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Symbolism In Marcus Sedgwick's Revolver

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A mysterious man comes into the residence in which you live, and he decides to hold you in your own house against your will, forever. There is a chance to kill him and escape. Would you do it? Sig Anderson, a boy with pieces of clues about his deceased father, is conflicted with this situation in the young adult novel, Revolver, written by Marcus Sedgwick. Revolver takes place in the late 1800s during the Alaska Gold Rush. The gold rush was the migration of thousands of people into the northwestern part of Canada. Einar Anderson, the father of Sig, brings his family of four along with him to the Yukon region, in search of wealth. Maria passes away from an illness, along with Einar who passes mysteriously out in the arctic wilderness. Sig is …show more content…

The irony between the revolver and its name, The Peacemaker, also has symbolism that represents right and wrong. Morality is instilled into people through religion and education, but when conflicted, morality is sometimes questioned. “Even if you think you're stuck between two impossible choices, there's always a third way. You have to look for it.", said Sig at the resolution of the novel (Sedgwick 199). While some believe that firearms increase general safety, in reality firearms decrease overall welfare because they increase homicide rates and they enforce the likelihood of gun …show more content…

Approximately 60,000 Americans were maliciously killed in gun violence since the terrorist attack in 2001. This shows a “rate of killing of more than 20 times” than that of the Al Qaeda terrorist group. Although there is an unimaginable amount of carnage, we are apathetic towards the need for assessing the legislation on the issue of gun control (“Gun Violence Is a Serious Problem”). Many people believe that people kill people, not guns, but statistics have debunked this statement. Revolver exhibits the intense tension between the protagonist, Sig, and the antagonist, Gunther, who both have firearms in possession, and shows that the gun is a symbol of conflict in the novel. The correlation of firearm ownership and gun homicides is evident around the world “across 26 high-income nations” with strong, statistical significance (Hemenway & Miller para.

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