7 Days at the Hot Corner
By: Connor L.
Characters
Scott
He is a high school senior who wants to make a pro baseball team. He finds out his best friend is gay and doesn't know how to deal with the change. He thinks he may have AIDS and will get bullied by people in school for being friends with Travis if people find out about Travis.
Travis
He is Scott's best friend and is also a senior in high school and tells his parents he is gay. Travis and Matt are gay and are secretly friends.
Matt
He is a senior student and plays first base on the baseball team. He hasn't told anyone he is gay because he thinks it could ruin his life. He seems to hate gay people throughout the story.
Setting
The story begins in the spring before baseball season starts. It continues through the end of the school year. Most of the story takes place at Thompson High School in Spokane, Washington, the baseball diamond or at Scott's house. Graduation is only a month away for Scott.
Conflict
Baseball Team
Scott doesn't know how to handle the pressure of his best friend being gay, the fact that he could have gotten aids from him and the fact that they are in the playoffs for baseball.
Baseball SKills
Scott didn't feel he was the best hitter he could be so he went to the batting cages all summer to practice and try to improve his skills.
Friends
Scott starts to pull away from Travis after he hears that Travis is gay. As the story continues, Scott starts to feel bad for not being a true friend to Travis when he heard about him being gay.
Figurative Language
Simile/Figurative Language
- "The crowd ran onto the field jumping up and down like maniacs."
This quote shows how excited the fans were when Matt hit the game winning walk-off home run.
- "My stomach felt weak and my skin tingled like a thousand little needles were pressing into me all at once."
Simile/Figurative Language
- "They gave me hugs and high-fives as if I'm famous."
This quote shows that his teammates got over all of the rumors about being gay and celebrated the victory with him.
- I've gotta focus on baseball and nothing else but instead I'm sitting in this uncomfortable chair, waiting to find out whether or not I'm a dead man. "
- This part is important to the story because he needs to find out if he has AIDS before baseball season starts and he is worried that AIDS could kill him if he has it.
Onomatopeia/Metaphor
- "CRACK" it's a sound like no other sport." This quote show Scott's love for the sport of baseball.
- "As I went in the direction of room 105, walking like a condemned man on his way to the electric chair, my mouth felt dry."
Rising Action
- Throughout the beginning of the story Travis admits he is gay to Scott. Travis's parents throw him out of the house and he moves in with Scott and his dad. Scott constantly worries that his teammates and schoolmates will find out that Travis is gay and assume that he is gay too. As Scott worries about his play-off season and being treated fairly, Scott keeps telling himself that it will all be okay but the pressure keeps building for him.
Climax
- In the book 7 Days at The Hot Corner, the climax of the story occurs when Matt finally apologizes to Travis for the way he treated him. This happens right after Matt hits a home run to win the championship and Travis congratulates him. Scott thinks Matt will hurt Travis because he knows he is gay but instead he hugs him and they laugh. It turns out that Matt is gay too but can't tell anyone yet.
Dialogue
- This takes place at school when Scott stands up for another student when he was getting bullied because someone thought he was gay.
- This takes place at the HIV testing center when Scott keeps thinking about the batting cages and how all of Travis's blood got on him and might have given him AIDS.
Theme
- The main theme of the book is not to give up on something you love no matter what struggles or pressure you run up against. Specific parts of the book that support the theme are:
- He doesn't stop playing baseball even though he was worried his teammates would think he was gay.
- Scott looked for people to help him figure out how to deal with the pressure. He went to his dad to talk and he talked to his mom about the situation. He even went to talk to Travis's mom to try and feel better and figure out how to get through the tough things that were going on.
- He practiced extra hard before the season to improve his batting before the season.
Characterization
The main character, Scott, in the book 7 Days at the Hot Corner is brought to life in many ways through characterization. One example is when the author describes Scott as being sensitive. He does this by describing Scott crying when he remembers the old days when he and Travis used to play at the beach. Scott really misses the days when things were simpler. Another example of the author describing Scott's character is when he writes that Scott is obsessed with baseball and uses examples where everything he is focused on is about baseball. He even has a fight with Travis where Travis says that too. One example of this is when the author writes that Scott broke two remote controls when he got angry that the Mariners were losing a baseball game on t.v.