Courage In 'Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes'

Courage Essay

Courage is one of the most vital things in human life, it takes courage to try new things, it takes courage to meet new people, it takes courage to stand up for yourself, it takes courage to move forward in everyday life. However, courage does not just appear when people need it most, sometimes it requires help from other people to drag out the needed courage. In “Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes” written by Chris Crutcher, Eric Calhoun the main protagonist is motivated by Mrs. Lemry his swimming coach and english teacher, Sarah Byrnes one of his best friend, and Mrs. Calhoun his mother to step and be courageous for himself and those who had always been there for him.

Eric Calhoun as a child was overweight. However, this all changed when Eric was recruited into the swim team when he entered high school and as a result of polishing his skills and pushing himself he slowly starts to grow slimmer. But, Eric’s motivation to become better and his rigorous training did not come without a person pushing him to be better. Mrs. …show more content…
However, this does not mean that courage just appears when needed and may require help from others in order to have courage. The book “Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes”, symbolizes this theme as Eric Calhoun the main protagonist of the story is motivated by many others to do various things, which requires a considerable amount of courage. Whether it be Mrs. Lemry who motivates Moby to work harder which pushes Eric to stay on the swim team and forget who he was before to become who he is now, Sarah who had always stood up for him and was always there when needed which causes Eric to receive numerous death threats and breaking of a promise all in order to keep Sarah safe, and his mother who would indirectly motivate Eric to be a better person than his father was with love and compassion which forms Eric to what he is