Month: October 2015

Reeve (author) creates an effective character called Shrike in this novel with many different emotion and feelings. in some cases he is an emotionless, raging beast. and in other cases he is careful of the emotions of others. an example of his heartlessness is when he chases Tom and Hester through Airhaven but in other cases he is interpreted to be caring for his friends, like when he agrees to help Tom and Hester get back to London. his fierce side is displayed when he says: “I work for the lord mayor and he has sent me to kill you!” this perfectly shows his carelessness to others. this comment puts the reader on the edge of their seat, terrified with what will happen next. this will interest the reader about the feelings of shrike as the character in that situation and the big decision that he has stated. also knowing the heartlessness it takes to take for him to commence with his objective.

his appearance is portrayed to be scary with his claws, ragged trench-coat and glowing green eyes. on the other hand, adding to his caring side, he has said to Hester: “you cant stay here child!” using the word child shows he may have cared for a child as well. he looks like a ferocious monster but he may be someone completely different on the inside.

This is why Reeve has made a very interesting character with many different sides.

This character may stimulate the readers mind, causing them to deeply think about the emotions and feelings about Shrike. They may feel concerned for Shrike as he has been through so much.they may feel torn that Shrike is made to be destructive but has positive intentions.

I believe that the most effective Shrike is that it might sadden the reader that Shrike is a caring character who has been put through so much, being transformed into a cyborg. He has done this to be united with his true love (hester). In return for him to undertake the hard transformation to a cyborg that he is used to do heartless duties when knowing his wrongdoing. and the sacrifices he makes to get his task done.

reeve also creates a description on shrike by his eyes because he says his there round and shine bright green he looks scary when you picture him in your head.

by luca

reeve creates an effect because he says shrike has two sides than one. some cases he is scary and no hearted like some kind of monster or a kind of creature. also he has a sensetive and villan side. he shows by saying to hester “YOU CANT STAY HERE CHILD”. This shows his good side.

In the Mortal Engines, Shrike is shown to be a ruthless killing machine, harming several Aviatrices and killing three pirates when his hunt for Hester Shaw takes him to Airhaven. However in Infernal Devices when Oenone Zero Re-resurects he finds that he cannot hurt humans, because of his consicence. He can still, however, destroy stalkers.

Despite being a killing machine, Shrike doesn’t like to harm children, because he himself once had children before he became a stalker. He is shown to help children, such as when Hester Shaw was left half dead he adopts her. Another example is when a mayor wants him to kill the children of someone else. Instead of killing the children, he kills the mayor. The traveller Chung-Mai Spofforth interview him in 923TE when writing her book In Search Of The Stalkers. He said that he remembered several occasions when he had spared or protected children for reasons that he could not explain. He doesn’t know why he is so fond of children until the very last book, where he remembers his past life.

Another goal of his is that he wants to make Hester Shaw into a stalker. He keeps this goal right up to the end of the story, when he sees that she had been clutching hard to Tom even in death. So instead he lays them both to rest in a valley.