End Zone Literary Elements

End Zone is a work of fiction, or sports fiction. Due to its heavy use or irony, occasional self-reference and overall tone, it could also be considered a work of Postmodern Fiction

The novel is set at Logos College in West Texas in 1972 during the height of the Cold War and a period of intense racial divide

The narrator is third person omniscient, switching between the numerous character of the novel. Majority of the narration follows protagonist Gary Harkness

The tone is detached, relaying horrifying descriptions of nuclear apocalypse with a seeming lack of concern. Harkness moves through the novel without much concern for the things around him. There is also a mood of paranoia, with the men persistently worrying about Taft Robinson, an African-American, joining there team. During the football scenes, the mood is intense, violent and riveting.

The protagonist is clearly Gary Harkness but an antagonist is harder to find.

Several major conflicts run throughout the novel. There is first the conflict of race relations, as the novel begins with Taft Robinson entry into Logos College. He is the first African-American ever to hold a spot on the football team, and this draws considerable tension. When Taft later converts to Islam, there is even further tensions between his conception of his racial and religious identity, and the expectation for him to play football. The game of football itself is a considerable source of conflict. Brutal, warlike depictions of the game are featured frequently throughout the novel. DeLillo depicts football not only as conflict between two teams on the field, but within the teams themselves.

The underlying conflict of the novel in entirety is the Cold War. As Harkness grow obsessed with nuclear destruction, he is projecting the extant tensions between America and the Soviet Union, and the then very real threat of nuclear warfare.

The climax occurs in the second section of the novel, in the football game between Logos College and Centrex. As the two leading. teams in the league, the game amounted to something of a championship competition. The 32-page long description of the game is precise and rich in detail. There is reference to football jargon, as the game is relayed like an in-game announcer. It is also suggested that the game is Logos College's test against themselves, their weaknesses and their strengths. After they lose the game, the novel's sense of expectation and promise is immediately drained. The rest of the novel is concerned with how the men can move forward from such a biting lose.

The novel is more rife with allusion and does not offer many examples of foreshadowing. One notable exception is in the case of the dress. One of the football players is in possession of a dress, and the other men ogle around it. It is not revealed why the man owns the dress, if it is his, or that of a lover's. There is insinuation that they man wears it, potentially in reference to the rumors of a "queer" player on the team. Later in the novel, Harkness stares through his window and sees a figure wearing the dress, though he cannot discern whether it is a man or woman. Relating to the scene featured earlier in the novel, it is fair to assume that the figure is male.

Much of the novel involves the description of nuclear apocalypse. The ruin of entire cities is played out in mock war games between Harkness and Major Staley. Various paths to the end of humanity are charted in Harkness's almost fetishistic imagining. Yet despite these harrowing scenes, they are portrayed with a lack of concern. Harkness does not appear effected at all by the very real threat of apocalypse. DeLillo understates these scenes for the purpose of inversion. By writing about them with a nonchalance, the danger itself is highlighted in starkness.

The novel begins with a reference to Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man, in an effort to depict the state of race relations at Logos College. The name Logos College is itself an allusion to the philosophical concept of the "logos," defined diversely as "the word," "the idea," "reason," and "opinion." The word is also associated with Christian theology, in the belief that Christ himself is the Logos. This is explicitly referenced in the Gospel of John.

DeLillo devotes some of the most vivid and detailed writing to the description of the novel's desert setting. He writes of the dryness, the heat, the cracked ground and the scrub vegetation. He refers to each rock, insect and noise experienced by Harkness as he ventures into the desert each day. Further, he relates this scene to the mood and mindset of the characters, suggesting, in some sense, an element of environmental determinism.

A considerable amount of the novel is also occupied with the imagery of football. DeLillo exhibits prowess in the description of a football games, offering attention to each player on the field. His depictions are heated and violence, the reader is almost capable of feeling the weight of the dog-pile at the end of each play.

In a rare reference to a female character, DeLillo also describes the appearance of Myna Corbett in great detail. Her outfits, comportment and complexion are all presented in their changing form throughout the novel.

There is a distinct paradox in Harkness's approach to violence. He is at once consumed by thoughts of megadeath and mass destruction; however when he is involved in a football collision that kills a player on an opposing team, he is deeply affected and drops out of school to return home. The paradox of beauty is also explored through the character of Myna Corbett. Harkness finds her attractive precisely because she is not conventionally attractive. When she takes action to make beautify herself, Harkness loses his interest.

An important instance of parallelism is drawn in reference to a rock in the desert. While walking in the desert, Harkness notices a rock painted black. He spots and considers how it came to be that color. Later in the novel, Harkness's roommate, Anatole Bloomberg reveals that he painted the novel while mourning a death in his family. As the novel concludes the rock is again referenced, this time with Islamic connotations. When Taft Robinson converts to Islam, he mentions turning towards Mecca and the black rock in the desert. He is speaking of the Kaaba, an important religious site in the Islamic faith; however the connection is drawn between that "rock" and the rock in the desert outside of Logos College.

A repeated comparison is drawn throughout the novel between football and warfare. In this sense, football can be seen as a form of synecdoche suggesting a battle greater than that which occurs on the football field. "The bomb" is also an image of sychendoche, referring to warfare in general. The concept of America is also explored as a form of metonymy. America is portrayed as the embodiment of freedom and liberty, in opposition to the Soviet Union enemy of the Cold War.

Throughout the novel, the object of the football is repeatedly ascribed sentience. The men believe that they interact with the football with a sense of mutualism, almost as though it is a religious totem. They imagine what it thinks and feels on the football field.