Knights Of The Hill Country Essay
Many people often do things just because their friends do it.A perfect example of this is Hampton Green, a start football player for the Kennisaw Knights.Throughout this story, Hampton not only grows to be a better football player, he grows to be a better, more independent man.Knights of Hill Country, by Tim Tharp, is about a teen that has to decide what kind of man he wants to become.Hampton is a senior at Kennisaw High in Oklahoma.He’s a great football player and even has some colleges that might offer him a scholarship.
First of all, Hampton believes in loyalty to his friends, no matter what they do.He also listens to what they say, and often believes it, regardless of his own beliefs.A perfect example of this is the following quote, about which girl Hampton should go on a date with: “Maybe he was right.Maybe Sara wasn’t the one for me.To hear Blaine tell it, you’d think I was letting him and the whole football team down just by liking her.And anyone would’ve been crazy to turn down a date with Misty Koonce.”(48).This shows how easily Hampton is influenced by Blaine.He is not only affected in terms of his actions, it also appears that Blaine has an effect on his thoughts as well.He likes Sara a lot, and even talks about how she seems perfect and easy to talk to, but begins to question this because of what Blaine told him.Blaine thinks that Hampton should be dating a girl like Misty and not like Sara and Hampton goes along with it, believing himself that what Blaine said is true.However, Hampton soon begins to question the things that Blaine says and does.
In the middle of the story, Hampton becomes confused about his decisions after a fight with a friend and a discussion with his mom’s boyfriend.An example of this is this quote involving Hampton asking his mom’s boyfriend about a rumor Blaine told him: “That takes integrity right there.It means you’re asking questions for yourself instead of taking the word of a couple of folks who didn’t even play on the team.” (178).This quote shows how Hampton is questioning whether what Blaine says is always true.Blaine tells Hampton something, and at first he believes it, but then he decides to see if it is really true.After he finds out it is a lie, he begins to think about what kind of person Blaine is.He also apologizes to Sara for a fight they had.While Hampton loses some trust in Blaine, he still believes in being loyal to his friends.However, this changes after a big football game against Kennisaw’s rivals.
Lastly, Hampton shows how independent he has become at the end of the story.Hampton finally realizes that he needs to make his own decisions or else he might end up doing something that he believes is wrong.His change is shown when he is watching Blaine about to get into a fight with a rival football player after the game.“Shut up!’ Blaine hollered.‘I’m done messing with you.’ He swung the gun back like a baseball bat, ready to whup it into Covey’s big white face, but I already predicted it and caught hold of the barrel and ripped the thing out of his hands before he could start it back around.” (225) This shows how Hampton is doing what he thinks is right no matter what Blaine wants him to do.Hampton felt that he should stop Blaine before he gets into a fight, so he grabbed the gun out of Blaine’s hands even though he was supposed to be Blaine’s “backup”.This shows he realizes that doing what is right is more important than being loyal to your friends.Hampton truly shows his integrity by doing this.
Hampton changed from a complete follower to an independent man throughout this story.He starts out the story doing everything he can to be loyal to Blaine but realizes in the middle of the story that not everything Blaine does is right.In the end of the story he shows how he has changed by preventing his friend from getting into a fight instead of fighting with him.Hampton knew that he might lose his friendship with Blaine, but he grabbed the gun anyways because he knew what Blaine doing was wrong.