W orksheet analysis of a Novel

A PROJECT IN CREATIVE WRITING

Submitted by Submitted to
Jomar Atos Aquino Ms. Arlene A. Bondad

HUMSS 12 COMPASSION
S.Y. 2019-2020
 Worksheet Analysis of a Novel

Title of the Novel: The Conspiracy

Author: Jasmine Cresswell

Date of Publication: 2001

Answer the following:

1. Plot
a. Tell in two or three to ten sentences what happens in the story.

Answer:

For Verity Marlowe, all that was good in life ended with the death of her vibrant
young husband, Sam, six months ago. Since then, she's been on leave from her job with
the State Department, drifting along in a haze of self-pity and vodka. That ends when she
receives two surprising visits. The first is from Sam's ghost, telling her to get a grip, get
back to work, and even to start dating. The other is from Michael Strait, a rogue agent
who was Sam's best friend: the only other man Verity ever considered loving.
Michael tells her that an explosive situation has developed involving foreign
governments, and Verity is the woman of the hour. The State Department needs her
connections, a mysterious informant will deal only with her, and Michael claims to need
her both on the job and in his arms. Suddenly, Verity has no choice but to come back to
life and prove she hasn't lost her edge amid all the deadly complexities of the high-stakes
world of international terrorism.
What follows is a cat-and-mouse game against a fanatic, and Verity is not only fighting
for the security of the U.S., but for the promise of life itself -- with Michael by her side.
b. Does the story progress in chronological order, or does it begin in the middle or at the
end? Is the plot cyclical? Is there any foreshadowing in events? In tone?

Answer: What I liked: the plot was detailed and engrossing. The politics for Kashmir and
that region were done well in the book. I enjoyed Verity's connection to the place as a
child and the flashbacks she had of her life there. And the story begin with a twist with a
cyclical plot. Started when his husband is died then some flashbacks that can mesmerize
his past together with his husband until the future where she is deployed by his
commander to be the part of investigation.

2. Characters
a. Who is the protagonist? Give name, chief character trait at the beginning, chief
character trait at the end, and the way he/she is changed (if at all) by the outcome of the
action.
b. Who is the antagonist? What kind of person is the antagonist contrasted to the
protagonist?

Answer:

1. Verity Marlowe – The Protagonist in the story, at the Introduction the author describe
Verity as a mess, she was intoxicated with alcohol, self-deprecating and someone who
had lost her dream of living again. She's a gritty heroine and I liked her story, but I would
have enjoyed some chapters from the hero and even the antagonist, Verity fell apart. She
has taken a sabbatical from her job as a State Department analyst that has lasted six
months and uses vodka to forget her grief. Her superiors believe that Verity, once one of
their best employees is now a high security risk.at the time goes by she started to felt
guilty because she still didn’t trust Michael about the information she knows. She is also
known as Ms. Anal Retentive- a very intelligent government intelligence.
2. Sam Marlowe- He is the husband of Verity Marlowe, the reason why Verity can't move
on from the past she experienced. In life of Verity, Sam is the type of husband had been
gentlest of men. In death, he h has apparently become a great deal more aggressive. He
is so very caring and fun loving husband of Verity but suddenly it change when he
diagnosed has a cancer, he started to be more aggressive and it may even hurtled verity.

3. Dick Pedro- The bos of Verity, the one who informs Verity that she has been chosen
to work a situation in her specialty, the India-Pakistan desk.

4. Michael Straight – the new buddy of verity , he didn’t like verity for their first meeting
because of his ego but suddenly at the time goes by he started to fell in love with Verity.
He wasn’t to remove the pain handled by Verity. He was a proud man who did nothing
but impress his boss.

5. Kahlid Mohammed- the childhood friend of Verity, he is unfortunately assassinated

before he gave the information to Verity about the Things that he knows about the
criminals.

6. Farooq- A business ties family member and came from a wealthy clam, but since he
is being deal with the agents who was monitoring the illegal activities of China in Kashmir.

7. Yousaf- The leader of agents that was Michael belong. He is the one who established
the group who caught the illegal activities made by China.

Answer:
The antagonist in the story is Verity, she's so lovely and fun women but at the time when
his husband was died, she started to become miserable and lonely contrasted to kashmir,
he is so very boastful and bossy , he wanted to pursue to kill many people because of
what he is experience in the past.
3. Conflict
a. What is the central conflict? State the opposing forces as specifically as possible.
Remember the central conflict is usually the beginning key trait vs. the ending key trait or
some opposing trait.

Answer:

The central conflict of the story is three.

1. character vs Character

a. Before Verity's Husband dies, she feels that her friend Jennie likes her husband, so
she can't be friends with him, because Verity believes Sam has changed because
of Jennie.
b. Verity and Michael do not know who the terrorist wants to fire the missiles because
at least one does not see who they can be, but what they thought was a friend was
when it came to their breaking up with Andrew Breitman in Kashmir.

