Take a moment and imagine. Think of a young man, maybe fifteen years old. He has just been orphaned by a horrific, out of the blue boating accident. He is artistic, almost to the point of genius, with a beautiful, unique, zany mind. He is damaged by this huge emotional blow, but he does not let it negatively affect his love for one sport- swimming. The young man you have just imagined is Lionel "Lion" Serbousek, and he is a Stotan. A Stotan, introduced in Chris Crutcher's novel Stotan! is a cross between a "Stoic" and a "Spartan". The term was first coined by Percy Cerutty, a coach who used this portmanteau to describe his runner, Herb Elliott. Elliott trained relentlessly, pushing himself past mental limits to achieve the highest level of physical fitness and agility. Lionel "Lion" Serbousek is the most Stotan-like …show more content…
Lion placed 8th in his State Meet event, and he swam his personal best time. A teammate, Walker, says in the book that swimming is a very popular sport in Washington, especially near Seattle, so placing 8th in the whole state for an event is an extremely high honor. Becoming that fast takes practice, and can't be achieved overnight. Walker also mentions in the beginning of the book that Lion is the biggest, most muscular guy he has ever seen call himself a swimmer. This is demonstrated in a lovely and descriptive quote, "Lion and Jeff are chiseled out of marble block with crude tools. These are not sleek sailboats; these are destroyers" (35). Along with giving the reader some wonderful imagery and figurative language to think about, the quote shows that Lion is muscular, which is unusual for a swimmer, but obviously it works for him. Lionel's physical characteristics are much more similar to a Stotan than the other characters Chris Crutcher has