One on One (novel)
Encyclopedia
One on One is a work of literary fiction by author Tabitha King
. It is set in the fictional New England
town of Nodd's Ridge, which was previously explored in other Tabitha King novels such as Pearl, Caretakers, and The Book of Reuben. One on One was published in 1993.
star Samuel Styles is known to his friends and teammates as "Slammer", "Sambot", "Samgod", or simply "god" due to his physical size and athletic prowess. Over the past four years, he has led the boys basketball team at Greenspark Academy to the state title numerous times, while Greenspark's girls' team—led by misfit
Deanie Gauthier—always lingers just shy of victory. In his final year at Greenspark, however, Sam announces that this will be the year that both basketball teams, boys and girls, bring home a trophy.
To this end, Sam makes a tenuous effort to befriend the girls' basketball star, Deanie "the Mutant" Gauthier. Despite her abilities as an athlete, Deanie is a social outcast even amongst her fellow players. She is known for her reckless behaviour on the court, her distinctive unfeminine look (she shaves her head, sports multiple tattoos, and wears a trademark series of chains that connect her numerous earrings to her nose-ring), her promiscuity
, and her drug use. Sam is repelled by both Deanie's belligerent, off-putting attitude and her reputation, especially since Sam is soon branded with the same reputation as their teammates, coaches, and school officials begin to believe the two are dating.
Sam quickly learns that Deanie comes from an abusive home
where her alcoholic
, drug-addicted, passive mother allows her likewise alcoholic live-in boyfriend Tony to molest
and batter Deanie. Due to neglect, Deanie must work part-time jobs and often steal in order to keep herself fed and clothed. Although he is concerned for Deanie's well-being as a human being, Sam is nervous about getting involved in such a volatile situation with a girl who rebuffs his every offer to help her. Instead he tries to help Deanie in secret by offering her rides to school in bad weather, giving her cast-off clothes, feeding her from his own lunch pail, and even going so far as to partially renovate an abandoned mill
to give Deanie a safe, warm place to practice basketball. He also pressures her to give up drugs and cigarettes in order to stay eligible for basketball. While Deanie dismisses all Sam's efforts as nagging, she begins following his advice in private. Sam believes that Deanie is still living her usual wild lifestyle and frequently gives up on her in disgust, only to learn through the high school grapevine that Deanie is, in fact, cleaning up her act.
The boys' and girls' teams begin to work together on the practice court, where the girls must toughen up in order to defeat the harder-playing boys. The boys' coach objects to the new arrangement, claiming that his team will get soft through the easy effort of playing against the girls, while the girls' coach believes this advantage may be what her team needs to win the state championship. Both coaches, as well as the high school principal, realize that the relationship between Sam and Deanie is at the root of the change, but only Sam is warned away from Deanie, leading Sam to believe that those in charge have given up on Deanie as a wasted effort. This makes Sam even more protective of Deanie, and the two become lovers.
Deanie's mother's boyfriend Tony, too, becomes aware of Deanie's relationship with Sam and reacts by beating her violently, ending with Deanie having her own jewellery smashed into her face. Wounded, she flees to the safety of the renovated mill, where Sam later finds her when he becomes concerned that she might lose her basketball eligibility by missing school. Sam takes Deanie to the hospital, where her jewellery must be surgically removed from her face. The hypocrisy of the school officials and law enforcement, who only move in to protect Deanie after it is too late, galls Sam, although he realises that he, too, bears the blame for not reporting suspected abuse.
Deanie refuses to press criminal charges against her stepfather, who goes free. During her recovery, she moves in with Sam and his family, where she finds herself confused and often angry at their loving, functional household compared to her own life of abuse. Both she and Sam are frustrated that Deanie's facial lacerations mean that she will be unable to complete her basketball season, until Deanie learns of a new design of protective mask that may let her compete. Sam redirects all the earnings from his after-school job to purchasing the mask for Deanie, and both students lead their respective teams through the finals to win the state championship.
Immediately after the finals, however, Tony kills Deanie's mother and Deanie seems to drop back into her old habits. Sam finds her once more in the old mill, high on marijuana, playing in the dangerous rafters. Sam climbs after her and pleads with her to come down. Deanie does so while Sam waits above to make certain she is safe, but when she reaches the ground, she is ambushed and attacked by Tony, who had been hiding there while on the run from the law. With no way to reach them in time, Sam jumps from the rafter, landing on top of Deanie's stepfather and bringing down with him a load of old brick and debris.
