Thomas's Madalyne: A Short Story

After O’Brien subconsciously tossed a grenade at a young soldier that killed the man, he absorbed in a state of shock and guilt upon examining the body. Unlike other passages where the author left the overall picture to our imagination, he emphasized the true sight of the young man providing the reader with meticulous descriptions of the injuries in this chapter. For example, through the eyes of O’Brien, he began by noticing the most distinct feature, the jaw lodged in his throat. Then, as if he was following O’Brien’s trail of sight, he proceeded to focus upwards, describing the mouth, the eyes, and finally the hair. Thus far, even though his statements were too detailed to be “true,” O’Brien seemed calm and composed. However, as the author’s

Explosions raged over his head as he ran towards his own trench, on the German side. His rifle bonked him in the stomach as he raced past enemies and bullets. As he neared his trench, a plane crashed about fifteen metres next to him. This made him run even faster. But just

I was leading the troupes back in the mountains. My men were hungry, exhausted, and dirty, and so was I. I was still in a constant alert state even though the battle was over. It wasn't easy to prevail, but I had a feeling that this wasn't all.

The din was frightful. Billie was crying as usual. Dave and Sol-leks, dripping with blood from a score of wounds, were fighting bravely side by side. Joe was snapping like a demon. Once, his teeth closed on the foreleg of a husky, and he crunched down through the bone. Pike, the malingerer, leaped upon the crippled animal, breaking its neck with a quick dash of teeth and a jerk. Buck got a frothing adversary by the throat, and was sprayed with blood when his teeth sank through the jugular. The warm taste of it in his mouth goaded him to greater fierceness. He flung himself upon another, and at the same time felt teeth sink into his own throat. It was Spitz treacherously attacking from the side.”

“Get ready men!” shouted the commander. Next to Ed, a man named John loaded his rifle. “You ready Ed?” he whispered. Ed nodded. The silence through the trench was It seemed like ages before he was free. He ran back towards the British line, expecting at any moment to feel a bullet rip through him. Then, out of the blue, a single shot rumbled across the dormant battlefield. Ed spun around just in time to see the German commander’s pistol smoking. The machine gunner who had spared his life was slumped over, motionless.

In the beginning of the story on page 597, the author uses intense imagery to describe the conditions of the battlefield. It states, “A shell had smitten one of the pieces and after the flare, the smoke, the dust, the wrath of this blow was gone, it was possible to see white legs stretched horizontally upon the ground”. While explaining the way the battlefield looked, Collins has to be fearless in order to run across it later in the story. With smoke and dust flying around, and normal human would react in fear and run to be safe. Some time later at the bottom of page 597 it also describes what you would see if someone had been killed. In the description of death it says, “This man had encountered a shell apparently at a time when no one perceived him and he could now be seen lying face downward with a stirruped foot stretched across the body of his dead horse. A leg of the charger extended slantingly upward precisely as stiff as a stake.Around the motionless pair the shells still howled”. This excerpt talks about how a man and his horse had died and shots are still going off in the battlefield. With Collins knowing that this could be him, he disregards that and still takes on the journey like he has no fear. Lastly, after Collins had retrieved the water, on his way back a dying soldier asked for some of it and Collins kept running. But, “He came dashing back” to help the soldier and give him water. In the middle of the battlefield he stopped to give a dying man that has been shot some water. If someone else were in this situation, they would not have stopped. Fred Collins is truly

Now far enough away from the night club opening, Jessie could hear the distinct sound of a woman screaming. The heart wrenching sound made her stop mid step. Cold terror washed over her as she neared the corner of the alley and peered around it. There were distinct shapes -

When his body hit the ground, the people around him felt a wave of shock. He was dead. The women covered their mouths with one hand, tears already streaming down their faces. The other hand covered the eyes of the children who witnessed the horrendous scene and were no longer pure and innocent, sheltered and hidden from the cruel reality of the

You have successfully entered enemy territory. You and the other recon soldiers have crossed the distance of open plain, skirted the barbed wire, and are close to the enemy trenches. You all lie on your stomachs in the mud, rifles in hand. So far, the going is good. You don’t

He lay crumpled in a heap at the bottom of the stairs, enmeshed in his garments, blood, and darkness. Only the purplish light created by each resounding boom of thunder cast light upon his hunched body. Thoughts rebounded back and forth in the skull of Brother Malcolm: “Agh, the agony I declare, the outjutting bone of my spine spars into the harsh rocky floor.”

Gatsby trembled as he grabbed his weapon and shot aimlessly into the air, exposed to the ammunition that rushed across the battlefield. The trenches were bombarded with mortar shells and the air was filled with the intimidating sound of machine guns. He closed his eyes for a majority of the battle, afraid of the unpleasant reality that faced him. As the sun rose on the horizon, the short offensive was over and he had inexplicably survived unscathed; the soldiers had miraculously defended the line without calamitous casualties.

"Thomas leaned back against the rough rock, overcome by disbelief at what he had just done. Filled with terror at what the consequences might be." (Dashner). He ran outside the Glades knowing he only had seconds to come back in until the thick, humongous walls closed shut for the night sealing the three Gladers outside. What is worse is this is at night, one extremely tired, one with an injured arm, and Thomas, an inexperienced Glader. They have no idea what they were going to expect. Thomas might have not know it, but he's crossing his very first threshold in the story.

The curls of smoke seemed to Images flashed before his eyes of those final moments in that battle. Gasping and groaning, Stg. Jones shook his head numerous times again, trying to steer those thoughts away and regain some control over his horror-struck body. It took a few minutes, but his muscles finally listened to him and his mind was cleared, somewhat. What remained was a heavy heart as Jones continued on his trek.

There was no doubt that it was a dangerous and horrific battle, of which there was only one winner. A girl no more that 20 years old who lay frozen where the water had left her. Her body was covered with burns, bruises, and large cuts but otherwise she was physically unharmed.

The crazy things going on around her but you have to stay focused. There's people rejoicing with joy or crying at the flat lining as the colors fade away or running around trying to get to their destination. However, she has to stay focused in what she's doing and block