The Analyzing the Football Motif in The Goalies Anxiety at the Penalty Kick - Essay Example

Analyze the football motif in The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick. The motifs in the novels or in any other fictional works would assist in understanding the theme of that work, as well as understanding the personality and the mindset of the central characters. The authors may use these motifs overtly or subtly to reveal different facets of the story. These motifs could be recurring throughout the work and could be placed aptly. Starting from any physical objects to designs, paintings, figures, etc, motifs could take different form. The novel, The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick written by Peter Handke is about a former goalkeeper of a football team and his life, after he is ejected from a game for foul play. As discussed above, author Handke has used football as an important motif to reveal intricate aspects of the central character, Josef Bloch as well as the whole story. The author shows how Bloch’s life mirrors the game of football, and also how his life exhibits moments similar to the ones, which will be undergone by a goalkeeper during the match, especially when the ball is about to be shot into the goal post. The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick was originally written in German and is the first of Handke’s novels to be translated and published in English. As Josef Bloch indulges in foul play and gets sent off from the game, he starts facing various repercussions, which shows how the game of football plays a crucial role in changing his life. These repercussions does not happen due to some external forces, it was carried out by Bloch himself as a form of self-destruction without any valid motive, including the murder of a female cashier. “The self-destruction of a soccer goalie turned construction worker who wanders aimlessly around a stifling Austrian border town after pursuing and then murdering, almost unthinkingly, a female movie cashier.”1 Apart from how the game of football diverts the life of Bloch in a different and at the same time problematic direction, the motif of football is aptly used to denote the isolated existence of Bloch. That is, throughout the novel, Bloch seems to live in a secluded manner, without maximally living with his family and friends. This existence of Bloch can be correlated through a goalkeeper, who will be far away from the main action, standing and operating in an isolated manner. In any football game, the role of goalkeeper will be mainly under the bars of the goalpost, without directly involving themselves in the match play. On the same lines, Bloch led an isolated existence away from the actions, only coming into the picture due to his own actions. Even his firing from the job did not evoke any reactions from his colleagues and also he lived in the city where he had no friends. As he read the newspaper and saw the classified sections featuring advertisements for materialistic things, he further felt his isolated survival. Quite strikingly, he was the first one to come out of the football stadium even before the final whistle goes off, as he did not want to be in the midst of a large crowd. Being a goalkeeper of a better known club, he might have played in front of large crowds and could have even enjoyed performing in front of those huge crowds. In addition, a football fan (even if he/she is not a football player) will be in the stadium till the final whistle is blown and could even extend their stay watching all the post-match celebrations and other activities. However, in Bloch’s case, he does not felt comfortable with the huge crowds and had no interest and enthusiasm to watch a full game. His eviction from a game and the resultant depression made him prefer isolation, and prevented him from merging with the crowd and enjoying game. Handke portrayed him as a goalie, who is isolated from the frantic activities that were taking place around him. Thus, the motif of football and a how goalkeeper will operate in an isolated manner in a football match can be clearly seen in the actions and the characteristics of Bloch. There are other key phases of the novel particularly after the murder of the cashier, during which the motif of football clearly exhibits the mindset of Josef Bloch. The murder of the female cashier is the key life changing moment for Bloch. Although, Bloch wants to entice her and even tells jokes to attract her, overwhelmed by the new environment, he strangles her without any valid reason. “He picks up a woman and murders her, apparently without motive.”2 Even after a murder, Bloch is not viewed as a suspect, unless he does something to seek their attention. This again is correlated to the game of football, particularly the way spectators and importantly the goalkeeper will behave when the opposing team pushes and passes the ball towards the goal post. That is, when the players or Forwards move towards the opponent’s goal past, the focus of the spectators, referees, etc, will be mainly on them, with the goalkeepers getting only minimum attention. Only after the ball is shot towards the goal, the goalkeeper will come into picture. This exact match play was pointed out by Bloch towards the end of novel, in a way, reflecting his own life. “It’s very difficult to take your eyes off the forwards and the ball and watch the goalie,” Bloch said…“Usually you don’t notice him until the ball has been shot at the goal.”3 After Bloch commits the murder of the female cashier, he does not surrender to the police and the police was also not looking for him. He was not a murder suspect as there were no cases of previous crimes, and also there were no direct evidences pointing fingers towards him. In addition, with him not being a long term acquaintant of the murdered female cashier, Bloch was not directly implicated in the murder and so the authorities are not looking for him. However, this can continue only until, Bloch stops showing any signs of his crimes. If he comes out of the shadow and exhibits certain behaviors that directly or indirectly show his link to the murder, suspicions will be raised against him. Thus, like a goalkeeper, who will be invisible to the eyes of many when the forwards move the ball towards the goal post, Bloch is invisible to the authorities investigating the murder. On the same lines, during a penalty kick, slightly before the ball is to be kicked, if the goalkeeper exhibits the side or direction, he is going to move or dive, then the penalty kicker can easily slot the goal in the opposite direction. This key bit of goalkeeping strategy was put forward by Bloch to an unknown salesperson, while watching a football match “The goalkeeper describes what it is like to face a penalty: should he dive to one side, and if he does will the kicker aim for the other? It is a psychological confrontation in which each tries to outfox the other”4 During the penalty kick of a football game, it is important on the part of the goalkeeper, not to show any indication that he is going to move in a particular direction. Instead he should stand still, and watch the foot of the player and guess in which direction he is going to shoot the ball, and then move accordingly. Likewise, Bloch after committing the crime returns to his home town and lives in a plain sight, without raising any doubts. He does not want to create any suspicions, and so wants to live a normal life. He also want to wait for the actions of the authorities, before taking any steps, like how the goalkeeper should do before the penalty kick From the above analysis, it is clear that the motif of football is evident in many parts of this story of a football goalkeeper. The game of football and the playing styles or behaviors of the players particularly goalkeeper is aptly correlated to the actions and the characteristics of the central character of Bloch. His isolated existence, the way the phase of the story featuring the murder of the female cashier moves quickly and how Bloch can escape from the authorities if he does not act overtly exhibits the motif of football. Works Cited Handke, Peter. The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick. Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, year. “The Goalies Anxiety at the Penalty Kick.” Macmillan, n. d. Web. 6 April 2011. Read More