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134 Unit 2 ■ Analyzing Comparisons and Representations Frank X Walker ■ Death by Basketball 135 UNIT 2

Literary Element Description Effect Death by Basketball Guided Questions SUGGESTED RESPONSES
Repetition Repetition occurs when a writer By repeating words or phrases, an author Before and after school FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE TO GUIDED QUESTIONS
uses the exact word or phrase creates emphasis. he stood 1. Who is being referred to by the pronoun “he”?
he stood
consecutively, repeats a refrain on a milk crate 1. The speaker uses the pronoun to identify a
that occurs throughout a text, character (who is referred to again in line 7).
or substitutes a synonym for eyeballed the mirror 2. The antecedent action may refer to the first
and only saw wayne turner
a word or image in multiple 1 5 and only saw wayne turner time that the character saw Wayne Turner, an
instances. at tournament time 2. What antecedent action has influenced the character? American professional basketball player who
at tournament time
Alliteration refers to the repetition Alliteration often produces a memorable a third grader played for the Boston Celtics and the Harlem
of consonant sounds at the phrase that can create emphasis, just off the bus Globetrotters, playing the game.
beginning of multiple consecutive establish a sensory association set up by barely four feet
or closely placed words in a text. the sound of the phrase, or by creating 10 off the ground 3. The alliteration mimics the sounds one makes
an emotional association between the when playing basketball (exhaling quickly,
word or image and the reader. he dropped his books bouncing the basketball on the court); this
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
sank a j’ invites the audience to imagine and connect
from the top of the key with the sounds of the scene.
and heard the crowd roar
15 beat his man off the dribble
GUIDED READING with a break yaneck
crossover
and slammed himself
on the cover of a box
20 of wheaties
Death by he was out there
every night
Basketball under a street light
Frank X Walker 2 25 fighting through double picks 3. How does the alliteration contribute to your understanding?
talking trash
talking trash
THE TEXT IN CONTEXT Photo by Rachel Eliza Griffiths to imaginary body checks
‘you can’t hold me fool’
Poet and artist Frank X Walker (b. 1961) was fake right
born and raised in Danville, Kentucky. While ‘this is my planet’
Walker originally planned to be an engineer, 30 drive left
he followed his literary interests at the Uni- ‘is the camera on’
versity of Kentucky and earned an MFA in writing at Spalding University. He coined the Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs were used with this sample chapter.
reverse lay-up
word “Affrilachia” to describe the culture of African Americans living in Appalachia: a 3 ‘that’s butter baby’
‘that’s butter baby’
mountainous region that extends from southern New York State to Mississippi, includ- finishing with a trey
ing much of Kentucky. Walker also founded The Affrilachian Journal of Arts and Culture, 35 from downtown, swish!
which publishes work from multicultural artists and writers who identify with the Appa- I’m inna zone t’night
lachian region. His books include Black Box (2005), Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of whogotnext?
Medgar Evers (2013), and About Flight (2015). He is currently a professor and director
of the MFA program in writing at the University of Kentucky. In “Death by Basketball,” more than a little
Walker uses repetition to explore the dreams of a young boy in an impoverished light in the ass
neighborhood. 40 hands so small

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Frank X Walker Death by Basketball 135

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