Pain And Emotions In John Steinbeck's 'Bruiser'

The theme in Bruiser is People need to take pain and emotion even if they seem miserable to grow as a person and continue life. For example when Brewster came to Tennyson’s game, Tennyson played better and won the game for his team, as a result of Brewster being there. But when he found out Brewster was the reason he played so good he felt cheated, unaccomplished, and guilty. However those emotions soon faded because Brewster took those emotions away. As a result of Brewster sucking the bad emotions out of Tennyson, including guilt, Tennyson becomes very selfish and self-centered. He now encourages Brewster to come to his game so he can play better even though it causes Brewster pain.