Shattered by Eric Walters

Multi-modal Presentation

Speak vs. Shattered

Theme

Shattered by

Eric Walters

Shattered vs. the real world

The main theme in this novel is learning to accept others and become a better person. When Ian first started his volunteering at the soup kitchen he thought the whole idea was awful, and as the novel went on Ian realizes that he actually enjoys what he is doing and learns a lot about homelessness while he is there. Ian becomes a better person by becoming friends with Sarge and getting his volunteer hours in so he can pass the course.

In Speak, Melinda is struggling in school because of her depression and dealing with what she went through in the summer before high school, and in Shattered Ian is also struggling in school but just because he doesn't apply himself enough and hasn't received his 40 volunteer hours yet. Also, by the end of both of these novels they both become better than they were before. Melinda finds her voice and does better in school and Ian becomes more understanding of the real world and gets his 40 hours to pass his class.

In my opinion, Shattered was a realistic book and has many examples as to why it is. Many people can end up on the streets. Ian met a UN peacekeeper, Sarge, who is now a traumatized, homeless alcoholic who just tries to get through each day without thinking about what he lived through. Homelessness can happen to the best of people and this is why I think this book was so easy to connect to real life situations.

By Abbie Horton

Protagonist

Setting

Literary Devices

Ian Blackburn is the protagonist in this novel. Ian is 15 years old and comes across as a slacker in the beginning of the book because he is falling behind in his social studies class and has to have volunteer hours done to pass. Ian ends up getting stuck volunteering at a soup kitchen. He is well off and both of his parents are always away at work and he really has no view of what the outside world is like until he goes to volunteer at this soup kitchen. Throughout the novel Ian learns a lot about the world and meets someone who was a UN peacekeeper ends up teaching Ian about how traumatizing it was for him to go through everything he did. After meeting this person Ian is more motivated to do better inside and outside of school. Ian starts to go to the soup kitchen not because he has to but because he wants to. By the end of the novel, Ian has overall become a better person and ends up learning a lot about himself and the world around him by meeting someone who was a UN peacekeeper, by hearing all of his stories and by being around a variety of different people who are in the streets suffering with metal illnesses and addictions.

This novel is set in an unknown Canadian city. You can tell that it has a big city feel because there is a large homeless rate and tends to have a lot of traffic, a big park and business people. This setting has an impact on the story because the protagonist, Ian does his volunteer work for his civics class in the community's soup kitchen and ends up learning a lot.

Flashback: flashbacks were used when Sarge was talking to Ian about his time in Rwanda when he was traumatized with what he saw.

Foreshadowing: in the beginning of this novel, when Sarge saved Ian from being mugged you could already tell they would grow a strong bond together, which later on in the novel happens. Ian helps Sarge out with his alcohol addiction and Sarge trusts Ian by telling him all about when he was in Rwanda.

Plot

Plot (continued)

Fifteen year old Ian needs to earn his community service hours to pass his social studies class, he is a procrastinator in the beginning of the novel. Ian's teacher starts to pressure him and gets him into a volunteering job at a soup kitchen called The Club. At first, he thinks of the job as gross and feels ashamed that he has to do his hours helping the homeless at a soup kitchen. As the novel goes on, Ian realizes he is enjoying what he is doing is and he himself has developed a better understanding of the real world and starts to care about his school work and his future.

As the novel goes on, Ian develops a good relationship with one of the people that he serves at the soup kitchen named Sarge (later on finds out that Sarge's real name is Jacques and that he was a UN peacekeeper). Sarge helped Ian out when he was getting mugged while walking through a sketchy part of the city. Sarge ends up scaring away the kids that mugged Ian, and this is how the friendship between Sarge and Ian started. Near the end of the novel, Ian starts doing volunteering at The Club not because he has to, but because he wants to and grows a good bond with Sarge too.