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Book Report: The Eleventh Plague
Transcript of Book Report: The Eleventh Plague
By: Jeff Hirsch The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch is a survival drama book about a plague that devastated Earth. The main characters are Stephen, his father, and their "friend" Jenny. Stephen and his dad are scavengers that travel from place to place looking for food, water, valuables, or anything else that they can use or trade. One day while scavenging Stephen and his father stumble upon two ex-marines that have two slaves with them. Stephen and his father are forced to wait in the abandoned shell of B2-Bomber. After the men pass out drunk Stephens father realizes they have the keys to a working car. Stephen tries to grab them but one of the marines woke up and fired at Stephen. Since he was drunk, he missed by a long shot. Stephen and his father sprint away from there, but end up falling down a large gulch in the Earth. Stephens dad broke 3 bones, became unconscious, and started heavily bleeding down the fall. Stephen drags his father hopelessly, wanting to give up, but then Stephen finds a small village. They agree to help his father, and provide shelter. Stephen then meets Jenny at the town. Summary Exposition The exposition of a book is the beginning of it where the setting, characters, and maybe conflict is introduced. In the "Eleventh Plague" the exposition is chapters 1-2. It introduces the main characters and setting. The opening seen (Exposition) is Stephen and his father burying their grandfather, because he died of the plague. After that it tells that the boys name is Stephen, but his fathers name is never revealed. A reasonable amount of information is given in the opening. This opening reveals a lot about the feelings of the characters. Rising Action The rising action is the series of events that take place leading up to the climax. The rising action of "The Eleventh Plague" is when Stephen and his injured father stumble upon a small town. An ex-military medic named Violet agrees to help Stephen and his father. Stephen gets comfortable in the town, and begins attending school. At school he meets and asian girl named Jenny. About 3 days later Jenny is getting bullied a kid, and Stephen steps in and hits the kid. A big fight breaks out and the town votes if they want Jenny and Stephen in or out of the town. Stephen gets mad and leaves the town. He ends up finding jenny living in an old abandoned barn. Thirsty for revenge Jenny and Stephen go to the richest house in the town and set off fire crackers by their cattle and livestock, scaring them off. The town then blames a camp nearby called Fort Leonard, and prepares for war. Climax The climax of a story is the most exciting part of the story, or the turning point. The climax of "The Eleventh Plague" is when a war between slavers, people who burn towns and take the survivors as slaves, and the small town that Jenny and Stephen were in. The slavers were hired by the town, but betrayed them and attacked. During the battle Stephen and jenny come back to help, and end up winning the fight. Using strategy and grenades they scare off the slavers, and return peace. After the slavers run off everyone thinks the town is safe. They then look over to see a chain of houses on fire and spreading quickly. The town immediately begins dowsing the flames in water, ice and snow. After 15 minutes all the fire has been put out at the costly toll of 5 houses. Falling Action The falling action of a story is when the climax has already happened, and things begin to calm down. The problem is also usually solved. The falling action in "The Eleventh Plague" is after the fire is put out. When the folks of the town begin to calm down, a group of soldiers from Fort Leonard come locked and loaded ready to fight. Stephen runs up to them and yells "CEASE FIRE!" He tells them what just happened and that they didn't want to fight. The troops from Fort Leonard agreed not to fight, and offer a peace treaty between the two settlements. They then immediately begin working on repairing the houses, and burying the dead corpse's. Resolution The resolution of a story is the ending, or how everything turns out after the falling action. The resolution in "The Eleventh Plague" is about a month after the war. All the houses that burned were replaced with log cabins, and a graveyard was made to remember those who died. Jenny is going to leave the town to explore the world, but Stephen wants to go with her. Jenny then tells Stephen he loves him and Stephen says so back. Jenny tells Stephen "Your destiny leads you here, mine somewhere else. I will back. Goodbye, my love." Jenny then leaves the town on her new horse named Wind. Stephen