Kaitlin+and+Bridget

Adrienne Rich writes, in his poem "The Knight", "Who will unhorse the rider and free him from between the walls of iron, the emblems crushing his chest with their weight?" Rich describes a knight who looks the part of glory. He ride into the noon as his soles flash and glitter, but on the inside beneath the metal helmet he is not so glorious. Under the mask is rags and nerves. The last part of the poem addresses the question of what will happen to the rider. In the quote, the author is conveying the knight's despair as he rides, looking utterly confident but feeling entirely uncertain and hopeless inside. The knight is being "crushed" by his"emblems", which are the proof of his so-called success. However, his feeling of being "crushed" and wedged between "two walls of iron" show his struggles with the pressures of his duty and feelings of hopelessness. This relates to Coach Gary Gaines in __Friday Night Lights__ as he too has a great responsibility that comes with pressure, though he must appear calm and collected on the outside.

In Permian football, the most important game of the season is against the Midland Lee Rebels. Coach Gary Gaines has a tremendous pressure on his shoulders to win this game. In H.G. Bissinger's __Friday Night Lights__, the author writes "But as Brian stared at Gaines for those few seconds, he didn't see someone who had blocked out those enormous pressures at all. He saw a man who looked as ashen-white as Steve Genter" (232). As in Adrienne Rich' poem "The Knight", the knight looks calm and collected on the outside, but is torn up on the inside, coach Gary Gaines must appear confident, but is "ashen-white" and feeling hopeless when he thinks no one is looking. Gaines is caught up in fear of what could happen if he and his team lose the game. Just as the knight's "nerves are worn to ribbons", so Gaines is filled with panic. He knows that if he loses the game, his "emblems", being the football coach, could "crush his chest with their weight." Just as the knight is fearful of what may happen in the end, so Gaines is fearful of what may happen if the game is lost.