The book fades out, only to resume on a scene a few years later. Sam and Deanie have chosen to go to the same college together. While Sam still undergoes physical therapy
for injuries from his fall, he may be able to play basketball as a walk-on later in the year. Comments from two of their professors indicate that the two young people have set up house together, despite the controversy of their high school careers, and it is implied that Sam and Deanie are in love and willing to work hard to remain together.
. In One on One, Sam requests a puppy for Christmas; he intends to name this puppy Cujo
, after the rabid St. Bernard
in Stephen King's book of the same name. Since Nodd's Ridge, like Cujo, is set in Maine, a degree of confusion and metafiction
exists as to whether Sam refers to a "real" Cujo that might have been infamous in his fictional Maine, or if, like a typical teenager, he is referring to the novel or movie by the real-world Stephen King.
Toward the end of One on One, the Greenspark basketball team must play against the Castle Rock team for the state title, Castle Rock being another fictional Maine city prominent in many of Stephen King's novels. Tabitha King includes a note in One on Ones afterword to clarify that the state finals depicted in her novel took place before the destruction of Castle Rock portrayed in her husband's Needful Things
. There are also several references to Derry, Maine, another fictional town created by Stephen King.
Tabitha King
Tabitha King is an American author and activist. She is married to writer Stephen King.-Family:King met her husband, author Stephen King, in college through her work-study job in the Fogler Library. Their daughter Naomi Rachel was born in 1970. They married on January 2, 1971...
. It is set in the fictional New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
town of Nodd's Ridge, which was previously explored in other Tabitha King novels such as Pearl, Caretakers, and The Book of Reuben. One on One was published in 1993.
Plot synopsis
High school senior and basketballBasketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
star Samuel Styles is known to his friends and teammates as "Slammer", "Sambot", "Samgod", or simply "god" due to his physical size and athletic prowess. Over the past four years, he has led the boys basketball team at Greenspark Academy to the state title numerous times, while Greenspark's girls' team—led by misfit
Misfit
Misfit may refer to:* "Misfit" , a short story by Robert A. Heinlein* Misfit , a fictional male supervillain* Misfit , a fictional female vigilante* Misfit , a rapper in the hip hop group Rascalz...
Deanie Gauthier—always lingers just shy of victory. In his final year at Greenspark, however, Sam announces that this will be the year that both basketball teams, boys and girls, bring home a trophy.
To this end, Sam makes a tenuous effort to befriend the girls' basketball star, Deanie "the Mutant" Gauthier. Despite her abilities as an athlete, Deanie is a social outcast even amongst her fellow players. She is known for her reckless behaviour on the court, her distinctive unfeminine look (she shaves her head, sports multiple tattoos, and wears a trademark series of chains that connect her numerous earrings to her nose-ring), her promiscuity
Promiscuity
In humans, promiscuity refers to less discriminating casual sex with many sexual partners. The term carries a moral or religious judgement and is viewed in the context of the mainstream social ideal for sexual activity to take place within exclusive committed relationships...
, and her drug use. Sam is repelled by both Deanie's belligerent, off-putting attitude and her reputation, especially since Sam is soon branded with the same reputation as their teammates, coaches, and school officials begin to believe the two are dating.
Sam quickly learns that Deanie comes from an abusive home
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
where her alcoholic
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
, drug-addicted, passive mother allows her likewise alcoholic live-in boyfriend Tony to molest
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
and batter Deanie. Due to neglect, Deanie must work part-time jobs and often steal in order to keep herself fed and clothed. Although he is concerned for Deanie's well-being as a human being, Sam is nervous about getting involved in such a volatile situation with a girl who rebuffs his every offer to help her. Instead he tries to help Deanie in secret by offering her rides to school in bad weather, giving her cast-off clothes, feeding her from his own lunch pail, and even going so far as to partially renovate an abandoned mill
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
to give Deanie a safe, warm place to practice basketball. He also pressures her to give up drugs and cigarettes in order to stay eligible for basketball. While Deanie dismisses all Sam's efforts as nagging, she begins following his advice in private. Sam believes that Deanie is still living her usual wild lifestyle and frequently gives up on her in disgust, only to learn through the high school grapevine that Deanie is, in fact, cleaning up her act.
The boys' and girls' teams begin to work together on the practice court, where the girls must toughen up in order to defeat the harder-playing boys. The boys' coach objects to the new arrangement, claiming that his team will get soft through the easy effort of playing against the girls, while the girls' coach believes this advantage may be what her team needs to win the state championship. Both coaches, as well as the high school principal, realize that the relationship between Sam and Deanie is at the root of the change, but only Sam is warned away from Deanie, leading Sam to believe that those in charge have given up on Deanie as a wasted effort. This makes Sam even more protective of Deanie, and the two become lovers.
