82 pages • 2 hours read
Walter Dean MyersSlam!
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1996A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
Coming of Age
Slam’s coming of age is at the novel’s center. In that sense, Slam! is a bildungsroman, a German term that in literature is used to describe a story that focuses on the mental or physical growth of the story’s protagonist; the term comes from the German words bildung (meaning “education”) and roman (meaning “novel”).
When the novel begins, it’s clear that Slam is a phenomenal basketball player and a deep thinker, but he devotes little energy to much off the court. Growing up in a tough neighborhood riddled with police sirens and drug addicts, Slam has learned to rely on himself to get ahead, always looking for ways to promote and advance himself without thinking how he might be affecting others. This attitude, though, makes it difficult for him to work with people around him. His outlook causes discord on the basketball team—he fights with other players, and he draws the ire of Coach Nipper, who initially sees Slim as a diva and doesn’t play him much because he refuses to buy into the system of team basketball—and earns him negative attention from his teachers, such as when Mr. Parrish accuses Slam in class of wanting to be nothing more than a corner guy. In these ways, even though Slam is 17 years old, he is very much still an immature boy.
Eventually, though, Slam begins to have a change in perspective. By seeing that Nick’s success in being recruited is due to his grades as well as his athletic abilities, Slam realizes that putting forth effort in school will go a long way to helping him get where wants to go. With some wise and needed counseling from Coach Goldstein, Slam learns about the game of life and how important it is that he put everything he has into the things he is good at to maximize his potential. This changed perspective allows him to befriend and work with other members of the team, culminating in their victory over Carver, which earns them a berth in the city-wide Tournament of Champions. He even apologizes to Mr. Parrish for his bad attitude, and he thanks Goldstein for his advice and kindness.
The growth Slam shows also allows Mtisha to see him as a more responsible young man, and she begins taking him more seriously as a legitimate romantic option. It also allows Slam to separate himself, with difficulty, from his friend Ice, who is making many wrong decisions in life. At the end of the novel, Slam is a more thoughtful person, and his future is entirely his own. It’s clear that he has, in fact, come of age.
The Importance of Teamwork
Another main theme of Slam! is teamwork, playing off Slam’s ability to show growth and development not just as a basketball player but as a person. At the beginning of the novel, Slam makes it clear how much basketball means to him, but basketball is a team sport. Playing it requires being in sync with your other teammates on the court, as well as being a good teammate to the rest of your team and being coachable so your coaches trust you to make the right decisions in games. At the start of the season, Slam is not a good teammate. He refuses to be a team player, he cares only about his own success, and he gets in fights with other players on the team. However, as the season progresses and Slam becomes a better teammate, that idea of teamwork extends to aspects of his life beyond the basketball court.
One cannot be in a healthy relationship—with friends, family, or a romantic interest—without being a good teammate. Throughout the novel, Slam struggles with how to be a good friend to Ice. He suspects Ice has started dealing drugs, but rather than speak up and try to intervene, Slam avoids the issue until he and Ice literally come to blows in the novel’s penultimate chapter. In this way, he’s not a good teammate to Ice, though he comes to realize he’s not responsible for other people’s decisions, and he also learns it’s okay to separate himself from people who are bad teammates to him. Slam also becomes a better teammate throughout the novel to Mtisha by considering her perspective and pushing himself to improve to be a better boyfriend, and he is a positive role model to his younger brother, Derek, who looks up to him and wants to be included in everything Slam does. By the novel’s end, Slam has learned that simply being talented at something is not enough to reach the success he yearns for. To achieve what he wants, he learns he needs to be a good teammate and to have good teammates in his life.
The Role of Mentorship
The key role mentors can play in a young person’s life is another major theme found throughout Slam!. While mentoring generally involves an older person imparting their wisdom to teach, support, and guide a younger person full of uncertainty or recklessness, a mentor-mentee relationship can also be seen among contemporaries. In the novel, both types of mentors can be seen.
Slam’s mother is one such mentor. Throughout the novel, she consistently provides Slam unconditional love and encouragement. She knows how important basketball is to him, and rather than take it away from him, she encourages him to find ways to keep basketball in his life while also urging him to do better academically. She even finds someone to tutor Slam, despite knowing that it will—and does—upset her husband. Her mother, Grandma Ellie, is another mentor for Slam. She reminds Slam that his life is ultimately his responsibility and only he is in charge of his decisions. She encourages him to see that no one but himself can get him through life because very few people will care about what he does.
Coach Goldstein is another mentor who arguably influences Slam the most. Goldstein helps Slam realize that the ability to do what he loves to do is a gift that should be taken seriously because not many people get to spend their time doing the thing they love most. He explains to Slam that life is a game, and even when Slam is off the court the game continues. It is a game that can be won or lost, just like basketball, and so Slam has to give life everything he’s got to win the game.
Mr. Parrish, Coach Nipper, and Miss Fowell are other adults who provide some mentorship to Slam to varying extents. Mr. Parrish tries motivating Slam to be a better student by treating him like another corner guy in the neighborhood; Coach Nipper tries to get Slam to be a better teammate; and Miss Fowell reminds Slam that taking advice at a young age is important so that he doesn’t regret not learning the lessons down the road.
On top of those minor mentors, even contemporaries like Mtisha and Ice prove to be mentors for Slam. Mtisha uses her intelligence to guide Slam through his challenges with math, and when Ice, someone Slam has long respected, decides to become a drug dealer, he unintentionally guides Slam away from making poor decisions himself. With the advice of so many helping and guiding Slam, he is able to learn that he can make whatever future for himself he wants and is excited for what awaits him.
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By Walter Dean Myers
