Friday Night Lights - Study Guide

As you prepare for the test on Friday Night Lights you should revisit the text and focus specifically on the characters, themes, and style of the work. You will need to be able to identify characters from descriptions that have been selected directly from the text. Characters that have been identified as potentially important include:

• Boobie Miles
• LV Miles
• Mike Winchell
• Ivory Christian
• Bryan Chavez
• Tony Chavez
• Chris Comer
• Don Billingsley
• Charlie Billingsley
• Jerrod MacDougal
• Trapper O'Connell
• Joe Bob Bizell
• Daniel Justice
• Shawn Crow

Thematically, you should be able to elaborate on analytic questions related to themes present in the story, using relevant and specific evidence from the text to support your answer. You will be assessed on the development and thoroughness of your answer. You should be able to answer questions like the folowing:

• How is the town corrupt and how long has it been that way?
• To what extent does Boobie and Brian's ambitions and experiences prepare each of them differently for life after football?
• What specific examples does Bissinger cite of the roles of fans, coaches, teachers, parents, and school administrators in the treatment of high-school football players?
• How do the father and son relationships of football players reveal values of the players and town?
• What conclusions concerning Odessa might be drawn from the fact that its high-school football program is valued more highly than the town's history?
• How is the concept individual sacrifice in the service of teamwork encouraged?
• How is the issue of racism in Odessa explored in the text?

Regarding style, you will need to be able to break sentences down based on their levels of generality to demonstrate an understanding of Bissinger's structure and syntax. See the example below from page 5.

You will be given a sentence from the text:

He didn't seem like a high school football player at all, but an aging prizefighter who knew that if he didn't get a knockout tonight, if he didn't turn his opponent's face into a bloody pulp, if he didn't sting and jab and show the old footwork, he was done, washed up, haunted forever by the promise of what could have been.

You must rewrite the sentence showing the levels, like this:

1. He didn't seem like a high school football player at all,

   2. but an aging prizefighter who knew that if he didn't get a
       knockout tonight,

   2. if he didn't turn his opponent's face into a bloody pulp,

   2. if he didn't sting and jab and show the old footwork,

      3. he was done,

         4. washed up,

         4. haunted forever by the promise of what could have
             been.

Also, during your next block period you will be asked to write an in-class, open response essay that deals with a theme in Friday Night Lights. Your time will be limted to the duration of class period. Plan a simple five paragraph essay with a short one or two sentence opening that states a clear thesis, three fully developed body paragraphs, and a short one or two sentence conclusion that wraps-up your response. Be sure to use textual evidence in your response.