Symbolism In H. G. Bissinger's Friday Night Lights

Football has become a way of life for Americans. There is Friday night high school football, Saturday college football, and Sunday NFL. There are teams all over the country that fans devote themselves to one hundred percent, and in the small, deserted town of Odessa, the fans do just that. In H. G. Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights, football has become a necessity in life. The town comes together every Friday night and rallies for their team. Permian football is the town’s heart. Without football, there would be nothing to Odessa. Although the fans have such a strong camaraderie and spirit for their team, the devotion and obsession is starting to get out of hand. The fans are starting to worship the team and give special privileges to the athletes, resulting in the …show more content…
The football players at Permian High School are stuck in a bubble that is high school football and there is no focus or thought about life once it is over. The fans, through their crazy obsession, have placed the athletes on a pedestal that they cannot easily get down from without damaging their life. Bissinger presents this idea throughout the excerpt “The Watermelon Feed” through the use of symbolism to show how an obsession and fame can lead to an unhealthy life. Bissinger utilizes symbolism throughout the text to show how football is divine and heavenly to the people of Odessa. Permian football and its players are like God to the town. They worship and rally for the team and believe that football is a way of life. They “thank [God] for the joy the athletes bring to [their] hearts and lives” and praise their star running back, Shawn Crow (323). Bissinger associates Shawn as a higher power. He is viewed as above everyone else and allows the people to believe his football playing skills as divine. The whole team “[rallies] around the example of one player,” Crow, and his