Thesis: This essay will dissertate that in Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit: An American Legend, she employs the characterization of Red Pollard to illustrate an individual’s determination to overcome adversity in the path towards realizing an ambition leads to the imminent ascension from obscurity, which parallels to the society around them. How deep does one’s dedication for their dream lie when pitted against an dream-shattering obstacle? Hillenbrand explores this question of human integrity when Pollard’s determination to persist in the racetrack is tested after sustaining a career-threatening leg injury in a horse racing accident. In his hospital room, months after his leg injury, where Pollard is no where near recovery, Hillenbrand writes: Through the window in his room at Boston’s Winthrop Hospital, Red Pollard watched the sky…show more content… Surgeons had operated repeatedly on his crushed leg, rebreaking and resetting it, but it would not heal. Though nearly four months had passed since his injury, he could not stand. His powerful five foot, seven inch boxer’s body had dwindled to a virtual skeleton.
Hillenbrand demonstrates psychological stability in the face of adversity is vital in preventing obstacles from taking hold of one’s dream, where Pollard is an example of what occurs when this stability is lost. In Pollard’s mental struggle to keep his faith, he ultimately succumbs not only to his injuries, but in his moment of weakness, Pollard permits life’s injustices to close the curtains to his dreams. This is evident in the use of a darkening sky to symbolize Pollard’s perspective on his life, once viewed as blue and vast with endless possibilities, now cast with a shadow, absent of optimism. Hillenbrand shows the downward spiral in Pollard’s mental state, through the description of his declining body. By employing words beginning with the prefix ‘re’ consecutively, she uses repetition to reinforce the sense of hopelessness of Pollard’s situation. Again
