The Soldier by Rupert Brooke - Reflection

Every year, we need young men in Singapore to do National Service.

Why do you think national service is compulsory in Singapore and why is this important?

In this poem, the speaker expresses his love for his country, England. Do you have this same spirit of patriotism towards Singapore? Why? Do you still find this same spirit of patriotism in Singapore? Why?

            The soldier by Rupert Brooke is a war poem about a soldier’s patriotism towards his country, England. It reflects how he is willing to die in a war for his country.

            Similarly in Singapore, every year Singaporeans of the age of 18 who are able-bodied are required to go through National Service. I believe that National Service should be compulsory. Firstly, Singapore is a small population and thus does not have enough people to sustain a full-time army. Therefore, Singapore needs to ensure that it maximizes its only resource – its people – by making National Service compulsory for all able-bodied men and in the case of an actual war Singapore can mobilize its able-bodied male population to fight. National Service also instills a sense of loyalty and patriotism in Singaporean males. In addition, it also helps break down social barriers and creates a One Singapore identity the soldiers. When they undergo tough training together, they develop feeling for Singapore as their home and country to defend.

            I still feel the sense of patriotism towards Singapore. I remember last year I went to Macau for the Club Crew World Championship. It was an international dragonboat competition. The training for such a high level competition was tough, and furthermore, I was a Secondary One canoeist with hardly much experience. However, I always thought about how I could contribute to Singapore and how I could make Singapore proud. Thus, despite being physically weak compared to the rest, I was able to pull through. In the end, we clinched first for our category. This year, Hwa Chong would also be participating in another international dragonboating competition – the Penang Pesta. I hope we would be able to accomplish the same feat.

            I can still feel this same sense of patriotism in Singapore. When National Day is around the corner, we can see many residents hang the Singapore flag. Sometimes, the whole HDB flat can be covered in red and white. The flag represents Singapore, and when residents hang it, it shows that they are proud of Singapore.

Digital Fortress is a story about a cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, who worked for an intelligence agency the National Security Agency. Susan was engaged to a David Becker who was a foreign-language specialist. Torn between managing her relationship and cracking codes, Fletcher’s life is extremely busy. Suddenly, one morning, Commander Trevor Strathmore calls Fletcher, saying that there is an emergency in Crypto. An unbreakable code Digital Fortress has appeared out of nowhere and jeopardises U.S. intelligence. NSA’s most powerful computer, TRANSLTR could not break it. Fletcher finds out that Ensei Tankado was behind Digital Fortress. She also learns that Tankado died but has a partner whom he calls NORTH DAKOTA. Now, Susan Fletcher has to find out the real name of NORTH DAKOTA. She suspects it is NSA employee Greg Hale.

Meanwhile, David Becker is asked by Strathmore to find Tankado’s ring, which is suppose to have the pass-key to Digital Fortress. Every person he meets is mysteriously murdered by an assassin, Hulohot.

Things get worse in Crypto when a system-security officer is murdered violently and the cooling system of the TRANSLTR. Greg Hale holds Strathmore and Fletcher hostage to “escape murder”. However, it fail and Hale gets killed. An explosion of the TRANSLTR kills Strathmore. At this juncture, David Becker has to face Hulohot who plans to murder him. Hulohot was eventually killed.

Susan and David are safe, but not the NSA. Digital Fortress turns out to be a worm that threatens to release information to the world by hacking its way through the firewalls. Fletcher eventually stops it by finding out the correct pass-code.

Dan Brown as a Writer:

Dan Brown is the author of The Da vinci Code, one of the most widely read novels of all time, as well as the international bestsellers Angels & Demons, Deception Point, and Digital Fortress. He now lives in New England with his wife.

Book Review - Angel and Demons

Angel and Demons is a fast-pace thriller written by reknown author Dan Brown.

The story starts off in CERN, a nuclear research facility, where a well-respected scientist, Leonardo Vetra, is murdered. His chest was branded with an ambigram of the word “Illuminati”. A symbol. CERN director Maximilian being the first to find out about it, searched on the internet and called Harvard Symbologists to solve the mystery.

Langdon was shocked by how authentic the ambigram was. The Illuminati was a legendary, ancient secret society that existed a long time ago. Kohler calls Vetra’s adopted daughter Vittoria to the scene, where she finds out that one of the canisters containing anti-matter has been stolen. Anti-matter is highly unstable and very dangerous. When in the wrong hands, it can become a bomb which was what happened in that story.

Langdon and Vittoria flew to Vatican City. The recent Pope had died and the papal conclave has convened to elect the new pontiff. Cardinal Mortati, the eldest cardinal and host of the election, found out that four Preferiti, the preferred choice, were missing. Langdon and Vittoria begin searching for the Preferiti, hoping that they will find the anti-matter at the same time. Along the way, Carmerlango Carlo Ventresca (the late pope’s closest aide) and Commander Olivetti, Captain Rocher, Lieutenant Chartrand and the rest of the Vatican’s Swiss Guard. Langdon tries to follow the “Path of Illumination”, a confusing and elaborate process whereby one has look for clues at various landmarks and find out the meeting place of the Illuminati.

Langdon finds the four Preferiti murdered in a fashion, place and order related to the elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Cardinal Ebner is suffocated putting dirt and soil into his mouth. He is buried in Santa Maria del Popolo. In the St. Peter’s Square, Cardinal Lamassé is killed by punctures to his lungs causing him to be unable to breath. In the church Santa Maria della Vittoria, Cardinal Guidera is burned alive. Finally, Cardinal Baggia, the favourite to succeed as the new pope, was drowned to death in the Fountain of Four Rivers near the church St Agnes in Agony. In church Santa Maria della Vittoria, Vittoria was captured by the assassin.

Nevertheless, Langdon manages to find out the Path of Illumination and rescues Vittoria, at the same time killing the assassin. The two hurried back to St. Peter Basilica, where they realised that Maximilian Kohler has gone to meet the Camerlengo privately. Afraid that Kohler is “Janus” the mastermind behind all these, and upon hearing the scream of the Camerlengo, the Swiss Guards and they burst into the room. Amongst the confusion, they opened fire and killed Kohler and Captain Rocher. The Camerlengo had been branded with the “Illuminati Diamond”.

With the time in the canister running out, the Swiss Guard evacuates the Basilica. The Camerlengo says that he had received a vision from God of where the canister is. He rushes to the tomb of St. Peter and find it right there. Then, he goes up on a helicopter with Robert Langdon with the anti-matter. He does something that shocks Langdon. Jumping out of the helicopter, the Camerlengo abandons Langdon on the helicopter together with the anti-matter. The Camerlengo survives and becomes a hero. Fortunately, Langdon survives when he jumps out of the helicopter and miraculously survives.

Langdon, Vittoria and the College of Cardinals view Kohler’s tape. They confronted the Camerlengo and the truth is finally revealed. The Camerlengo was the mastermind who wanted to unite Christians and give them faith. As for the election, two popes were selected: Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca and Cardinal Mortati. Unfortunately, Ventresca suicides by lighting himself on fire.

The book closes when Langdon and Vittoria retire to Hotel Bernini, where Langdon is loaned indefinitely the “Illuminati Diamond” brand.

Dan Brown’s Writing Style:

Dan Brown writes his stories by mixing fact and fiction into one exciting story. His novels follow a one-day time frame. Dan Brown starts the story quickly by having the main character in the story receive a call or message telling him/her to go somewhere as there is an emergency. His stories often lead the main character to many places, creating a fast-pace plot. Dan Brown keeps our suspense by keeping the villain anonymous. Often, the true identity of the villain can be quite surprising.