Theme
There are two main themes in the book Leviathan. The first is how war is tragic, destructive, and costly. After a couple chapters into the story war breaks out and the cost is immediately apparent. War in itself is always tragic because people are always going to get hurt and property will be destroyed. In World War I, thousands upon thousands of people were killed. The men fighting in the war died without ever seeing their families again. A saddening example in this story is when the ship Leviathan is attacked by German planes and you can see people dying (see picture below). It is tremendously hard on families after the loss of a loved one, both emotionally and usually financially. Every time that a country goes to war the financial burden to that country is huge to the point that most countries end up in debt.
There are two main themes in the book Leviathan. The first is how war is tragic, destructive, and costly. After a couple chapters into the story war breaks out and the cost is immediately apparent. War in itself is always tragic because people are always going to get hurt and property will be destroyed. In World War I, thousands upon thousands of people were killed. The men fighting in the war died without ever seeing their families again. A saddening example in this story is when the ship Leviathan is attacked by German planes and you can see people dying (see picture below). It is tremendously hard on families after the loss of a loved one, both emotionally and usually financially. Every time that a country goes to war the financial burden to that country is huge to the point that most countries end up in debt.
The second is to be more observant or aware of what is happening. During the course of the story there are plenty of times Deryn, known as Dylan to the other characters, does something that hints she is a girl. Sometimes her voice sounds like a girl’s voice, but still the other officers and even Alek are oblivious to it. This shows how unobservant people can be at times. Oddly, the characters in the book do not pick up on the feminine traits that Deryn emits. A real world example of showing a lack of observation would be during the Holocaust. Hitler sent all the Jewish people to concentration camps yet with all these people missing, the rest of the German society did not seem to pay attention to what happened to them. Some people eventually figured it out but many people chose to remain oblivious. I think the author’s overall intention is for everyone to be more observant in the simple every day things and in the bigger picture for the necessity of war.
Works Cited:
Westerfeld, Scott. "The Great War". Image. n.d. Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan. Web. 27 Oct. 2012
< http://boingboing.net/2009/10/06/scott-westerfelds-le.html >
Westerfeld, Scott, "Carnage on the Spine", Drawing, n.d., Book-Leviathan, e-reading, web. 20 Oct. 2012, <http://www.e-reading.org.ua/illustrations/128/128152-26.jpg >.
Westerfeld, Scott, "Alek and Deryn", Drawing, n.d., Newest Fandom, My Own Little World, 20 Oct. 2012
< http://kheidelberger.blogspot.com/2012/02/newest-fandom.html >.
Westerfeld, Scott. "The Great War". Image. n.d. Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan. Web. 27 Oct. 2012
< http://boingboing.net/2009/10/06/scott-westerfelds-le.html >
Westerfeld, Scott, "Carnage on the Spine", Drawing, n.d., Book-Leviathan, e-reading, web. 20 Oct. 2012, <http://www.e-reading.org.ua/illustrations/128/128152-26.jpg >.
Westerfeld, Scott, "Alek and Deryn", Drawing, n.d., Newest Fandom, My Own Little World, 20 Oct. 2012
< http://kheidelberger.blogspot.com/2012/02/newest-fandom.html >.