Ivory Christian Character Analysis in Friday Night Lights

A gifted middle linebacker, Ivory Christian is “ambivalent,” as Bissinger describes it, about football, and wants, after high school, to become a Christian preacher at a local church in the African American Southside of Odessa. But Christian is later offered a scholarship by TCU—Texas Christian University—which he accepts. Christian gives up on his dream of preaching, and commits himself, once again, to football, at least during his university education.

Ivory Christian Quotes in Friday Night Lights

The Friday Night Lights quotes below are all either spoken by Ivory Christian or refer to Ivory Christian. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Perseus edition of Friday Night Lights published in 1990.

Pastor Hanson welcomed Ivory’s conversion. He knew that Ivory was an influential kid whose actions made a tremendous impression on his peers. But there was something worrisome about it, and he didn’t want Ivory moving from one world of isolation into another where the only difference was the level of standards.

Related Characters: (speaker), ,

Page Number and Citation: 122

Explanation and Analysis:

Ivory Christian Character Timeline in Friday Night Lights

The timeline below shows where the character Ivory Christian appears in Friday Night Lights. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Ivory Christian, a talented linebacker for Permian, “prepares” for the game by vomiting in the locker room.... (full context)

Bissinger moves on to tell the story of Ivory Christian, an immensely talented black player, a middle linebacker, whose ability on the football field is... (full context)

Christian begins preaching some Sundays at a church in town, and gives up on alcohol and... (full context)

Bissinger switches to a description of Permian’s second game of the ’88 season, for which Christian prepares very seriously, against the Marshall Mavericks who are from the eastern part of the... (full context)

Christian covers Odell Beckham effectively throughout the game, and at the half the Panthers are in... (full context)

Bissinger follows Ivory Christian in the lead-up to the game against Arlington, in the state quarters. Ivory, who was... (full context)

...part of the book with a scene of trainers removing the names of Winchell, Chavez, Christian, and others from the lockers, preparing to post up new names, for the members of... (full context)

Wealth, Poverty, and the Boom-Bust Cycle Theme Icon

...football, but he still complains of his inability to find consistency as a passer. Ivory Christian is offered a scholarship to play for TCU, and his dreams of being a preacher... (full context)