Alive Book Report

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Alive Book Report

The book ALIVE, by Piers Paul Read identified many possible themes, although I

do think there are two that stand out. These two themes are survival and cooperation.

Survival plays a major throughout the entire story. The most gruesome part in the story

occurred when the remaining 28 passengers of the Fairchild were forced to cut up and eat

there deceased friends and family members so that they would be able to survive. This

drastic action was long disputed. This group of people went on for two weeks eating

nothing but small portions of chocolate before they thought about their alternative food

source. Secondly, throughout the ten weeks the survivors were in the Andes Mountains,

which in the end was only 16 people, cooperation was a necessity. The one instance that

stands out was on the last expedition when Roberto Canessa and Nando Parrado set off

for civilization. For ten days the two boys walked the endless chain of snow covered

mountains until they finally found a Chilean peasant. During these crucial days it was

only their minds of steel and endless cooperation that got them through. Parrado and

Canessa were the one’s who saved their friends in the Andes.

The setting in ALIVE gave you a real sense of how terrible it was for the Andes

survivors. First of all, the Andes setting was basically what kept the survivors from being found by an airplane. The snow covered mountains blended to the roof of the ...

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