The song Firework by Katy Perry precisely captures the uncertainties along with the successes in Theo Fleury’s journey, in the memoir Playing With Fire. Throughout the lyrics and the memoir there is a weak starting point, that leads to character growth as the story line goes on. Many times Theo acts impulsively which leads to poor choices, the song is inspiration Theo could use during these tough times. The opening line in the song Firework introduces a concept of being lost, and essentially being at the worst point in life, looking for a better path or even a second chance. Katy Perry sings, “Do you ever feel like a plastic bag Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?” In the novel, Theo Fleury battles through many situations between himself or others. One of the first terrorizing situations Theo went through was sexual abuse by his ‘coach’ or ‘mentor’ Graham James. This leaves a huge scar in Theo Fleury and it has a major ripple effect on his life. Theo describes his experience by saying, “Graham was on me once or twice a week for the next two years. An absolute nightmare, every single day of my life.” (Fleury 27) In the song it calls out the attention of those who are at a low point in life and gradually progresses to being the shooting star or firework as it says in the song. Theo progresses as a famous hockey player although he still faces personal issues such as drinking, doing drugs etc. This song compliments Theo’s memoir as he finally becomes the ‘firework’ in his outstanding hockey career. The personal uniqueness of this song can also exemplify other stories of underdogs making it out of their misery and becoming relatively successful. As Katy Perry says in her song, “You just gotta ignite the light.”

In the memoir Playing With Fire, Theo Fleury proves himself as a persistent man from the beginning of his life and career till present day.  He faces numerous obstacles and scarring moments yet he still manages to hang in there. In the photo above, it shows a bright street light in the night. This captures a strong message as Theo perseveres through his battles and acts like the light, standing alone in the dark and rough times. The photo is very simple yet exemplifies one of Theo’s greatest traits, persistence. In the memoir Theo has it rough right from the get go. He doesn't have mentally stable parents as his dad was an alcoholic and his mom was a drug user. He got support from families that were associated with his hockey team as well as coaches. Later on in his memoir, he quits hockey after being a star and reverts to bad habits, one of them including doing cocaine at strip clubs. He reaches a point where he is nearly about to take his life. He explains this terrifying moment in his memoir by saying, “I grabbed the bullet, loaded the gun and jammed it into my mouth.” (Fleury 282). There have been so many instances in Theo’s life that lead up to this moment and luckily he didn't go through with taking his own life away. Essentially Theo had a battle with himself after suffering from all that trauma he ended up making a comeback into professional hockey after 6 years. The light in the night is the best way to describe Theo Fleury. He was faced with personal issues and doubted numerous times due to his smaller build but his skills outweighed his size. This ties into one of the many themes in this memoir, Theo Fleury’s determination as an athlete but more importantly as a human. 

The memoir Playing With Fire by Theo Fleury was an amazing story and triggered many different emotions throughout the book. This memoir had left me smiling, angry, sad, and curious all within a couple chapters. There were many different people in this story that had a role in my reaction while reading such as his dad, his coach Graham James and most importantly Theo Fleury himself. In the early chapters of this memoir, I was furious about how Theo’s dad was raising him with all his unpleasant habits and lifestyle. Theo describes him as a raging alcoholic, using all the family's money to fulfill his alcoholic desires. Although there were many other factors leading Theo into alcoholism, it is safe to say his dad was a big influence. He became an alcoholic at a very young age of 16. He describes his first time drinking by saying, “ I was an alcoholic as soon as I tried it, just like some people try crack for the first time and are instantly addicted.”(Fleury 27). I also felt very sympathetic towards Theo because there are some things he went through that no one should experience. The saddest part in my opinion was when he was experiencing sexual abuse by someone he thought dictaced his whole hockey career. He had no one to go to and was essentially being brainwashed by Graham James. Theo ended up hitting a very low point in life, after all this trauma. Even following all of that, Theo managed to come back to the National Hockey league and still be a star. The ending truly amazed me and surprised me because it is difficult to recover from the deep hole he was in. It is fascinating how each individual played a role in how Theo acted and what he is today. Overall the memoir was a sad story of an amazing hockey player with terrible life experiences and it is definitely one of the biggest inspirational stories I've ever heard about.