Essay Questions

Who is the central character in The Gray Man?

The central character is Court Gentry. He is a very dangerous man on the run because he killed the wrong person during his previous CIA operation. Court Gentry completes impossible tasks ahead of him without being noticed. Therefore, Gentry is given the title "Gray Man" because he is a top assassin and always gets his target during operations. The most interesting thing is that Gentry is an average person who can rarely be noticed in the crowd because he does not attract attention. However, behind the scenes, Gentry is very dangerous and is on the CIA's list of the most wanted men. The CIA officers are instructed to shoot and kill Gentry on sight, but that is a task they will hardly accomplish.

What is the role of Al Jazeera journalists in northern Iraq?

Al Jazeera journalists in Iraq are not doing their legitimate job of giving unbiased coverage because they are smuggled into the conflict scene by Al-Qaida to deceive the world of their victory in Northern Iraq. Therefore, the primary role of the Al Jazeera journalists is to provide coverage of Al-Qaida's victory to give the world misleading information. Consequently, the journalists are being used for propaganda to promote extremists' work in Syria and Iraq.

Does terrorism emerge as one of the primary themes?

Most of the book series is focused on Al Qaida, a terrorist organization trying to gain legitimacy through extremism and killing innocent souls in the name of Allah. The coverage of Syria and Iraq demonstrates the violent activities of Al Qaida and their mission to brainwash the world. Al Qaida has also smuggled A Jazeera journalists to spread propaganda about their victory against the US's CIA intelligence officers. For instance, Al Qaida orders the smuggled journalists to show the world the corpse of an American CIA officer to confirm that they are gaining control.