The first miracle by Jeffery Archer Essay Example for Free

The first miracle by Jeffery Archer Essay Jeffery Archer was once an M.P and deputy chairman of the conservative party he now lives in Cambridge with his wife and two sons. He has written many books and a fictitious play called The accused in which he plays himself in a legal battle to clear himself of murder .At the end of the play the audience must vote if he is guilty or not and the evidence is stacked so they will find him innocent. He is a populist writer -writing for the masses . He has been in the newspaper a lot recently as he is going to court again because new evidence has been given against him and it has been found out that he lied whilst under oath. He may go to prison. The mother in this Roman family (Mater) seems a kind, caring sort of person. She is very understanding and protective especially of her son. She is also very pragmatic this is shown when she chooses to wear the clothes of the locals to keep cool but she changes back into imperial dress before her husband comes home from work because she doesnt want to disrespect his wishes. This shows how much she respects and wants to obey her husband .It also shows her secret respect for Bethlehem and its people. She must love her husband because she came away from Rome to Bethlehem where her husband has been sent by the emperor to govern .She also feels a bit frightened of him as though he over power her His mother followed and stood silently drying her eyes just inside the door -This is when the father is beating the boy. She has a lot of power in the family Although she is living in a patriarchal society .She seems to have a lot of control over her son and she is very aware of everything going on around her .She is the sort of peace keeper in the family and she holds the family together. She knows that her son is mischievous and does punish him. She sometimes gets angry Go and play outside, she had snapped But she knows he is good at heart. At the end of the story she tells her son not to mention the miracle to his father because she knows him and she knows he wouldnt believe it and that he may punish them both because he will want to show that he is powerful. This shows that she knows her husband well enough to know how he will react to certain things, this shows that they must be quite a close family. The boys father (Pater) is a Roman governor in Bethlehem and he looks down on the villagers and has a reputation to keep up this is why he doesnt like his wife dressing like them .He is very prejudice against the villagers which rubs off on his wife Never forget that the people here are all thieves He is very forceful and likes to be in control. This is because of his job, which is to keep order in Bethlehem and to count each inhabitant and tax them accordingly. These is why the locals dont like him and are even scared of his son when he goes to the market ,The boy handed him a few of the worthless Herod coins. The man was about to protest but the boy gave him a look he had seen his father give someone once and walked off, (This is probably that they dont want to anger him by arguing with his family) I think he is good at his job because he is in control of the locals -they obey him and the boy respects his father and wants to be like him because he sees how much power he has and he sees him as an important ruler that Rome just couldnt live without. When the boy goes to market -I havent got all day said the boy, trying to sound like his father The only problem is that he brings his job home with him. This is shown by the text still referring to him as the governor when hes at home The governor rose from his chair and removed the leather belt from around his waist this is why he is often a bit overpowering on his family. He loves his wife very much and his son but he doesnt really understand his son and likes them both to know that he is in charge in the family even though it sometimes seems that the mother has more control over their son. He often gets angry with the boy and thrashes him because he wants him to grow up as the governors son and serve the emperor just like him and the boy is often naughty. He doesnt believe his sons story because he doesnt like to think that one of the locals is special and its not really a very believable story, also the boy has pomegranate juice on him showing that he has eaten a pomegranate -the father thinks that he must have eaten the rest of the food too and thats what really happened to the boy. This shows that he doesnt entirely trust his son and he doesnt want to believe that there is another king better than Caesar. The boy is mischievous and sometimes naughty He had to admit hed been naughty that day, even by the standards of a normal 13 year old. but he does mean well. He is very thoughtful and daydreams a lot as a result of this as he does at the beginning of the story .He is like his dad in what he does this is probably because he has been brought up to respect his father and he knows how powerful his dad is and so tries to be like him. He is also like his mum in the way he thinks because he probably spends the majority of his time with her and so he has come to see things her way. He prefers to use brains than Braun: When his friend says, Ill conquer them and you can govern them the boy replies: A sensible division between brains and Brawn It is the boy that sees the real Christmas story because he still has his childhood innocence and is willing to learn. Also, he is Roman -The invader-and most people disliked the Romans so the fact that a Roman witnesses the birth of Christ is a symbol that Christianity is for everybody and so is Christmas. His experience does change him: It broadens his mind and opens him up to see there are other things in the world and good things about Bethlehem .He doesnt see these things before because his father has told him terrible stories about it and he would rather be back home with all his friends in Rome. The description in this particular part of the story is very vivid., Mezmarised Archer has mixed the language of a child with the thoughts of a child in a more adult language which gives a very good description The woman was very fat He doesnt see that she is actually pregnant and this shows his childhood innocence and thoughts. It is easy to imagine because he has used lots of short, one-word descriptions and sentences so that the text is easier to understand and we can get a better picture of the family. There is also a lot of speech to get over the characters personalities. We are shown that this is a Roman family by the way they think of the locals -They are prejudiced against them, this is shown also by the diction of the family That useless Herod! The market scene makes the story seem more real because its the sort of thing that happens every day to everybody showing that for the boy its just an ordinary day until he sees the Christmas story-taking place. I think that Archers aims for the story -apart from money were to convey a moral message that Christmas and Christianity are for everybody. I think that this story is for older children and adults because a small child may struggle to understand it. I like this story and think that its a really good modern way of writing the Christmas story. A really good picture of the family is built up they are quite close and understanding. It seems like the boy is an only child but this just brings the family even closer.