The Racketeer Themes

Mood- The mood of the book is a mood of suspense and action. I tried to set the suspense with the use of the ellipses and the increase in the volume of music when the scene changed from the trip to Jamaica to battered Nathan Cooley. I also thought that starting out the trailer with just the picture of the jail cell set a mysterious or suspenseful tone over the “movie.” I did this in order to capture the suspense that I felt as I read The Racketeer because there were many plot twists and switchbacks that helped build the mystery of the case.
Themes- The two themes in my trailer are, “Greed drives men to do awful things,” and, “Passion is a driving force of greed.” I think that these are major themes in The Racketeer because Max committed the awful act of condemning Nathan. He also took the gold to share with his companion, Vanessa. I brought these themes out when I mentioned how Nathan got stuck in Jamaica because of Max’s greed, and when Max committed such an atrocious crime for Vanessa.
Symbols- The two symbols that I used were the gold bars and the surgery. The gold stood for the money, but it also stood for the driver of Max’s greed and passion. The surgery stood for the surgery, but it also stood for the drastic change in Malcolm's life as he transitioned to Max. He knew his life would never be the same and this was the first step to changing

his life.
Main Characters- I chose the pictures I chose because they matched the character definitions as close as I could get them.

Malcolm was described as a bigger guy with a round face and long hair. While I chose the picture for Max because he underwent plastic surgery and was referred to as a “hipster.” He cut his hair really short and had round tortoiseshell glasses. I chose the picture I did for Vanessa because she was described as a beautiful African American woman. I then chose the picture I did for Nathan Cooley because when he went to Jamaica he was wearing a floral shirt. Nathan was also a white male, of average

build.
Setting- The story of Malcolm Bannister starts off in Frostburg prison in Virginia. He is then released and goes to a hospital where he gets his plastic surgery. He goes to Miami. From there he goes to Nathan’s house. He takes Nathan to Miami where they fly to Jamaica. The setting of the story is all over the east coast of the United States and then it transfers to Jamaica where Nathan Cooley is imprisoned on false charges.
Conflict- Max faces many conflicts throughout the book, however, the two major conflicts are the threat from Quinn Rucker and attempting to procure the gold. I brought out the conflict with Quinn Rucker by explaining that the reason Malcolm underwent the plastic surgery and other changes is because of the threat from Quinn. I also brought out the conflict with the gold by using the symbolism of the gold bars and talking about how Malcolm was driven to get the money.