Fictional-character analysis: Spy School by Stuart Gibbs
Instructions:
7 Paragraph essay/analysis will give full description of the main character within the story, who is Ben Ripley. The analysis should discuss the personality, actions, relationships, and changes that the character experiences throughout the novel. Consider the following questions as you create your essay. What do you know about the character’s personality from the beginning to the end of the story? What words and descriptions does the author use to show you the character’s personality? What are the character’s strength and weaknesses? How does the character treat other character’s? What examples does the author include to show relationships throughout the story? How does the main character change throughout the story? What evidence does the author include to show these changes? How does the author show each character’s feelings toward others?
Each paragraph needs to contain 6-8 sentences.
Solution
Fictional-character analysis: Spy School by Stuart Gibbs
Spy school is a novel whose main character is Ben Ripley. He is a young boy who is in middle school and is a math genius. He leaves middle school to join a Central Intelligence Agents junior Academy. The recruitment into the Academy excites him because he has always dreamt of becoming a secret Agent. However, his first day in the academy turns out to be one that was unanticipated; he meets assassins and ninjas and also gets a chance to meet a beautiful girl, by the name Erica, for whom he developed passion (Smokescreen and the Ice Queen). One student who knew that Ben had cryptography skills requests him to break into a computer system so that they can obtain answers for a test that had been set for them. At the end of the story Ben and Erica and other students saves the school from a bomb that has been hidden near a walkway.
Ben is nerd and is not muscular or well built. The author describes Ben as a clever boy who is a mathematics genius. The author uses words such as geek to describe his overly intellect in math. He also uses the words new kid since Ben has joined the Academy recently and lanky to describe the slim physique (Smokescreen and the Ice Queen). The weaknesses of Ben are seen during conflicts, a good example being the fight he had with a boy known as Chip where he hit Chip to unconsciousness. His strengths include the fact that he is talented in math skills. He is also intelligent because he gets involved in finding and taking down the assassins and the ninjas.
Ben is friendly to other characters. For instance he makes friends with chip a student who wanted help in breaking into a computer system;Ben agrees to help him though Chip gets electrocuted by the door knob on the office door and they are not able to complete their mission. He also made friends with Murray who pretends to be a good friend yet he has intentions of introducing Ben to a bad group called Spyder. Murray defends Ben from Chip at the Mess Hall. He also made a very intimate friendship with Erica. This is shown by the way they work together towards finding who the assassins are. Another instance that shows a close relationship between the two is when they share a kissed after discovering a bomb that had been placed near a walkway. Erica says that she kissed him because she that that was their last moment together, fortunately the bomb did not explode. He shows that he trusts Erica by the way he defends her when Ashley tries to warn him against their friendship. When Ashley tells Ben that Erica is manipulative and mastermind, he says “that’s not true…how could you say that about her?” (Smokescreen and the Ice Queen). He also treats Alexander Hale as a friend; he tells him about the letter he received from the Spyder group that were threatening to attack him.
Ben changes throughout the story; in the beginning the author shows us that he is not one of the best students in the spy school. This is evident in the way he gets into trouble with his fellow students very often. For instance he gets into a fight with Chip on his first day in school, he also faces assassins on the first night and later he had to face threats from a dangerous group called Spyder. He goes to the principal to ask for help after receiving the threats. The principal does not believe him and instead of helping him, he locks him in a secluded dorm that is security tight. However, towards the end of the story, the character seems to have changed. He survives all the misfortunes and manages to make close friends with some of the students and the fact that he survived all the misadventures gave him a feeling that he is on the right track to becoming a decent secret agent (Smokescreen and the Ice Queen).
The author uses monologue and dialogue in bringing out the mental thoughts of the characters and to show the reader the characters’ feelings towards other character. One good example of a monologue in the story is where Erica is asking herself” what was the warmth I felt when we bumped into each other? What was the urge to protect him? Am I, the ice queen, starting to develop feelings?”(Smokescreen and the Ice Queen). This monologue helps the reader of this story to realize what Erica is feeling for Benjamin. An example of Dialogue is that between Ashley and Ben: Ashley says “well the thing about Erica is…she is a manipulative little mastermind.” Ben said “that is not true… how could you say that about her?” (Smokescreen and the Ice Queen). Ben is defending Erica because he loves her.
Therefore, the Spy School story is
a fiction story for the middle school kids. It is about a young boy whose
desire is to work with a Central Intelligence Agency, C.I.A. He is recruited
into a magnate school in a junior C.I.A Academy because of his great math
skills. In the school he undergoes both misadventures because he had to face
several attacks. He also gets good
fortunes since he manages to make friends with people like Erica, Chip and
Mike. His relationship with Erica becomes very intimate since they both have
passionate feelings for one another. In the beginning he seems to be getting
into trouble all the time but in the end he realizes that he can become a good
spy.
Works cited
“Smokescreen and the Ice Queen (A Spy School Series Fanfic) – Jealousy – Wattpad”.Wattpad.Com, Accessed 16 March 2017. https://www.wattpad.com/213969405-smokescreen-and-the-ice-queen-a-spy-school-series.