Family

Family is an important theme in the novel “The Crossover” by Kwame Alexander. Family, thematically, involves mutual love, compassion, loyal between, as well as emotional, physical, and even spiritual support and encouragement of individuals who may or may not be blood-related, but who still behave according to the typical family structure. In the novel, it is Josh’s family, the Bells, and his relationship to them, that forms the theme of family.

In the novel, Josh refers to his father as the backboard – the backbone – of the family, and of his own life. Chuck holds his family together, having carefully saved his professional basketball money to provide for his family, allowing his wife to follow a career in education, and his sons to want to follow his footsteps in basketball. Chuck is everything that Josh aspires to be, from a good man to a basketball star...