The Theme Of Sacrifice In Luke Ault's Armada

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Sometimes, a sacrifice is needed. By Luke Ault

Imagine living your normal life, when all of a sudden aliens attack your planet.
That is the concept of the book Armada by Ernest Cline. This book takes place in the year 2018 on Earth. It follows the life of Zack Lightman, a high schooler and sixth in the world in the video game Armada. Armada is a video game which takes place in modern times, and is a drone piloting simulator where you help defend Earth from alien invaders, which actually is real. The book starts with Zack seeing an alien drone outside of his school, and is later recruited to the Earth Defence Alliance because of his drone piloting skills. This novel shows us that sometimes you need to sacrifice yourself to protect …show more content…

This is shown when Ray takes him to the Crystal Palace for his briefing, “‘I know you, Zack’ Ray said. ‘You've been waiting for something like this to happen. Something important. Something meaningful. A dare to be great situation. Right?’ He took me by the shoulders. ‘Well this is it, ace! The universe has given you a chance to use your gifts to help save the world. Do you really expect me to believe that you're gonna pass it up to run home, sit on your a**, and watch the end of the world on TV?’” (Cline 103). This shows how Zack was thinking about just going home and not joining the EDA to help defend Earth, so Ray reminded him of what he was fighting for, making him feel like he would be a coward not to join, and that if he joined, it would be a major sacrifice. Another example of this is when the Crystal Palace is under attack by alien drones, and Zack has to make a last minute decision to enlist in the EDA or watch the Palace crumble to the ground, “Another tremor rocked the base to its foundations. The lights embedded in the ceiling of my station dimmed for half a second. ‘Okay, yes! I want to f****** enlist! Sign my a** up!’”(Cline 146). This shows how Zack knew that if he didn't enlist and help defend the base, that he and everybody else in it would most likely die, which is a major sacrifice. These prove that Zack has hesitations on joining the EDA, but he joined after thinking about what he was fighting

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