The various themes explored in the texts include the parallel made through the father-son relationship between Ben, the General, Miro and Artkin. Some of these themes are Courage, Survival, Resilience, Sacrifice, Endurance, and being wise.
Summary
After the First Death written by Robert Cormier is a book about two guys named Artkin and Miro who hold a bus load of children hostage on a bridge for two days. The bus driver,Karen, tries to take control but has a hard time. Cormier brings suspense to the realistic story and engages the reader with his mastermind characters.
Cormier's plot holds a lot of suspense. The main characters, Artkin and Miro drug the kids twice a day so they won't be alert to what is going on during the two days they are held as hostages. Karen, the driver, (who is very scared of danger), tries to take matters into her own hands, trying to move the bus off the bridge without disturbing Artkin and Miro. Somehow the General, of the town, finds out, so he sends his son as a spy to make a deal with Artkin. The General says he will pay them to let the kids and Karen go. As this deal is being made, though, Miro gets Karen and kills her. While the General is letting all the kids free, Artkin kills himself.
Artkin and Miro, the main characters are what make this story interesting. Miro was adopted by Artkin when he was three, and Artkin then showed him how to behave in a rude manner. Miro is very unsure about all this but feels as though he has to repay Artkin for saving him and taking him into his life.
As the story opens Artkin sees the bus coming. They would take over the bus within seven minutes. In another twenty minutes they would be at the bridge. "Fifteen and seven are twenty-two and you always allow three minutes for unexpected delays," Artkin always says. So within twenty-five minutes they had killed their first victim. Cormier carefully plans the actions as if in a real like mob scene. He makes sure the killers know