Night Hoops

“On our block everybody mows the lawn, plants flowers, and picks up stray bits of trash. People wave to their neighbors, keep their music down, and drive slowly, at least until they hit the main streets. It didn’t take long to see that Ericka Dawson was different. She let the lawn and flower beds go. Her front porch became a garbage heap, and if anything broke, it stayed broken.”

Carl Deuker uses juxtaposition and imagery to establish the differences between the Dawsons and other people in the neighborhood, including the Abbotts. The latter have neat, nice-looking homes, while the former is discombobulated, evidenced by the phrases “she let the lawn and flower beds go” and “her front porch became a garbage heap.” The contrasting picture indicates that the Dawson family is different and doesn’t fit in.

“Yeah, well, Nick shouldn’t be there either. You know who hangs out there? Do you? Gang wannabes. Zack Dawson and Trent Dawson and that whole crew.”

Dad’s comment about the Dawson brothers demonstrates The Contagiousness of Bad Behavior. He’s worried they’ll negatively influence Nick, as he sees them as “gang wannabes.” At the same time, Dad’s quote is manipulative. His main aim is to build a basketball court so that he can pressure Scott to focus on the sport despite his lack of interest in it.

“In a way [Steve Clay] was like all of Ericka Dawson’s boyfriends. You could see from the deep lines in his face that he’d smoked too much and drank too much. The skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his forearm told the same story.”

The imagery depicts Steve as a threatening character; thus, the portrait is a red herring—a false clue. Steve’s menacing look belies his healthy influence. Soon, Nick realizes that he’s a beneficial father figure who’s trying to keep Trent away from the harmful life Zack embodies.