Deanie's mother's boyfriend Tony, too, becomes aware of Deanie's relationship with Sam and reacts by beating her violently, ending with Deanie having her own jewellery smashed into her face. Wounded, she flees to the safety of the renovated mill, where Sam later finds her when he becomes concerned that she might lose her basketball eligibility by missing school. Sam takes Deanie to the hospital, where her jewellery must be surgically removed from her face. The hypocrisy of the school officials and law enforcement, who only move in to protect Deanie after it is too late, galls Sam, although he realises that he, too, bears the blame for not reporting suspected abuse.
Deanie refuses to press criminal charges against her stepfather, who goes free. During her recovery, she moves in with Sam and his family, where she finds herself confused and often angry at their loving, functional household compared to her own life of abuse. Both she and Sam are frustrated that Deanie's facial lacerations mean that she will be unable to complete her basketball season, until Deanie learns of a new design of protective mask that may let her compete. Sam redirects all the earnings from his after-school job to purchasing the mask for Deanie, and both students lead their respective teams through the finals to win the state championship.
Immediately after the finals, however, Tony kills Deanie's mother and Deanie seems to drop back into her old habits. Sam finds her once more in the old mill, high on marijuana, playing in the dangerous rafters. Sam climbs after her and pleads with her to come down. Deanie does so while Sam waits above to make certain she is safe, but when she reaches the ground, she is ambushed and attacked by Tony, who had been hiding there while on the run from the law. With no way to reach them in time, Sam jumps from the rafter, landing on top of Deanie's stepfather and bringing down with him a load of old brick and debris.
The book fades out, only to resume on a scene a few years later. Sam and Deanie have chosen to go to the same college together. While Sam still undergoes physical therapy
Physical therapy
Physical therapy , often abbreviated PT, is a health care profession. Physical therapy is concerned with identifying and maximizing quality of life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, diagnosis, treatment/intervention,and rehabilitation...
for injuries from his fall, he may be able to play basketball as a walk-on later in the year. Comments from two of their professors indicate that the two young people have set up house together, despite the controversy of their high school careers, and it is implied that Sam and Deanie are in love and willing to work hard to remain together.
Nodd's Ridge
One on One, the longest book currently set in King's fictional Nodd's Ridge, introduces new characters to the town's topography and expands or completes the histories of previously introduced characters, as well as alluding to events in previous Nodd's Ridge novels. Samuel Styles's father Reuben and stepmother Pearl, previously the subjects of their own novels--The Book of Reuben and Pearl respectively—are now married, and the pregnancy introduced at the end of Pearl is seen to have come to term, giving the books a sense of continuity that can be enjoyed by readers of King's previous novels but is not necessary to appreciate any single work.Allusions to Stephen King
Many of Tabitha King's novels contain playful references to the works of her husband, Stephen KingStephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
. In One on One, Sam requests a puppy for Christmas; he intends to name this puppy Cujo
Cujo
Cujo is a psychological horror novel by Stephen King. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982, and was made into a film in 1983....
, after the rabid St. Bernard
St. Bernard (dog)
The St. Bernard is a breed of very large working dog from the Italian and Swiss Alps, originally bred for rescue. The breed has become famous through tales of alpine rescues, as well as for its large size.-Appearance:The St. Bernard is a large dog...
in Stephen King's book of the same name. Since Nodd's Ridge, like Cujo, is set in Maine, a degree of confusion and metafiction
Metafiction
Metafiction, also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion...
exists as to whether Sam refers to a "real" Cujo that might have been infamous in his fictional Maine, or if, like a typical teenager, he is referring to the novel or movie by the real-world Stephen King.
Toward the end of One on One, the Greenspark basketball team must play against the Castle Rock team for the state title, Castle Rock being another fictional Maine city prominent in many of Stephen King's novels. Tabitha King includes a note in One on Ones afterword to clarify that the state finals depicted in her novel took place before the destruction of Castle Rock portrayed in her husband's Needful Things
Needful Things
Needful Things is a 1991 horror novel by American author Stephen King. According to the cover, it is "The Last Castle Rock Story." However, the town later served as the setting for the short story "It Grows on You," published in King's 1993 collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes which, according to...
. There are also several references to Derry, Maine, another fictional town created by Stephen King.