Million Dollar Throw

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2009

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-6

Chapters 7-15

Chapters 16-25

Chapters 26-34

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Football

Football is often used as a metaphor for life throughout the novel. In the beginning, Nate admits that he doesn’t understand many of the unfortunate circumstances going on around him, but he knows the game of football. Nate’s dad knows this about his son, and he often uses the game of football as a symbolic way to get Nate to understand the complexities of what’s happening to his family. This can first be seen when Nate’s dad uses football to illustrate how his real estate business is failing. He says to Nate, “We’re like the Patriots […] They were down when Belichick started coaching them, but look where they are now. They’re the team to beat pretty much every year now. It’ll be our turn again soon” (39). Nate’s dad doesn’t expect Nate to understand the adult problems happening to them financially, but he knows that Nate will understand the football analogy of being down but coming out back on top.

Nate’s dad again uses football to be symbolic of their situation when he “explained how important these ‘showings’ were, making a sports analogy out of it for Nate, saying you never knew if today was the day that might change everything” (105). Nate hates when strangers come into their house for a showing, but his dad uses sports to get Nate to view the showings as a potentially positive thing.

Tom Brady

Tom Brady is Nate’s sports idol, but he also becomes a symbol of perseverance through hard times. Nate has always idolized Brady, looking to him as the perfect quarterback. Looking to Brady’s life as an example becomes one of the main ways that Nate gets out of the rut that he finds himself in halfway through the novel. After everything with his parents and Abby, Nate feels defeated by the circumstances of those he loves. While he stews in these increasingly hopeless feelings for a while, he eventually remembers Brady’s underdog story, and his mindset begins to change.

When Brady first started his career, he wasn’t well known. In fact, he “was nothing more than a practice quarterback” (168). Despite this, he worked his way up and eventually helped the Patriots win three Super Bowls. Even though Brady seemed to be at the top of his career, he suffered a major setback when his knee was severely injured. When Nate thinks about this, he makes the decision to change his outlook: “So it wasn’t as if his hero hadn’t been knocked down. Anybody could get knocked down. Anybody and everybody. It was like Bill Parcells had talked about: It wasn’t how you got knocked down, it was how you got back up” (169).

After Nate thinks about Brady’s comeback story, he begins to see himself like Brady. It’s not about the losses he’s suffered, but about what he does with those losses that will define who he becomes. After this moment of realization, Nate sets his mind to practicing every day for the million-dollar throw. In this way, Brady and his story become symbolic of Nate’s desire and drive to similarly persevere.

Coppo Park

For Nate, Coppo Park is symbolic of Nate’s happiest times. Coppo Park is where he and his dad have always thrown the football; it’s where he and Abby often hang out; and it’s where he goes when he wants to be alone. Nate has lived next to the park for his entire life, so many of his most formative memories are tied to the place, both good and bad. It’s where Nate first realized how bad Abby’s vision was getting when he threw the ball to her and it knocked off her glasses. It’s where his dad misunderstands him, and he yells angrily in response. And it’s where he goes in solitude to be alone with his thoughts. In this way, Coppo also serves as a major space where Nate grows in character.