Genre
Biography, Non-Fiction
Setting and Context
The book is set in 1915 during the First World War.
Narrator and Point of View
Third-person narration from multiple perspectives.
Tone and Mood
Formal, Tense, Grim
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is RMS Lusitania and its occupants while the antagonist is the German U-boat and naval forces.
Major Conflict
Maritime travel is threatened by the submarine warfare that the German forces declared however RMS Lusitania bound for Liverpool sailing from New York proceeds.
Climax
The climax of the book occurs when RMS Lusitania is hit by a torpedo fired from a German U-boat killing 1,198 occupants.
Foreshadowing
The events preceding the sinking entails warnings and indications that foreshadow the attack by the German forces.
Understatement
The captain and key figures in the war understate the threat that is the German U-boats as they misjudged their firepower.
Allusions
The book alludes to the escalation in World War I after Germany declared submarine warfare following the naval blockade by the Allies. Furthermore, it refers to American neutrality in the war, as many believe the sinking prompted their eventual entry.
Imagery
“A gray-green cloud rose from the German side and began drifting across the blasted terrain as German soldiers opened the valves on six thousand tanks filled with over 160 tons of chlorine gas arrayed along a four-mile stretch of the front—the first ever use of lethal gas on a battlefield.”
Paradox
RMS Lusitania was considered invulnerable to the weapons of war yet it sank in minutes.
Parallelism
N/A
Metonymy and Synecdoche
U-boats refer to the German submarines.
Personification
“The war had grown darker and had sired new tactics for killing.”
