This thesis aims to highlight the ways participation in athletics promote greater physical, psychological, and social health for adolescents in Chris Crutcher’s fiction. In his novels, Ironman and Whale Talk, published in 1995 and 2001 respectively, Crutcher uses athletically minded protagonists and the teams which form around them to display the benefits of being involved in athletics, especially team sports. In Ironman, a mandatory high school anger management group embodies all the aspects of team support and camaraderie in their attempt to assist Bo in achieving his athletic goals. Crutcher’s Whale Talk depicts the ways that official team participation can help adolescents to learn to be better people; making them better citizens as they become adults. Sports has become neglected as a subject in powerful literature, but Chris Crutcher’s work combines athletics and quality fiction which speaks to adolescents and adults alike.
","abstract_html":"<p>This thesis aims to highlight the ways participation in athletics promote greater physical, psychological, and social health for adolescents in Chris Crutcher’s fiction. In his novels, <em>Ironman</em> and <em>Whale Talk</em>, published in 1995 and 2001 respectively, Crutcher uses athletically minded protagonists and the teams which form around them to display the benefits of being involved in athletics, especially team sports. In <em>Ironman</em>, a mandatory high school anger management group embodies all the aspects of team support and camaraderie in their attempt to assist Bo in achieving his athletic goals. Crutcher’s <em>Whale Talk</em> depicts the ways that official team participation can help adolescents to learn to be better people; making them better citizens as they become adults. Sports has become neglected as a subject in powerful literature, but Chris Crutcher’s work combines athletics and quality fiction which speaks to adolescents and adults alike.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Korwin, Joseph P"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in English (M.A.)","degree_level":"Thesis (open access)","degree_discipline":"Department of Literature and Philosophy","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["David Dudley","Douglass Thomson"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:28:15Z","subjects":["ETD","Chris Crutcher","Sports","YA Fiction","Ironman","Whale Talk","Children's and Young Adult Literature","English Language and Literature"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1210","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["David Dudley","Douglass Thomson"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Korwin, Joseph P"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-11-17T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Literature and Philosophy"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis (open access)"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in English (M.A.)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["ETD","Chris Crutcher","Sports","YA Fiction","Ironman","Whale Talk","Children's and Young Adult Literature","English Language and Literature"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1210"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis aims to highlight the ways participation in athletics promote greater physical, psychological, and social health for adolescents in Chris Crutcher’s fiction. In his novels, Ironman and Whale Talk, published in 1995 and 2001 respectively, Crutcher uses athletically minded protagonists and the teams which form around them to display the benefits of being involved in athletics, especially team sports. In Ironman, a mandatory high school anger management group embodies all the aspects of team support and camaraderie in their attempt to assist Bo in achieving his athletic goals. Crutcher’s Whale Talk depicts the ways that official team participation can help adolescents to learn to be better people; making them better citizens as they become adults. Sports has become neglected as a subject in powerful literature, but Chris Crutcher’s work combines athletics and quality fiction which speaks to adolescents and adults alike.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Creating Socialization and Empathy through Athletics in Chris Crutcher’s Fiction"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["David Dudley","Douglass Thomson"],"dc:creator":["Korwin, Joseph P"],"dc:date.available":["2014-11-17T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis aims to highlight the ways participation in athletics promote greater physical, psychological, and social health for adolescents in Chris Crutcher’s fiction. In his novels, Ironman and Whale Talk, published in 1995 and 2001 respectively, Crutcher uses athletically minded protagonists and the teams which form around them to display the benefits of being involved in athletics, especially team sports. In Ironman, a mandatory high school anger management group embodies all the aspects of team support and camaraderie in their attempt to assist Bo in achieving his athletic goals. Crutcher’s Whale Talk depicts the ways that official team participation can help adolescents to learn to be better people; making them better citizens as they become adults. Sports has become neglected as a subject in powerful literature, but Chris Crutcher’s work combines athletics and quality fiction which speaks to adolescents and adults alike.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/1210"],"dc:subject":["ETD","Chris Crutcher","Sports","YA Fiction","Ironman","Whale Talk","Children's and Young Adult Literature","English Language and Literature"],"dc:title":["Creating Socialization and Empathy through Athletics in Chris Crutcher’s Fiction"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Literature and Philosophy"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis (open access)"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in English (M.A.)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:28:15Z"}