Analysis Of Robert Cormier's After The First Death

After the First Death by Robert Cormier is about a group of terrorists hijacking a bus. It is written in third person and alternates between Ben, Miro, and Kate’s point of view. Cormier switches who the point of view is from to show what each person is going through and their thought process. Kate a seventeen year old girl helps her grandfather out one day by taking his bus schedule for the day, and it just happens to be the same day terrorists plan to hijack the bus. Miro is a boy, around sixteen years old, who has learned that the terrorist attacks he has become a part of is a show of patriotism towards his country. Ben, is a seventeen year old boy, who for most of the story it is unclear how he fits in. These characters are all innocent in their own ways. As they are forced to grow quickly in this poor situation Cormier shows where innocence leads

Kate tries to tell Miro that he could have a better life for himself and find wonderful things someday. Things such as a family, something he has lost completely. As the asks him if he would rather love and a family instead of death she realizes this. “He stared at her, eyes blank. Her body sagged. What she was talking about-love, children, family-was beyond his comprehension. Even sex, maybe. She realized again how innocent he was in the most terrible sense of innocence: the innocence of a monster. But she had to persist” (Cormier 218). Once again Miro’s innocence and his lack of understanding about family and a future hits Kate. Kate’s talk of family hits home a little for him, but not enough. It is to ingrained in his mind that he is doing what he is doing for his country and is a sign of patriotism for her words to change him. Once again his innocence proves to be a disastrous thing. Through another character in the book, Kate realizes innocence can be both bad and good at the same