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The book has many different different themes. One would be that friendship can help you overcome almost all odds. This is shown when Mark is losing his mind and he is barely hanging on but he keeps a hold long enough to get his friend to safety. "I need you to be really brave right now. There're people... that are going to help you" (pg 322) this is one example of him overcoming his insanity for his friend. Another time it is shown is when they overcome many odds to rescue their friends from the flare infected people. "They finally saw the berg again... more beautiful than Mark would've ever guessed" (pg 286) this quote shows that mark was super excited to see it because they had just been through a horrible scenario and somehow made it out alive. I have experienced this in real life because I have had friendships get me through many tough times in my life. Another theme would be to always be brave irrelevant of how bad of circumstances you are in. This is shown many many times throughout the book. It is full of bravery. Like when Mark went and saved Alec and Baxter from the rushing water when he "grips the railing with his left hand and... grasping the sleeve" (pg 177) this is one of the many brave acts in the book. When Mark helped Alec take down the berg by shooting at it "Mark pointed the gun... and fired" (pg 28) yet again another act of bravery. When Mark ran through tons of flare infected people to rescue his captured friends and he would "pick off the attackers one by one" (pg 266) the book is full of bravery and the author wants you to be brave as well. I have experienced this in real life in ways as well because there have always been moments where I have needed to step up and be brave in sports such as football.

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Alec is a former soldier that meets Mark and Trina in the tunnels during the flare. He is a very brave guy, like a lot of the main characters. He is developed as a tough guy on the outside and a soft man on the inside. "The older man was gruff, a former soldier who rarely smiled... but  Alec had a heart of gold" (pg 8) this explains he acts tough but cares. He is important because he is the soldier with the wit, strength, and bravery to help them along their journey. One example of his heroism is when he rescued Mark and Trina in the tunnels. "It's like some kind of superhero entered the room" (pg 76) this is what Alec did to the homeless people in the tunnels after they pulled a knife on Trina and Mark. He, like almost all the characters in the book, becomes infected from the disease. He starts to become insane. This is shown when he is in the berg with Trina and Mark and he says "I'm sick Mark, I'm really sick" (pg 301) this obviously shows that he isn't normal and he is aware of it. He isn't in it for the money and he never has been. He was a soldier because he wanted to serve not get rich. He goes in different areas of Maslow's hierarchy throughout the book. He hit a point in the book where he was only in security for the remainder because of something that had happened. They were going to rescue Trina and Alec's partner, Lana, was being stabbed by the insane people and Alec knew she was in pain so he "Aimed and shot" (pg 266) at Lana and killed her to put her out of her misery because it was obvious she didn't have a chance. This tore him apart because he lost a dear friend and partner. "The man had a look on his face that said a thousand things. but laced through it all was profound sadness." (pg 267) this shows the toll it must of took on him to do what he had to do. After all of this he was stuck on security or lower in Maslow's hierarchy for the rest of the book because he wouldn't ever recover from his partner dieing. He is important outside of the book because he represents the heroism of a soldier. This is shown by the many deed he does in the book. One act was that in the end of the book "the berg came crashing into the building" (pg 324) with him in it killing himself, Trina, and Mark to save Deedee and try to give the human race a chance. The author probably has a profound respect for soldiers which is why he made Alec so brave.

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Trina is another main character in this story. She is Mark's crush who has been friends with him before the sun flare hit the earth. She in a way is a mirror of Mark just simply female. She is extremely brave just like Mark. She is developed as a person far from your average girl. She often defies what you would think of being the stereotypical girl. this is shown in her bravery and her ability to keep up with or out do the boys. This is shown when she says "What? you don't think we womenfolk can handle ourselves? You guys go" (pg 115) which shows that she is not what you would call stereotypical as far as the weak woman stereotype goes. She is a critical part of the story and is often a part of many battles that she helps win. One example was when they were all in a brawl with a bunch of crazy people infected by the disease and she said "Stop it! everyone stop and listen to me" (pg 277) she got all of the people to stop fighting and allowed them to get a way out of their deaths that seemed certain until that point. She has authority over people again defying the stereotypes of women. She, like Mark, changes in the way that she contracts the virus and begins to go insane as well. She had known Mark for a long time before the flare hit, yet when they went to rescue her she didn't recognize him and said "Who are you?" (pg 271), even though they had been best friends for years and didn't recognize him at all, showing something had gotten messed up in her brain when they were being held by the crazy people. Like I have said before she defies the stereotypes of your average girl and is brave, if not braver, than the boys in the story. Since this is such a long story she as well would of been in different areas of Maslow's throughout the book. In the beginning she was on love and belonging because she had friends and was being happy with the village she lived with and she felt safe. She is important outside of the book because she represents the fight against female stereotypes and that woman can be as good as men if not better. This is shown in her many acts of bravery such as when they were being chased by the insane people and she held on to the little girl the whole way without even complaining. "Trina took Deedee back into her arms" (pg 284) this shows that she did take Deedee and ran with her.

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Mark is one of the main characters that we follow throughout the book. He is an overall brave and courageous guy who also . This is shown many times throughout the book such as when they are being attacked by a berg (basically a hovercraft) and he attacks back even with little chance of succeeding. Another one is when he is rescuing their friends from the infected people with again very slim chances of survival. He is important because he is who is followed throughout the story and he got Deedee (she is a character in the book but not quite a main one, however she is a main one later in the book series) to safety which sprung the start of all the rest of the books in the series. He does some drastic changes throughout the book especially mentally. This is caused by the disease that was released by the berg people or the PFC (post flare coalition). These changes include increased aggressiveness and loss of sanity. This is shown in different parts such as when he wanted to kill a guy in the most agonizing way when he would of never done that before. "He held on, kept the man in position-half in half out" (pg 208) he was doing this while a huge cargo door was shutting so it would shut on the man's body which would cause a tremendous amount of pain when he could of just thrown him out. He is not driven by money because there isn't a form of currency that close after the flare because it simply devastated the world. Mark jumps up and down Maslow's hierarchy throughout the book. In the beginning he is on esteem because he is "proud" (pg 8) of his elk pelt that he had and he has friends and is becoming happy after the flare. Then he is in physiological later when he doesn't care about Alec but just simply needs food "Food. Please tell me there's food" this is showing he isn't worried about anything but food and survival. He is important to the real world because at times he defies human nature and goes outside of Maslow's hierarchy, which is showing true bravery and true courage, which he is a symbol for. One example is when they are being attacked by the berg, clearly showing he doesn't have any security because he is being shot at, yet he still manages to think of his friends first and be at love and belonging. "Mark bent down, grabbing Darnell" (pg 22) this is his friend who had just been shot and darts continue to fly through the air, yet he cares for Darnell first. The best example of this in the book though is how the book ends. They have just got Deedee to safety by putting her through the trans (a teleportation device) and him and Trina are surrounded by infected people while they both are on the brink of losing their sanity, yet they end it all with the most human thing possible, love. They kiss as they die from the berg that Alec flew straight into the building killing them all. "Throwing her arms around his neck. Kissing him" (pg 323) This is how the book ends, with them kissing, then dieing in a fiery explosion while on the brink of insanity.