Essay, Research Paper: Broken Arrow

1. The Plot

In Broken Arrow, the main story turns around two stolen atomic bombs. Hale and his best friend Deakins are two pilots sent out to test a B-3 bomber plane on a nice afternoon. The plane had onboard two nuclear bombs. All of a sudden, the two friends get into an argument and then they start physically fighting. Deakins finishes by ejecting Hale out of plane who lands safely with his parachute to the ground. Now Deakins had a plan to set the atomic bombs off. All this happens while the United States president is sleeping and the air force cannot and does not want to contact him early in the morning with such bad news. After his landing, Hale meets a park ranger (Terry) who would help him throughout the rest of his mission (to stop Deakins from setting off the bombs). After catching up with Deakins, Hale sort of defeated Deakins' helpers and ran away with the bombs and with Deakins after his butt. He tried to hide the bombs into an abandoned cave but Deakins stopped him and set the bomb off, which was later turned off by Hale. Deakins ran away on a train with the other bomb heading towards Las Vegas, the city in which the president currently is in. After a lot of fights on the train, Hale and Terry end up turning off the bomb, knocking out Deakins and jumping off the train before it exploded in flames.


2. The Themes

There are three obvious themes in Broken Arrow. The first theme is betrayal. First of all, Deakins betrayed his best friend Hale while trying to kill him on the plane. The two friends had been really close for a few years but Deakins always thought of Hale as a chicken, which is the reason why he tried to kill Hale. He was scared that if he would tell Hale about his plans, Hale might refuse. In that case, he'd have to kill him because he knew too much. That is the reason why Deakins tried to eliminate Hale and betrayal him. Deakins also betrayed the air force because he was a really high ranked person in the air force and he let them down by trying to set off two nuclear weapons. Once again, Deakins has committed betrayal, this time, towards the air force.

The second and third themes in Broken Arrow are love and hate. Even though they are the complete opposite, they are the two things that started the whole dispute between Deakins and Hale. As you may have noticed, the two buddies loved each other like a mother loves her child. They were always there for each other and their relationship had gotten to a very high level of trust. But the 'love' theme developed before the beginning of the B-3 testing mission turn out to become hate. Deakins finally realized how chicken Hale was. He always though of him as a loser because he could beat him in boxing and also because he was generally stronger then him. Also, Hale was more scared to do some things. That's why Deakins started to hate him. Deakins wanted to set off the bombs and he knew that is he'd ask Hale to help, he'd back out on him. The though of that made Deakins really hate Hale and that's the reason why he's tried to kill him several times throughout the book.



3. Special Facts About Broken Arrow

Broken Arrow is relatively easy to read. The whole book has about seventy chapters. The reason why there are so many chapters is because every time the scene changes, there is a new chapter. For example, the second chapter could talk about Deakins and his plans while the third chapter goes back in time by 5 minutes explaining what happened 'in the meantime …' of chapter two. As soon as u get the hang of it, this system used by the author makes it quite easier to understand what's going on because you know when the scene changes.


4. About The Movie

Some people might have seen the movie Broken Arrow which came out in summer '95. I have personally seen the movie back then and I remembered it was filled with action. If I'd have to compare the book to the movie, I would say that the movie is quite a bit better because you get all the action. Also, when you read a book, you get a mental picture of what's going on. Sometimes, that mental picture can turn out to be completely different then what the author is trying to say and the effects (such as fright) while reading the book could be destroyed. When you see the movie, you see it how it was meant to be and with all the action included. I personally believe that it is better to see the movie then read the book. However, I have liked this book and though it was excellent. If the book would not to be compared with the movie, it would be absolutely great in my point of view.

5. Bibliography

1. Rovin, Jeff. Broken Arrow. New York, Boulevard Books, 1995. 263 p.