Airman
Essential Characters and Plot Points:
In the book Airman, there is one main character and many side characters. The protagonist of the story is a boy named Conor Broekhart. Conor’s family lives on the island of the Great Saltee. Conor’s father Declan was the captain of the kingdom’s army (21).
Broekhart starts off the story being born in a hot air balloon at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1878. When Conor was growing up he played with the King’s daughter, Isabella. One day Conor and Isabella were playing in the king’s quarters where he has explosives and experiments. Isabella knocked something over and it started a fire. That fire caused the gunpowder barrels inside to explode. Conor and Isabella were on top of the castle when it exploded and Conor had a sheet that the both of them held onto until they landed safely into the ocean (39).
After the fire incident Conor was knighted and became an apprentice to an aviation enthusiast that wanted to build a flying machine. Connor's mentor was named Victor. Victor taught Conor how to fight, fence, and many things about science (50).
One night Conor was sitting in a spot on top of the kingdom wall where he liked to think, and Marshall Bonvilain was going through the serving passages for the King. When Bonvilain disappeared into the passage, Conor followed closely behind in the shadows. Bonvilain burst through the service door and shot King Nicholas and Victor. Conor heard the noise and came out of the shadow of the passageway to try and help. Conor shot at Bonvilain but his chainmail that he was wearing stopped the bullet that Conor shot. Bonvilain then grabbed Conor and put him in a cell.
Conor was put in jail, then dressed like a soldier and was given the name Conor Finn. Finn then was framed for killing the King and Victor. Conor’s father came to see him, but his father didn't know it was his son and it made Conor think that his father had disowned him (101).
Bonvilain then sent Conor on a boat over to the Little Saltee prison where Conor was then thrown into a pond of fresh water parasites that cleaned Conor’s wounds and filth off of him. The guards then branded Conor with a Little Saltee kiss or “S” on top of his left hand. Then Conor was sent of to his cell where he meet a blind spy that was spying for the King on Bonvilain (162).
The spy’s name was Linus Wynter and he was put in prison to spy on the warden because Bonvilain was accused of treason and the King wanted to know how the prison was being run. The King was told that Bonvilain was running the prison like a slave camp. Wynter would go to the warden's office and play music on the piano in the room and listen to what the warden was doing. Wynter only got to meet once with the King before the King was shot.
The first time Conor was sent to work at prison, he was sent into a diving bell that air was pumped into so the diver that was inside of the bell could get air while they were mining gold and diamonds from the walls of the water hole. Conor found out the first time he went down that the other person that was sent to help him wasn’t there to help (170).
The man sent down to help Conor was part of an Irish gang that was working at the prison as guards.
The man that was sent down was named Malarkey and he was getting paid to hurt Conor. Conor was knocked out by Malarkey the first time they were in the bell, but the second time they were in the bell, Conor used one of his tools from his tool belt, to stab Malarkey (201).
Conor then made a deal with Malarkey to teach Conor how to survive in the prison and Conor will show Malarkey how to fence. Wynter taught Conor how to survive in prison by becoming a new person and forgetting his past. Conor used his new friends to come up with a plan to break out of prison (293).
Important Themes and Symbols:
An important theme in Airman was, don’t judge someone by their appearance, but judge them by their personality. This theme appears several time throughout the book. When Conor first met Linus Wynter, Conor just thought that he was a blind old man that could not help him. Wynter taught Conor many things like how to survive in prison and how to hide his emotions. Wynter showed Conor how to conceal things in plain sight like Conor’s plan for his flying machine (292).
Another example for this theme, would be when Conor became friends with Malarkey. Malarkey looks very scary because of his tattoos and scars, but on the inside Malarkey is a very trustworthy person that is a pretty good guy once you actually get to know him. Malarkey showed Conor how to get things past some of the guards and which guards would search Conor a little bit less if you bribed them, but before this, Malarkey told Conor that he had to join the gang and get a tattoo of a ram. These lessons from Malarkey proved useful for Conor to get things into his cell to help complete his plan of escaping the prison (204).
