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Chapter 19
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Fever Pitch, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Obsession vs. Fandom
Sports, Identity, and Community
Escapism
Sports and Masculinity
Summary
Analysis
Nick is 15, and he no longer wants to watch games from the Schoolboy’s section of the stands. He is nervous to switch to the adult terraces, and he plans the change for the whole season. He is afraid of being “revealed” as middle-class, like he was in Reading. Nick considers this change a bigger rite of passage than his first kiss or first drink. He finally stands in the adult section when Arsenal plays Ipswich, and he finds that it is not nearly as scary as he thought. He enjoys feeling more involved in the crowd, and he feels completely anonymous.
Switching to the adult section of the stadium is the most significant rite of passage Nick experiences. To him, this change symbolizes maturing into an adult. Arsenal begins to provide him with community in a different way than it used to—Nick no longer uses football as a sort of father figure. Instead, it begins to take on the role of a peer group.
Themes
