43 pages • 1 hour read
Slam
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Background
Cultural Context: Tony Hawk and Skating
Nick Hornby is known for incorporating pop culture into his novels, not just as passing references but as pivotal plot points. In this case, skateboarder Tony Hawk (“TH” as Sam calls him) is an important symbol in Sam’s life and someone who guides and inspires him:
TH […] wasn’t me. But he was who I wanted to be, so that makes him the best version of myself, and that can’t be a bad thing, to have the best version of yourself standing there on a bedroom wall and watching you. It makes you feel as if you mustn’t let yourself down (8-9).
Sam keeps a poster of Tony Hawk on his wall and reads his autobiography again and again; he admires his perseverance and honesty, and, of course, his skating abilities. Hawk is widely recognized as the world’s most prolific and skilled skateboarder and is credited with helping propel the sport to the mainstream as well as promoting safety within the sport. He has created 80 new tricks, broken at least 30 bones, and continues to be immersed in the world of pro skating decades after he first popularized the sport.
Authorial Context: Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby is a popular English writer of fiction and nonfiction. Voted the 29th most influential person in Britain by a public poll in 2004, he is known for his humorous stories about ordinary, relatable people facing common challenges, such as his novels About a Boy and High Fidelity, both of which were adapted into films. His novels often center around controversial themes, and Slam, his first novel for young adults, fits into Hornby’s body of work as an examination of a topic that is controversial but widespread: teenage parenthood.
In addition to novels, Hornby has written the screenplays for the film adaptations Brooklyn (2015), An Education (2009), Wild (2014), and Fever Pitch (1997), based on his own memoir.
Social Context: Teenage Parenthood
As Sam discovers in the novel, teenage parenthood is not as uncommon as society often makes it seem. Typically, teenage parenthood is seen as shameful and undesirable, and something to be avoided at all costs. While Sam’s own views and experiences do not exactly contradict this notion, they do illustrate the possibility that a person can recover, adjust, and lead a happy life despite having a child at a young age. To his horror, Sam also finds out that “eighty percent of teenage fathers lose touch with their kids completely” within 15 years of their child’s birth (282). Sam decides he cannot be this type of father, but then realizes soon after that he cannot know for certain what type of father he will turn out to be. Ultimately, Sam decides that teenage parenthood is not ideal but can be managed and accepted if it happens.
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By Nick Hornby