Essential Characters and Plot Points:
In the book Airman, there is one main character and many side characters. The protagonist of the story is a boy named Conor Broekhart. Conor’s family lives on the island of the Great Saltee. Conor’s father Declan was the captain of the kingdom’s army (21).
Broekhart starts off the story being born in a hot air balloon at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1878. When Conor was growing up he played with the King’s daughter, Isabella. One day Conor and Isabella were playing in the king’s quarters where he has explosives and experiments. Isabella knocked something over and it started a fire. That fire caused the gunpowder barrels inside to explode. Conor and Isabella were on top of the castle when it exploded and Conor had a sheet that the both of them held onto until they landed safely into the ocean (39).
After the fire incident Conor was knighted and became an apprentice to an aviation enthusiast that wanted to build a flying machine. Connor's mentor was named Victor. Victor taught Conor how to fight, fence, and many things about science (50).
One night Conor was sitting in a spot on top of the kingdom wall where he liked to think, and Marshall Bonvilain was going through the serving passages for the King. When Bonvilain disappeared into the passage, Conor followed closely behind in the shadows. Bonvilain burst through the service door and shot King Nicholas and Victor. Conor heard the noise and came out of the shadow of the passageway to try and help. Conor shot at Bonvilain but his chainmail that he was wearing stopped the bullet that Conor shot. Bonvilain then grabbed Conor and put him in a cell.
Conor was put in jail, then dressed like a soldier and was given the name Conor Finn. Finn then was framed for killing the King and Victor. Conor’s father came to see him, but his father didn't know it was his son and it made Conor think that his father had disowned him (101).
Bonvilain then sent Conor on a boat over to the Little Saltee prison where Conor was then thrown into a pond of fresh water parasites that cleaned Conor’s wounds and filth off of him. The guards then branded Conor with a Little Saltee kiss or “S” on top of his left hand. Then Conor was sent of to his cell where he meet a blind spy that was spying for the King on Bonvilain (162).
The spy’s name was Linus Wynter and he was put in prison to spy on the warden because Bonvilain was accused of treason and the King wanted to know how the prison was being run. The King was told that Bonvilain was running the prison like a slave camp. Wynter would go to the warden's office and play music on the piano in the room and listen to what the warden was doing. Wynter only got to meet once with the King before the King was shot.
The first time Conor was sent to work at prison, he was sent into a diving bell that air was pumped into so the diver that was inside of the bell could get air while they were mining gold and diamonds from the walls of the water hole. Conor found out the first time he went down that the other person that was sent to help him wasn’t there to help (170).
The man sent down to help Conor was part of an Irish gang that was working at the prison as guards.
The man that was sent down was named Malarkey and he was getting paid to hurt Conor. Conor was knocked out by Malarkey the first time they were in the bell, but the second time they were in the bell, Conor used one of his tools from his tool belt, to stab Malarkey (201).
Conor then made a deal with Malarkey to teach Conor how to survive in the prison and Conor will show Malarkey how to fence. Wynter taught Conor how to survive in prison by becoming a new person and forgetting his past. Conor used his new friends to come up with a plan to break out of prison (293).
Important Themes and Symbols:
An important theme in Airman was, don’t judge someone by their appearance, but judge them by their personality. This theme appears several time throughout the book. When Conor first met Linus Wynter, Conor just thought that he was a blind old man that could not help him. Wynter taught Conor many things like how to survive in prison and how to hide his emotions. Wynter showed Conor how to conceal things in plain sight like Conor’s plan for his flying machine (292).
Another example for this theme, would be when Conor became friends with Malarkey. Malarkey looks very scary because of his tattoos and scars, but on the inside Malarkey is a very trustworthy person that is a pretty good guy once you actually get to know him. Malarkey showed Conor how to get things past some of the guards and which guards would search Conor a little bit less if you bribed them, but before this, Malarkey told Conor that he had to join the gang and get a tattoo of a ram. These lessons from Malarkey proved useful for Conor to get things into his cell to help complete his plan of escaping the prison (204).