Prologue

1. Prologue • 1st paragraph: brief summary of the book • This should not be cut and paste from a website or copied from the back of the book • Give information about major characters and events without giving away the ending • 2nd paragraph: your opinion of the book • What did you like/dislike? • Who would enjoy reading this book? Who would not?

2. Theme Analysis • 1st paragraph—Introduction of theme • What is the theme that you are analyzing? • Where does it first appear in the book? What is happening? • Where does it begin to develop? **Be sure to use information from the book to support what you are saying.

3. Example: • In The Lone Survivor, the author addresses the theme of what a person would be willing to do in war throughout the book. (Intro of the theme) The theme first appears when Marcus is at SEAL training and he begins the first month of “torture”. As he must endure long runs at all hours of the day and night, go without food or rest, be constantly submerged in the water and sand, and work as a team with the other men, he realizes that this is what will make him strong enough to endure whatever war might throw at him. (First instance of theme)

4. Example continued • The next time that the theme is introduced, Marcus and his team have just been discovered by some shepherds, and they must decide what to do with them. Marcus struggles with the morality of killing the shepherds, including the 14-year-old boy, because they seem to be innocent bystanders. The team is torn on the issue of killing the men, debating whether the loss of their lives would cause the SEALs more trouble in America, or if saving their lives would risk the lives of the SEALs. One of the SEALs is more than willing to sacrifice the men because it means saving them all, even though they seem to be innocent. He is not immoral, he just realizes that this loss is a by-product of war, and something that the Taliban would not think twice about. (Second instance of theme)

5. Theme Analysis of Genre Pieces • For my first genre piece, I wrote a letter from Marcus Luttrell to the men that they debated killing. In the letter, he explains what the SEALs were thinking when they were making this decision, and why, ultimately, they made the decision to let them live. This represents my theme of what people will do in war because it shows how characters who are good people (Marcus is a Christian) must make difficult moral decisions in order to survive. Marcus and his teammates don’t want to kill the men, but they must consider not only their survival, but the success of the mission as well. Killing the shepherds would mean that they would have time to get away, even though they might get in trouble once they get back the US. Ultimately, they decide to show the shepherds mercy, putting themselves at risk, but ensuring that they will “survive” once they return to the US and not be burned by the American government or media.