2. Character vs Society

a. Since Michael and Verity started to love each other they began to doubt that it
might end their lives together. Their misguided will be the hindrance to completing
the mission. So they kept it in their company to avoid being affected by any job.
b. The society in which Verity and Michael live is delicate because they believe that
Verity is just using Michael to move her on to her deceased husband, and in the
eyes of the people, they should not be together because Verity still married to his
husband.

3. Character vs Self

a. All the characters experienced to fight themselves, for example, Verity- her rival
is her past. The former Verity who relies solely on her husband, so from the
 death of his husband he abandoned herself, she became an alcoholic and even
abandoned her job. And after she talked to her husband she promised that she
will stand up and she will fix her life again.
Michael he is facing and fighting himself because he never wanted to defeat
by someone because of his ego as a man. But then as a time goes by when he
started to love Verity little by little he accepts himself.

c. What are the important minor conflicts?

Answer:

The minor conflict of the story is Verity jealousy with Jennie, because she had no
real basis for her doubts, nor the story didn’t tell that her husband and Jennie had an
interaction.

d. What is the climax?

Answer:

The climax of the story is that Verity and Michael find out that Andrew, their friend
is their main enemy of the story and the murderer of their Kalhid and not the Chinese.

e. What is the resolution?

Answer:

1. character vs Character

a. Before Verity's Husband dies, she feels that her friend Jennie likes her husband, so
she can't be friends with him, because Verity believes Sam has changed because
of Jennie.
 Resolution:
Verity accepted the Fact that Jennie is not her enemy, because Sam is becoming more
aggressive with her because it is a side effect of the drug Sam is taking, and she finds
that Jennie only cares so much about her life.

b. Verity and Michael do not know who the terrorist wants to fire the missiles because
at least one does not see who they can be, but what they thought was a friend was
when it came to their breaking up with Andrew Breitman in Kashmir.

Resolution:
Verity and Michael confront their friend Andrew to surrendered to his crime, but the
evil still prevails so that Michael accidentally kills Andrew.

c. Character vs Society

a. Since Michael and Verity started to love each other they began to doubt that it
might end their lives together. Their misguided will be the hindrance to
completing the mission. So they kept it in their company to avoid being affected
by any job.

Resolution:
They continued their romance and didn't pay attention to what anyone else said,
because everyone knew they were in love, and since Verity's husband was dead she had
the right to fall in love again because the marriage could end.

b. The society in which Verity and Michael live is delicate because they believe
that Verity is just using Michael to move her on to her deceased husband, and
in the eyes of the people, they should not be together because Verity still
married to his husband.

d. Character vs Self
 a. All the characters experienced to fight themselves, for example, Verity- her rival
is her past. The former Verity who relies solely on her husband, so from the
death of his husband he abandoned herself, she became an alcoholic and even
abandoned her job.

Resolution:
And after she talked to her husband she promised that she will stand up and
she will fix her life again.
Michael he is facing and fighting himself because he never wanted to defeat
by someone because of his ego as a man. But then as a time goes by when he
started to love Verity little by little he accepts himself.

4. Setting
a. What is the time and place of the story?
Answer:

Kashmir, December 25 1999 in Tibetan mountain pass in the Himalayas.

b. Does setting affect the action or influence characters’ behavior?

Answer:

The setting affects the action or influence characters’ behavior because the
characters in the story are not all from Tibetan or in Kashmir some of them are from
China, Pakistan or in states, the setting where the story happened is affecting the
persons or characters behavior. Setting is the mood of the story and it gives how the
character respond in any kind of situations.
c. Is the setting symbolic or ironic?

Answer:
I think that the setting in the story is both ironic and symbolic, because of the
characteristic of both of them seeing in the story.
They describe, analyze and emphasize each setting of the story for the readers to easy
for them to understand the story.

5. Point of View

a. What specific type of point of view is used?

Answer:
The specific Point of view used by the author is 3rd Persons Point of view

b. Is the narrator a participant in the story? Major or Minor participant?

Answer:
I think that the author has a minor participants in the story.

c. Does point of view affect characterization? Is the point of view biased or

unreliable?
Answer:
Since that the author used the third-person point of view is a form of storytelling in
which a narrator relates all the action of their work using a third-person pronoun such as
"he" or "she." And a third-person point of view can be omniscient, in which the narrator
knows all of the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in the story. It’s not a biased
and not unreliable it’s just the author put his own characterization in the story.

