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Wil Parke Manipulation

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“He came toward her and for a moment she didn’t know who it was. She had just killed a bunch of people and compromised Masters and her head was full of bees” (Barry 382). In the novel Lexicon, by Max Barry, Emily Ruff is recruited by a secret society of “poets”--who later live to regret it--as she is good with words. Wil Parke survived a word that killed even though he wasn’t supposed to. He’s the only one that can stop it, however he has no recollection of his life before. The first protagonist, Wil Parke, has a gift of being almost completely immune to the manipulation of poets. He also happens to be the only person with any knowledge of the word that kills; it’s because of this that Wil is both targeted and extremely valuable. Wil Parke’s ability to resist the words of poets and his knowledge of a dangerous word, gives him an advantage to stopping the word and saving anyone in danger. …show more content…

“‘So why do you care?’ ‘Because it’s out again.’ ‘And I can stop it?’ ‘Yes’ ‘That doesn’t make sense.’ ‘That’s because it’s not really chemicals.’ Tom said. ‘Is it a word?’” (Barry 45). The only reason that Wil was being kept alive was because of his knowledge of the extremely dangerous word that managed to get out a second time. The secret society known as poets had erased Wil’s memories of any events that involved them and the word prior to his kidnapping, and Wil is one of few people who possess a unique resistance to the poet’s persuasive language. Tom needed him to put a stop to it as he was the only living person who had survived what should have killed him, and his gift to resist the mind control of the poets is what provided him with the knowledge of the unknown word. The gift that Wil Parke possesses is just as much of a disadvantage as it is

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