The final accounts of Shattered.

When I first started the novel Shattered I figured it would end with the main character Ian Blackburn denying his present from his parents, and giving up his life to either work in the soup kitchen, or become a bum. Instead it kind of took me by surprise, he managed to get 'Sarge' who said his name was Jack, help in AA meetings and off the streets. At the end of the book Ian received his BMW that he was working at the club for and he is now going to use it to continue coming to the soup kitchen to help. this ending was very shocking seeing of how at the end of the book he decided to continue to volunteer at the club and use his BMW to get there. When Ian thanked Mac for helping him Mac said it was no problem, Ian than said no really, I needed your help. Mac replied with, who doesn't need help?

If you recived your 40,000$ car, passed the class you couldn't fail, and were done with doing volunteer work at a soup kitchen, would you continue to help out of the goodness of your heart?

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Factionalism with Ian Blackburn.

Throughout the book Ian faced many problems, such as the fact that he needed 40 hours of community service to pass his class, which if he didn't pass he wouldn't receive his BMW. This however wasn't Ian's main problem it didn't result until the end of the book when he went to interview the bum named sarge for extra marks. During this interview he found out that sarges name was really Jack or Jacques. He also found out that Jack was a Sargent in the Canadian forces, he served in many countries but his main one was Rwanda. He wore the blue Barret which means he was only there to help he wasn't actually fighting, they weren't armed soldiers. When Jack mentioned Rwanda Ian had absolutely what happened there over the 8 years, this upset Jack which made him leave. This whole situation is what set up the end of the book, Ian looked up 'Rwanda' and learned more about it so he was able to talk to Jack and learned that Jack actually had a wife, a life, and because of what happened in Rwanda he felt he wasn't able to go home. Ian was able to talk to Jack and get him help, such as alcoholics anonymous and better shelter. In the end Ian received his car for his birthday, and he is now going to use it to continue coming to The Club and serve food, even after he passed his civics class.


If you had passed the civics class and received your car would you still continue to help at the soup kitchen, even though your time there is done?

Profiling the main character Ian Blackburn

The main character is Ian Blackburn, he is a 15 year old male turning 16 in a few months. He is very lazy and puts everything on hold due to the fact that hes loaded and he has people to do everything for him except school. He put off his placement at a soup kitchen downtown until the last minute, now he is in a panic to pass his civics class so his dad will buy him a bmw when he gets his license since that was the agreement they had. At the start of the book he is walking through a rough part of town at night by himself, wearing all his wealthy close, he ran into trouble only to have a bum named Sarge protect him and get him to where he had to be. He is now starting to realize that there is so much more to life then what he is used to seeing. Now when he goes downtown he dresses in rough clothes to blend in so people don't notice him. His weakness is all his life he has been protected by money and had maids, servants, and butlers take care of him, and now that he is growing up its time to realize whats happening in the world.

QuEsTiOn Of ThE WeEk:


Do you think it was a good idea for Ian to try and blend in, do you think he'll take it too far?

Initial Reaction

When the novel starts the main character is on his way downtown to do his volunteer work in a soup kitchen. He's volunteering there for his civics class credit. He left this to the very last minute hoping his teacher would forget, now with just a few weeks left he is left to do an entire semester worth of work. He is crossing through a field in the dark trying to save time since he is already running late, he runs into a homeless person who asks for change and warns him not to be waving his money around in those parts of town. After leaving the homeless person he continues down the path where he runs into trouble with 3 older guys who take his shoes and are now trying to get his money out of him, but lies and says he gave it all to the homeless person, hoping they'll go after him.

Would you have lied and said that you didn't have money on you, or would you have handed it over?