Heat (Quarter 2 - Assignment 1)

Review

From where I left off last with Heat by Mike Lupica, Michael Arroyo is introduced as a 12 year old boy who's mission is to take his team to the Little League World Series with his cannon of an arm. Well, ever since then things have been getting interesting. A man named Mr. Gibbs feels something in the force that makes him want to check on Michael who is always at the park with his friend Manny Cabrera. Mr. Gibbs works for the Child's Services and he eventually confronts Michael and tells him that he wants to talk to his father. But what I have read before that chapter is that Michael's father passed away a few months back. Michael had the internal conflict of not telling anybody, not even his teammates. Only Manny Cabrera knew though. To get more in depth,  some parents from the other Little League teams want to kick Michael out of baseball because of his cannon arm and they think he is lying about his age. In order for Michael to get back into the game, he needs to come up with a birth certificate. The Clippers, Michael's team, are in the playoffs and somehow make it to the district qualifying game without Michael. Manny finds out that the game would be at Yankee Stadium but Michael is in deep doubt and depression that he wouldn't get to play in that game. Then, he meets a girl named Ellie who is at the park one day and who eventually turns out to be "El Grande's" daughter. El Grande is a pitcher for the New York Yankees, who is ironically, Michael's idol. Michael notices after all the times he is standing by the blue barriers at Yankee stadium that El Grande doesn't pay attention to the crowd. But one day after Michael gets in a sticky situation with Ellie, he catches El Grande's attention. Eventually El Grande helps out Michael with the birth certificate and he is eligible to play baseball again. Lies are unveiled and truths are told as Michael gets to live his dream and play at Yankee Stadium for the district qualifying game.

Conflicts/Themes

The main theme in Heat is that if you work hard enough at something, you will be able to succeed at what you worked for soon enough. In other words, stay determined. A connection that I have to this theme is that I live by that motto. Everyday I wake up and think that one day I will make it to the top to reach my goal. That one goal that I have is to make it as a professional baseball player. Its only one goal but 'quality over quantity' as my coach said. Its always what you do that makes it count, not how much you do in the situation. A conflict that Michael had in the story was the fact that he lost his father. To be honest I have no idea how I would lead my brother as a father everyday like how Michael's brother had led Michael as a father, I would probabaly cry my eyes out like how Michael did in the story when he thought about his father. Michael's father was everything to him. They played catch all the time, he taught Michael baseball, and he taught his son tradition. Michael's father is very similar to my father. My dad is everything to me. He has taught me to play the game that I love. He taught me my culture of being a hispanic kid by taking me to Mexico and stuff. But the fact of thinking of even losing my dad makes my stomach churn. Its heartbreaking and devastating inside. Which is why I am thankful for my dad coming home every night safe and healthy.