Jack Fletcher

Summary

         The story is about Jack Fletcher, a 12 year old boy, who is in a trip in a ship called Alexandria, an English ship. The mission was to be the first English men to get to the Japans. John Fletcher, Jacks father, is the pilot of the ship, and guides himself with a "diary" or rutter that he made himself. The rutter has information of all the seas and oceans, it shows where he has traveled. He told Jack it was very important for him, and that anyone who has it would rule the seas. Jack is in that ship because he earned a job as a rigging monkey. The ship got to the Japans, or the "land of the rising sun", when they got there, some people saw another ship approaching them, with the flag of the wakou. The wakous are the Japanese pirates, so they were allert and ready to attack the Alexandria. They realized that the wakou where actually ninjas, so they attacked the ship, and they killed everyone, including Jack´s father. Jack gets injured, his arm broken, and left for dead. He wakes up in a house, and he is told he was saved by one of the greatest samurais of Japan: Masamoto. Jack has to start to follow the rules that everyone followed there, and learn how to dress like them. When they give him food for the fisrt time, Jack eats everything and smiles to show that he enjoyed the meal, but they were upset because he was eating with his hands, and not using chopsticks. Jack doesn`t want to make that mistake again, so he needs to learn how to use the chopsticks or he will starve to death.

Quotes

"Jack dragged his friend into the cabin, ripping bedsheets from his father`s bunk to stem the bleeding. Then he heard his father cry out in pain. Foced to leave Christiaan where he lay, Jack stepped out to confront the shadows in the darkness." (37)

This is a moment of suspence in the book because we can see and imagine how Jack must have felt while experiencing that moment, watching all the crew in his ship being slaughtered by the unknown enemy, and he couldn`t do nothing, but still tried.

"John Fletcher spun the ship`s grappling hook in circles around his head, fighting with the ferocity of a lion. The shadows, clad head to toe in black, a single slit for the eyes, couldn`t get near." (39)

This shows how John was doing everything to survive and help his friends abord the ship,  and he didn`t have any fear while fighting an enemy he had never fought before, showing his courage.

Conclusion

    We can see that Jack is a very smart boy, and that he is that kind of person that can do anything to do the right thing, even though it affects him negativelly. He is also very brave, because he had to go through a moment where he saw people die in front of his eyes, and couldn`t do nothing, I really like this book until now.