The book Lone Survivor is written by Marcus Luttrell and tells his full first hand story of becoming a Navy Seal. The book mainly leads up to his heart stopping story of Operation Redwing where he is sent into Afghanistan to capture or kill a high ranking Taliban leader. The book starts out with Luttrell's childhood in Texas and how he always wanted to be a Navy Seal. Slowly the book progresses on through Luttrel's extremely harsh and exhilarating training. After he finishes his training and becomes a Navy Seal he is sent into Afghanistan and completes various mission. Then the book takes a hard turn when he is sent to kill or capture the Taliban leader with his squad. Luttrell's Navy Seal team consisted of Danny Dietz, Michael Murphy, and Matthew Axelson. These men were known as SEAL team 10. The men are sent into a very mountainous area in Afghanistan where it would be extremely hard to take shot on a target with the lack of cover. The men decide to move to a better position, but when they get stubbled upon by a group of goat herders they have to make a decision. It was either kill the men or let them leave and retreat home. The team decides to leave the men and retreat to an evacuation zone. Unluckily, the men whom they left rush down the mountain to the town and alert the Taliban of the American presence. Not long after the team began seeing Taliban soldiers searching for them. The men were soon found and an all out war started. Rockets and bullets flew as the men tried to escape down the mountain. Everyone on Luttrell's team took heavy hits from machine gun fire. The teams captain, Michael Murphy, sacrificed his own life to call for support. It did not go very well after that because everyone on the team besides Luttrell was left alive. Luttrell made his way to a village after escaping sight of the Taliban. The people in the village took Luttrell in and protect him from the Taliban. For almost two weeks Luttrell is inside the village until he is rescued by United States forces.
The song Heroes by David Bowie is a perfect song to relate to Lone Survivor. The song talks about being a hero for just a day. Almost asking, if you had the chance to be a hero instead of a bystander, would you take the chance? The song is about beating your enemies and becoming that true hero figure. I think it matches perfectly with the book. The song was actually put in the trailer of the movie, which I believe was a perfect idea. The meaning of the song matches to Marcus and his act of bravery with his fallen brothers. In the novel , How to Read Literature like a Professor, nonfiction or fiction books have a quest. In Lone Survivor, Marcus and SEAL team 10 had a quest to kill a high ranking Taliban leader in Afghanistan. There are five parts of a quest according to How to Read Literature like a Professor.
1) Have a Quester 2) Place to go 3) Stated reason to go 4) Challenge and trials 5) A real reason to go there Marcus would be our quester in Lone Survivor and his place to go would be Afghanistan. There are two reasons why Marcus would go on this quest. One would be he was ordered and the next would be to kill the high ranking Taliban leader in the village. Marcus faced plenty of challenges during his quest with SEAL team 10. his first challenge was walking to the village. His second would be finding a new position to take the shot. His third challenge, the most controversial of them all, would be deciding on what to do with the goat herders who found the squad. After that a series of challenges that would mean life or death would leave him to be the only survivor of SEAL team 10. Lone Survivor and Unbroken are similar nonfiction books. Both books display acts of resilience and bravery against a very large enemy. Marcus had to survive the constant spraying of bullets and the harsh losses of his brothers. Louie also had to go through a life changing war event. After Louie was captured by the Japanese he had to fight for survival every day facing terrible odds. Both men faced death and had to use their resilience to live through the events that caused so much to happen to them. Some themes I found related to both books are perseverance, friendship, and suffering. Marcus and Louie both had to look towards a greater goal to push through the impossible odds. No matter how close they were to the end they fought to survive. Lottie and Marcus also had their friends, but sadly lost theme. Louie lost his team just as Marcus lost his. It's as their greater goal was to survive for their friends memory. Last of all, suffering, both men had to take incredible piston to fight for their lives. Louie had to take the horrible torture from the bird, while Marcus had to ensure the bullies and explosions flying at him from all directions. Marcus also had to witness some of his friends deaths. Overall both books show amazing examples of bravery, perseverance, friendship, and suffering.
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