Saturday, December 18, 2010

Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by: Eoin Colfer

Colfer begins the journey with Artemis Fowl and his family bodyguard Butler waiting in Barcelona, Spain for an expected encounter with a demon. Artemis Fowl is a highly intelligent teenager with extensive knowledge of the mythological world. Butler is rumored to be among the most dangerous men in the world and has gotten that way through hard work and perseverance. As Colfer says,"Butler did not get to be one of the most dangerous men in the world by chatting with anyone who happened to stroll past, unless the chat concerned exit routes and concealed weapons"(Colfer 1). His sole duty is to protect Artemis from harm and aid him on his missions to protect the mythological world. At Barcelona a demon arbitrarily appears and grabs Artemis and attempts to bring him to the demon world. But Butler with his arm on Artemis's shoulder pulls Artemis back to their dimension.

Here the story of Artemis pauses and the book goes on to tell about No1. He is an imp in the demon world, known as Hybras, who is being bullied by teachers and other students for not being "warped" into a strong and brute demon. Demon evolution shows that imps take one of two paths: one of the warped demon and one of the warlock. No1 is convinced he is a warlock although they have seemed to be extinct. He observes himself turning an object into stone displaying his raw warlock power. Abbot the demon leader gets angry and uses his mesmer, a hypnotic power capable by fairies and other fairy-like creatures, to convince No1 to travel to the human world through the volcano.

Back in Artemis's dimension he is waiting at another location of a predicted demon arrival. Here he sees a girl who he remembers seeing at Barcelona. Her name is Minerva and her family has has extensive knowledge of demons. She is seen with a henchman named Billy Kong. Minerva and her family want to capture demons and study their culture to learn more about them. They obtain No1 as he enters the human world. Billy Kong on the other hand wants to kill demons on the fact that they were responsible for his brother's death sometime ago. His sole purpose in the operation is to take over command from Minerva when a demon is captured and kill it. Once No1 is obtained by Minerva, Artemis devises a plan to steal it from her. Convinced that the demon dematerialized back to the demon world, Minerva says that no demon can be captured for another 17 months. Kong gets enraged and threatens Minerva's life among others. At that moment Artemis calls Kong and proposes he exchanges Minerva for No1. At first Artemis wants to choose the rendez-vous but Kong forces Artemis to let him choose. Here Artemis demonstrates his intellectual ability with the famed line in the book. He uses the art of suggestion to make Kong pick the meeting point Artemis had is mind. He says to Kong before a meeting point is set, "I will be wearing a burgundy tie. Pay attention to that" (Colfer 246). This statement causes Kong to choose Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world. Knowing Kong's background in Taiwan Artemis executed this suggestion brilliantly. But why does Artemis want to meet at Taipei and what will go on in the building? Will Artemis live?

1. Artemis is obviously intelligent but sometimes however he goes to far and acts in a snobbish way. However without using his intellect he can not lead missions successfully and get out of predicaments. What is your view on how people should demonstrate their intellect? Should they dumb themselves down for the sake of others?

2. Artemis and Minerva are people who lack athleticism but make up for it in intellect.
Would it be better to be
1. somewhat athletic and somewhat smart
2. Extremely athletic
3. Extremely smart
Why?
**Each choice has drawbacks and advantages

1 comment:

Millie W. 7/8 said...

1)It depends on if your trying to hold your intelligence over someone or if you just do it out of habit. As long as your not purposely trying to hold it over someone then it shouldn't be a problem. I've often noticed a lot of smart people dumb it down not to be nice to other students, but for ill gotten reason. A lot of these people have lost my respect. That's why I don't think you should act like your dumb.
2) It is good to be smart, but I think you need to be athletic enough so that you can keep your body in shape and not fall into snobbish behavior. Therefore you could be extremely smart, but you could also keep fit.