Discuss how Flick's character is revealed in Ex-Basketball Player.

Flick's character is brought out in a variety of contexts
in the poem.  The contrast of images is something that allows his characterization of be
fleshed out into detail.  On one hand, the image of Flick being a gas station attendant
is one stunningly devoid of hope and prosperity.  Updike shows him to be someone whose
live is static in lines such as the "idiot pumps" amongst which he "stands tall." 
Another instance of this life being one devoid of promise and hope is where Updike talks
about "He never learned a trade, he just sells gas."  It is through these images where
the reader gains insight that Flick is someone whose life now is nothing as it was.  It
is here where the reader gains insight into how Flick used to dominate on the high
school basketball court.  Updike talks about statistics to help support this, such as
"three hundred ninety points, A county record still" and "thirty-eight or forty In one
home game."  It is deliberate that Updike does not give anything else other than Flick's
impressive basketball acumen and skill, with "hands like wild birds" and "He was good:
in fact, the best."  In this light, Flick's characterization of once having life and
vitality is contrasted with the life he leads now as one of stasis and a sense of
stunted growth as being his constant companion.