winner, and yet again Larry has won, he got to take his own life
ReplyDeletePing Pong is actually a metaphor for Francis and Larry’s relationship as an entirety the two are constantly going back and forth, competing for a chance to be the one with the least grief. Every decision Francis has made has bounced back and has thrown another road block in his way. Larry for a while has helped him through a few certain roadblocks, guiding him through the obstacle course that was his life, but one thing Larry did threw him his biggest one yet, and caused his life to spiral out of control. Francis’s life has been very back and forth and he was the one to throw the final blow.
In the sport of table tennis people serve the ball and respond by hitting the ball back to the other person. The interaction of Larry and Francis on pages 109 through 118 resembles the game of table tennis that they played against each other in the tournament. These scenes are alike because in their conversation Larry starts it with the serve by saying, "Makes me remember the old days at the Wreck Center. those were good days, weren't they? "That table tennis championship. What a great day for you, Francis..." After that Francis returns it just like in table tennis, by saying," You made it possible. You let me win." Their conversation goes on like that for a while and then finally at the end when Francis is about to shoot Larry, Larry "lets him win" by killing himself. This is extremely similar to the table tennis championship because Larry had let Francis win in that tournament and by killing himself instead of Francis having to kill him with the amount of drama that can be found in season ending episodes of any soap operas. Overall, this situation between the two could also relate to the sport of wrestling, because in wrestling one person does a move, and then the other person counters, and then they keep on countering each other until one wins. This is just like the conversation because whenever Larry makes a comment like the one he did about the Wreck Center Francis has a reply to counter him with. In conclusion, Francis and Larry's conversation is very similar to the sport of table tennis.
ReplyDeletePing pong is a game of knowing your opponent and returning the ball back to them. Overall, ping pong is a huge metaphor for Larry and Francis's relationship. This is a justified statement because Larry always seems to be one step ahead of Francis, but Francis is always able to return the ball back to Larry. In the text, it states, "....and marveling again on how Larry LaSalle was always one step ahead of us just as he now knows about my face and the Silver Star." Francis thinks this as he enters Larry's apartment ready to finish his mission. This quote however shows that Larry is always one step ahead, in this case by knowing Francis like he had a spy who has been spying on Francis ever since he returned from war. They would go on to have this conversation just like a game of ping pong with responses to reply to the other person. Not only do they have this type of relationship in this conversation, but also in the other parts of their lives too. For instance after the incidence with Nicole and Larry, Francis's counter was to kill Larry when he finally found him again. Overall, this relationship that they share is similar to a game of chess because Larry might know what Francis is going to do, or what has occurred but in the end Francis caught Larry in checkmate.
On pages 109 to 115, the interaction between Francis and Larry resembles a game of ping pong because it was communication going back and forth. Not all of this was verbal communication, as Francis also had many thoughts in his mind, responding to Larry. He describes LaSalle’s suicide as making the sound “of a Ping-Pong ball striking the table.” This statement has a double meaning, because it can also be used to describe the conversation between the two characters. Robert Cormier uses figurative language and description to imply many themes and concepts. Quite recently, psychologists have found that those who plot revenge usually make the basis worse than it has to be. It has been proven that people with vengeful intentions frequently center the world based on their opinions. Similarly, Francis has not thinking about the possible reactions of others when he planned his revenge on Larry.
ReplyDeletePing-Pong can be used as a metaphor to describe the relationship between Francis and Larry because of the chain reaction that happened between them. The two rivals can be described as bats while the ball is each others’ defense. A hidden meaning in the text is that Larry let Francis win in both the game and actual life. According to Larry, Francis “deserved to win.” This shows that he maintained his general modesty until the end. This can also be interpreted as a way to make Francis suffer from guilt for the remainder of his life. The Things They Carried, a book by Tim O’Brien, shows how a soldier named Norman killed himself over the inability to let go of his stress from the Vietnam War. There might be a similar situation for Francis.