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Chapter 42
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
When neither of Nick’s teams, United or Arsenal, is playing, he sometimes attends non-League football games. Nicks goes to these games partially because he finds the crowds at non-League football games entertaining—they are full of “lunatics.” Nick goes with his friends to see one such amateur football game at Saffron Walden’s stadium. At the end of the game, the crowd floods onto the field to celebrate their team’s win, and Nick notes that this is a pleasant difference between professional and non-league football, as usually when the crowd floods the field at professional games it is out of anger and aggression.
Calling non-league football fans “lunatics” is a humorous example of Nick’s somewhat unreliable narration. Amateur games are overall tamer and more civilized than League games. He goes on to describe how fans at professional games are angry and aggressive—implying that these fans are the ones more inclined towards genuine lunacy.
Themes