proceeds uphill to watch the baseball game going on. He cheers as his friends run the bases. Stephen knows he will be happy and safe here. He will wait for Jenny as long as hew needs to. Stephen Stephen is a 15 year old boy who as only known the life of a scavenger. When he was born the war between Japan and U.S. was getting really bad. It was only when he was 3 that the infection broke out. 5 Billion people were killed. The only survivors were those who went to military camps and bases. luckily Stephens grandpa had a military ID and was able to get them to the base. The base fell apart when the plague struck it, but they got away. Stephen is very brave, and always wanted to find strange things to trade. Being so curious he always went to strange looking places, hoping to find loot. Stephens dad always had to stop Stephen, because of how much he loved danger. He always tried to run at noises and attack animals. It gave him thrills. Besides that Stephen is not that interesting. He was a scavenger, liked danger, was curious, he loved life. Stephen was a kid who always tried to work with what he had Point of View The point of view in "The Eleventh Plague" is third person POV. The way you can tell it is third person is by some of the quotes. One of these quotes is "Jemmy stared at Stephen with her cat eyes. She knew he read the note, and she had something on him." The narrator takes advantage of this by describing the events and people very descriptively. Everything is in precise detail. This paints an image in the readers head. Another thing the author can do with the third person POV is hint at events coming up. One quote that shows the author doing this is "It smelled to thick of gasoline. Stephen was very suspicious, but Jenny didn't care. She was just happy they found a place to stay over night." later in the book the building is sabotaged and burned. As you can see the author very effectively uses the books POV to his advantage. Setting The setting of "The Eleventh Plague" is a small town in the forest. The small town is called "Forest Pines" and is hidden behind a tree line. Stephen and his father stumble upon this town while exploring the woods. Stephens father had recently been shot, and they were looking for help. When they enter the town an ex-military nurse named Violet agrees to help. This town is the first step to bringing America back together. The town has a school, a militia, and power. This is a good setting for the story, since the rest of the planet is a wasteland. Theme One of the main themes of "The Eleventh Plague" is love. This theme occurs mainly between the main characters of Stephen and Jenny. When Stephen and Jenny first run away together they end up kissing in the forest. That was the first of many "Romantic" encounters. The second biggest one is at an abandoned casino. While treating one of Stephens wounds Jenny and Stephen end up making out on an old cot. The final major romantic encounter is at the end of the book. Jenny and Stephen kiss in the rain. Jenny then tells Stephen "I must go. My destiny leads me somewhere else for now. Yours leads you here. Good bye, my love." Jenny then continues to get on her horse, Wind, and ride away. Connotation Connotations occur various times throughout "The Eleventh Plague." They are mostly said by Will, a rotten rich kid who thinks Stephen is a spy from Fort Leonard. One example of a connotation from Will is "Yea I am sure hes such a good guy..." This is Will using sarcasm to say that Stephen is a bad person. Another example is from Jenny. She said "Im sure this casino will be filled with gold, making us rich on the trade market." In this example Jenny is saying that the casino is a waste of time to go to, because it was most likely stripped of anything valuable years ago. These are a few of the many connotations in "The Eleventh Plague." Flashbacks Stephen has various flashbacks throughout "The Eleventh Plague." Stephens flashbacks are usually about his dead grandpa, or before the plague broke out. One example of Stephens flashbacks is "It was very hot. Grandpa stood by his old oak grill, grilling various meats. Sausages, chicken, burgers, he had it all. Of course that was before... "it" happened." That is one of Stephens flashbacks about his grandpa. One example of one of Stephens flashbacks about the old world is "The grassy meadows were a blast. Mom always pushed me on the swings, and Dad always played catch with me. It was those loving peaceful days I remembered. Sometimes Grandpa even brought his grill." That is one of the various flashbacks Stephen has about the old world. One interesting thing the author does is use events in the story to trigger Stephens flashbacks. Like when the town he was in was having a BBQ, he thought of his grandpa.