Taking Sides Essay

December 3, 2007

Taking Sides, by Gary Soto, is a book about a boy named Lincoln Mendoza who is in 8th grade. Lincoln moved from the more urban run down part of town to the more metropolitan area of town after his house got broken into. He played basketball for his middle school, Franklin, before he moved. After moving, if he wanted to play basketball at all he had to play for Columbus Middle School. Lincoln's life changed from getting into fist fights in the hallways to getting in trouble for being one minute late for school. He dislikes his new neighborhood and no one in his new school is like him. He was forced to leave behind all of his friends and old teammates. Lincoln is a Franklin player at heart because he disagrees with the people at Columbus.

One person whom Lincoln really doesn't like is his basketball coach at Columbus, Coach Yesutis. When Lincoln hurt his knee Coach Yesutis benched him because he sat down to rest it without permission. Coach Yesutis said he "Didn't know how to hang."(Page 81) Lincoln didn't really care because he felt sorry for Franklin. Last time Columbus played Franklin, Franklin got annihilated. He also knew that Yesutis was always going hard on him because he was a Mexican-American. He always knew that his coach didn't like Mexican-Americans because when Yesutis was playing for Columbus as a boy, he got punched by a Mexican-American who played for Franklin. Lincoln thinks that that is a dumb reason to not like any Mexican-Americans. Coach Yesutis is only one of the many people who Lincoln disagrees with and doesn't like at Columbus.

Lincoln also disagrees with another basketball player for Columbus. Bukowski, a tall white kid, and Lincoln are natural enemies. Lincoln had told a fellow player that he thought that they were going to lose to Franklin. Lincoln was showing his Franklin spirit and he was also saying that Columbus was going to lose because he was mad that he wasn't starting. Lincoln regretted talking about that when Bukowski used it insult him. Bukowski was saying how Lincoln thought he was so special. Lincoln and his little hurt knee. Lincoln wanted "to throw some [punches]" right there (Page 94). In his opinion, Lincoln thought that he was not special at all. He thought that Bukowski was a jerk. They both had their points that they were sticking to and they both disagreed with each other.

Lincoln liked his old school and neighborhood. He got along with everyone there. He loved playing with the people like him. Once he moved to Columbus he lost everything. He enjoyed playing on the run down court at Franklin, not the perfect court in Columbus. Every time he heard the squeak of his fancy Air Jordans it made him miss Franklin even more. He liked his old coach and his old friends. He would rather play in the poor part of town with his friends and maybe not win every basketball game than live in the suburbs and play for Columbus. Lincoln had Franklin close to his heart throughout the whole book.