Favorite Author

One book that I really enjoyed in high school was recommended to me by my AP Lang teacher. I told her that I was planning on attending The Citadel in South Carolina (obviously that changed). She told me about Pat Conroy’s book, The Lords of Discipline. It’s about a senior cadet at the Military Academy in South Carolina who is charged with looking over the first black student admitted to the school. His strongest tools in the book were imagery and analogy. Now I am pretty familiar with a lot of the military terms and the process at the school because I applied at this school and the Naval Academy so the analogies weren't too necessary; but I can imagine that for someone who knew nothing, that they would be able to follow the story fairly easily. He does a really good job a relating and explaining the situation and that can help with the ethical side of the story. A lot of the corruption and foul play that goes on in the book is done by superiors and that’s important to note because the events wouldn't seem as dramatic if one didn't understand that. The imagery is what I love in this book. I went to the school and stayed there overnight to see it. When I read the book I could see myself exactly where Mr. Conroy was describing. I was in the hallways and running on the beach with the cadets. Because of the scenes painted in my head the emotional side of the book came out so much easier. It was like I was living the book and couldn't put it down.