Robert Cormier In The Guise Of Terrorism

Violence is violence, whether it is committed by armies in the semblance of patriotism or terrorism. Eventually, individuals from both sides will suffer. After the first death by Robert Cormier, published in 1979, is a book about how adolescents are influenced by their elders. It is a book about a bus full of innocent children being held hostage by a group of four terrorists fighting for their unspecified country; somewhere from the middle-east. Cormier in the guise of terrorism, discusses many other issues such as patriotism, betrayal, innocence, and the effects it has on personal relationships. In this essay, I will be exploring these issues through the characters of Artkin, Miro, Mark and Ben. Artkin is depicted as being a terrorist while

Ben is a naive teenager who is the son of the General. He was used as a pawn by a father he scarcely knows. Ben did not know much about his father and they both hardly talked and therefore he was not comfortable with him. “Will I be able to look him in the eye?” (pg 16). Ben and General Mark did not talk much; at least not as a father and son. “Not talk to me but address me. As if I were not his son but a stranger who had suddenly become important to him.” (pg14) This implies how Ben only became important when the General needed him. Ben was happy since he taught at least because of this he and his father will be close. However, his father sends him to the terrorist as a bargaining tool considering the terrorist who had asked for someone nonprofessional, “I suggested you”-General Mark (pg 225); even after knowing he can be “intensively tortured”. The General deliberately feeds Ben with false information so they could trap the terrorists and ultimately it was successful at the cost of Ben’s death. Ben was “expected to act as a coward” (pg 266) by his father and thus was fed the false information which he was to reveal to the terrorist after being tortured. Even after being shot with a bullet, the guilt of betraying his country and his father’s trust was too much to handle for him hence, he jumps off the bridge and suicides. When in reality it was actually his father who betrayed him by feeding

In this novel, the readers are faced with many issues that were and are still occurring today. After the first death by Robert Cormier, is a novel about the hijacking of a school bus by a group of four terrorist from an unspecified country. Through the characters of Miro, Ben, Artkin and Mark, Cormier explores the issues of betrayal, patriotism, how innocence can be lost and the relationship of a father and son. This book falls in the thriller genre since we learn about the loss of innocence with the guidance of adults. This novel is truly a great piece of work since it makes its reader think about the issues portrayed. I really respect Cormier since he was brave enough to write about the dark reality of life and shows how there is darkness within all of us that lurks beneath the things we are