Slam!

“With me it’s not like playing a game, it’s like the only time I’m being for real.” 

Slam explains very early on in the novel how important basketball is to him and how talented he is at it. However, this quote reveals that he doesn’t think much of his life beyond the court and that only when he plays can he be his true self. It sets up Slam’s ongoing journey of self-discovery throughout the novel, as he has to figure out how he can be his true self on and off the court.

“But when he shows you a painting he can make you see things in it that you wouldn’t notice if you just looked at it yourself.”

Slam is talking about his art history teacher. He likes this teacher because he feels like the teacher makes him see things he didn’t know were there. While this teacher doesn’t play a significant role in the story, this quote is important because the same can be said of Slam: Throughout the novel, Slam feels that people around him—at Latimer, in his neighborhood—only see him in one-dimensional ways, as just a basketball player, or as a future corner guy, another one of “Harlem’s dead.” However, Slam feels, and knows, there is much more depth to him, and throughout the story he will figure out how to make his internal depth more visible.