SHOCK WAVE
By Clive Cussler
509 pgs
Clive CusslerThe Grand Master of the American action adventure novels
Pacific Vortex! (1983)The Mediterranean Caper (1973)Iceberg (1975)Raise the Titanic! (1976)Vixen 03 (1978)Night Probe! (1981)Deep Six (1984)Cyclops (1986)Treasure (1988)Dragon (1990)Sahara (1992)Inca Gold (1994)Shock Wave (1996)Flood Tide (1997)Atlantis Found (1999)Valhalla Rising (2001)Trojan Odyssey (2003)Black Wind (2004)Treasure of Khan (2006)Arctic Drift (2008)
Born: 15-Jul-1931Birthplace: Aurora, IL
Raise the Titanic(1980) and Sahara (2005) were made into movies. Those films fell well below Clive's expectations.
CHARACTERS
Dirk Pitt
The main character in all Clive Cussler’s books is Dirk Pitt. His beautiful opaline green eyes, which can be both alluring to the ladies or intimidating to his foes, are his most known feature. Pitt is a leader and you know it as soon as you see him. Dirk is so cool you will wish he was your Dad.
Arthur Dorsett
•Arthur Dorsett is second largest diamond producer in the world. •He came from a family of wealth and greed. •He killed his own wife, hid the true gender of his oldest daughter (son), disowned his youngest daughter and tried to kill her but failed, kidnapped her twin sons, and had some incest thoughts about his sexier daughter. •He also killed his old childhood friend/business partner by force feeding him diamonds.
Dirk Pitt
Dirk is a man who would risk his life to save a life of someone who he doesn’t even know.
Dirk is a man you can take home to your parents.
Dirk is a man who is cunning and sly. Dirk is a man who has great love for the
sea that no woman can ever receive. Dirk is a man’s man
Clive Cussler
First reason, Cussler is the author. Second reason, Cussler called himself
rugged and handsome. Third reason, Cussler part in the book
helped Dirk Pitt a lot but it was dull from the rest of the book.
Exposition
Jess Dorsett and Betsy Fletcher are convicts on a ship heading to an Australian penal colony in 1865.
The ship hits a storm and they become shipwrecked. Jess and Betsy land on a island which they discover an immense of source of diamonds and find a powerful and wealthy dynasty.
144 years later, a deadly plague kills marines animals and humans. Dirk Pitt later finds reason the of the plaques are caused be Arthur Dorsett, the present owner of the Dorsett’s wealth.
Rising Action
Maeve Fletcher, daughter of Arthur Dorsett, gets stranded on a island in Antarctica shortly after a plague hits there.
20+ more plagues in the oceans then kill abundant amounts of sea critters and human lives. 1 cargo ship blows up. Also 1 whaling ship sinks.
Arthur Dorsett kidnaps Dirk and Al (Dirk’s sidekick) and puts them on a powerless boat with Maeve. Then he pushes the boat into the middle of a storm.
Climax
Dirk, Al, and Maeve survived the brutal trip and they go back to Dorsett’s island.
They find Maeve’s boys Dirk kills Arthur. Al kills Arthur’s oldest daughter (son) While trying to escape, Maeve and Dirk get
shot by Maeve’s other sister. Dirk paralyzes her.
NUMA (the organization Dirk works for) redirects the plague and sends it back to Dorsett’s island.
2 volcanoes on the island blow up.
Falling Action
Al flies off in a helicopter with Maeve’s kids.
Dirk gets off the island with Maeve on Arthur’s yacht.
Maeve bleeds to death in Dirk’s burnt arms.
NUMA finds Dirk and dead Maeve in the yacht floating near the toasted island.
Resolution
All Dorsett’s slaves are freed and his Grandson’s now own the dynasty.
The plagues have all stopped. Dirk has his wounds patched up and
heads home to Washington. The Father of Maeve’s boys now watches
them.
SHOCK WAVE
TIME PERIOD PLACE
The time period in the intro is 1856. This part of the book shows how the Dorsett’s gain their wealth.
The rest of the book is in the year 2000. I think Cussler chose this time because he thought we would have be more advanced by now.
Gladiator Island (between New Zealand and Australia. It’s also Dorsett’s island.) The Climax happens here.
Alaska. It’s where the Dorsett learn about NUMA’s intentions.
Antarctica. It’s the start of the rising action.
Washington. It’s where NUMA and Pitt are stationed.
THEMES
I would have to give this book a 10 out of 10. I read it all and I like it. Therefore it deserves 10.
The value of life. No matter the form of it.
Morals. A person educated in mind and not in morals is a menace to society
Teamwork. Individuality counts but teamwork dynamites.
SLAVERY
Slavery is when a person is owned by someone else. Those who are slaves are more seen as property than human beings.
There are 27 millions slaves all through out the world today. Largely in South Asia.
Approximately 80% of victims are women and girls and up to 50% are under the age of 18.
Wikipedia.org
Human Trafficking
The illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor.
Human trafficking is the third most profitable criminal activity, second after drugs and arms trafficking.
600,000-800,000 people are trafficked internationally each year.
14,500-17,500 of them are trafficked into the U.S every year.
In 1850 the average slave cost $40,000 (today’s dollar), today they only cost $30.
Thejustlife.org
Images.google.com
Opponents of Slavery African Methodist Episcopal Church American Anti-Slavery Society Ansar Burney Trust - Middle East and Pakistan Anti-Slavery International Anti-Slavery Society (British) Anti-Slavery Society of Canada (est. 1851) Anti-Slavery Society of Illinois Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade (British) Free Soil Party Free-Staters International Justice Mission Liberty Party (United States) New York Manumission Society New England Anti-Slavery Society Ohio Anti-Slavery Society Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) Republican Party (United States) Royal Navy Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage American Society of the Friends of the Blacks (Société des Amis des Noirs) (French) Unitarian Universalists Upper Canada Anti-Slavery Society (est. 1837)
Wikipedia.org
Abolition of Slavery Timeline
1900’s-Present
1906 China abolishes slavery 1912 Siam (Thailand), formally abolishes all
slavery. The act of selling a person into slavery was abolished in 1897 but slavery itself was not outlawed.
1923 Afghanistan abolishes slavery 1924 Iraq abolishes slavery 1926 Nepal abolishes slavery 1928 Iran abolishes slavery 1935 Italian General Emilio De Bono proclaims
slavery to be abolished in the Ethiopian Empire 1936 Britain eradicates slavery in Northern
Nigeria 1942 Ethiopian Empire abolishes slavery 1948 UN Article 4 of the Declaration of Human
Rights bans slavery globally 1952 Qatar abolishes slavery 1959 Slavery in Tibet is abolished by China after
the Dalai Lama flees. 1962 Saudi Arabia abolishes slavery 1962 Yemen abolishes slavery 1963 United Arab Emirates abolishes slavery 1970 Oman abolishes slavery 1981 Mauritania abolishes slavery
wikipedia.org
Video
VIDEO SONG
Human Trafficking Modern Slavery
Youtube.com
Bibliography http://www.nndb.com/people/721/000025646/------------------------------------Clive
Cussler info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Pitt------------------------------------------------Dirk Pitt info http://www.mirrorsedge.wikia.com/wiki/Travis_Burfield-----------------------Dorsett’s
picture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery---------------------------------------------------Slavery info http://www.barnabainstitute.org http://www.infoplease.com/spot/slavery1.html http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/27098993/ http://www.enotes.com/slavery-today-article http://www.truthout.org/article/slavery-today-a-clear-and-present-danger http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0309/feature1/ http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/slavery/
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