Gary Soto's Taking Sides Personal Essay

But he is aware of the fact that he must beat his old school to show that he is a good player, even though he does not like Coach Yesutis' attitude towards him. Basketball is a 'zero sum game' there is only winners and losers, but Lincoln does not want to choose sides. He cannot go back to where he came from, but he does not want to validate Yesutis. As a student who had to struggle to show his intelligence in school while enduring the mockery of my less academic friends, I relate to the conflict of wanting to be like everyone else, wanting my peers to like me, yet still feeling full of the desire to demonstrate what I can do well to the world. Leaving your friends behind to stand alone and do your best is hard, plus Lincoln still is part of a team. "Who do you think you are? Why do people keep asking me that," wonders Lincoln (Soto 65).

Finally, Lincoln's coach is the ultimate 'evil jock' who seems to be the template of every bad high school gym teacher or coach in existence. He is insensitive and only cares about what Lincoln can do on the court, not who he is as a person.Coach Yesutis also seems to have a particular vendetta against Lincoln's old school. Lincoln senses that the coach doesn't like who he is, or where he is from, although despite his coach's prejudice he manages to overcome the odds and win the game for his new school. His mother as well as other teammates deny or ignore the coach's prejudices, and the only way Lincoln can really rebel is to show his own abilities when it counts.

Lincoln is a compelling, likeable, and relatable character. The book shows how class, identity, and race are all articulated in the competitive world of sports and school social life. Anyone who has ever felt that he does not fit in can relate to Lincoln, but people who have felt divided between different cultures or experienced a profound change in their geographic or economic circumstances would be particularly moved by Taking Sides -- because ultimately no one wants to have to 'take sides' and chose between their past and present.

Works Cited

Soto, Gary. Taking….....