6. Figurative Language
a. Does the author use imagery or strong or strong sensory language? What effect does
the imagery have on tone or characterization?
Answer:
I believe that the author used Figurative language, in the development of the story
because some of the figurative use in the story is simile, metaphor, and personification,
there is also hyperbole, and also it can be found in sensory images and sensory details,
as in the first chapter describe the characters and the author shows or feels what each
character in the story feels like.
Imagery, the descriptive words used to describe people, places, things, and
situations all create imagery in the mind of the reader, so as I read the novel the author
describe the characters, things and places as well as situations, the reader creates the
imagery from the words. The tone of a text may be described as the additive collection of
images: “It was a dark and stormy night,” lends itself to dark and troubled tone. “There,
they basked in the warm, while sipping champagne on the beach,” may lead to a happier
tone.

b. Does the author used symbols? Identify the literal object, action, or person and its
symbolic meaning.
Answer:
When I read the novel I was very much aware of the symbolism as the gesture of
the characters, their actions, and even the situation. in their verbal and nonverbal actions,
we see that it has a developing symbol.

c. Does the author use irony? What is the discrepancy between expectation and reality?
Answer:
The author uses an Irony because she relates the situation in reality, we all know
that in our world, it is becoming increasingly obvious who is the strongest of all. which
country is more powerful.

d. Does the author use allusions? Explain the significance.

Answer:
 Allusions are an important part of understanding literature because they give us a
deeper understanding of an author's message. so the author uses an allusion for the
readers for them to understand the story, An author can skillfully draw upon allusions to
give a story, poem, play, or another literary form more meaning or to provide clues about
an author's message, and we can see that as we read the novel we gradually understand
everything.
e. What secondary meaning does figurative language produce in the story?
Answer:
Figurative language can enhance characterization in a short story.
Characterization refers to how the author chooses to reveal a character’s personality,
virtues and faults.
.

7. Tone
a. Identify the tone of the opening paragraph.
Answer:
The Tone of the opening paragraph of the novel I read is "Verity, of Verity's love
for the deceased husband". The agony of love that ended in death.
On the other hand, is Michael that wasn't or without direction and loneliness, showing
Isolated mood and depression

c. Identify two or three dominant elements in producing the tone.

Answer:
Authors use elements such as syntax, diction, imagery, details, and figurative
language to create tone, and Author's Diction is so deep that the novel is not easy to
understand, he also uses syntax to divide paragraphs, imagery to make the reader feel
what he wants to convey, he uses these elements to create an effective tone.

d. Does the author make a deceptive use of tone to trick the reader and heighten
the impact of the outcome?
Answer:
 Definitely, yes! Because She used Irony to give some twist and how her story is
being discussed in the reality of life.

8. Central Idea

a. Assemble the facts of the story.

Answer:
This book is about Verity Marlowe. After the death of her husband she falls in a
downward spiral of alcoholism and self-pity. Until one day a funny encounter with
someone from her past shakes her loose from her stupor. Just in time to get back to work
and save her country and her childhood friend. He and his family are in trouble and she
is the only one who speaks his language. She rushes to his aid only to find that the other
agent in charge of the whole thing is Michael Strait. To her shock she realizes that the
simple truths that she knew about him were really well crafted lies. Can she forgive him
enough to save a country and herself? Is she going to trust him? Or can she open her
heart for Michael?

1. Identify the general subject of the story.

Answer:
This book clearly suffers from back of the box syndrome sometimes I wonder if the
person who writes the synopsis on the back flap really reads the book at all. At first glance
I thought that this book was just another run of the mill anti-terrorist book. This is not the
case however it is a very delightful book filled with funny lines romantic scenes and a bit
of a twist.

2. Tell in one sentence what happens in the story, including outcome.

Answer:
Verity and Michael Accept that they can't resist what their hearts are beating for
each other, and in return for that love, they are willing to sacrifice themselves.
3. Re-identify the protagonist, including his dominant character trait and his change or
Lack of change as a result of the outcome of the conflict.
Answer:
Character vs Self
All the characters experienced to fight themselves, for example, Verity- her rival is
her past. The former Verity who relies solely on her husband, so from the death of his
husband he abandoned herself, she became an alcoholic and even abandoned her job.

Resolution:
And after she talked to her husband she promised that she will stand up and
she will fix her life again.
Michael he is facing and fighting himself because he never wanted to defeat by someone
because of his ego as a man. But then as a time goes by when he started to love Verity
little by little he accepts himself.

b. Put the three facts listed above into one statement.

Answer:
Do not give trust to someone's confidence immediately. You must open your heart,
to love again. Power is what destroys a nation.

c. Translate this specific statement into more general terms. Do not mention specific
characters or events in your general statement of central idea.
Answer:
In our lives, our most problems come the times when destiny tests us, but the worst
thing is that we lose the only person who has given us love and care. but the most
important thing we should do is to try and not to be alone on the one hand, as if we thought
we didn't have anything in the world, to be strong and not to be afraid to open our hearts
to someone willing to love us even if the worst experience ever comes with a positive
future, always trust God, because his love is eternal.