The Hunt For Red October - TC essays

The Hunt For Red October - TC essays About the authors relation to the book and the book itself: A mutiny on a Soviet destroyer stimulated Clancy to write Red October; it was an instant hit. This novel has been adapted for film, with Sean Connery as Cpt. Marko Ramius and Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan. Red October the movie was awarded one Oscar and became a box-office hit. Settings: Washington, Moscow, North Atlantic. Time: Friday, December 3, 1984, to Monday December 20, 1984. Clancys opus is structured in the 18 days in which the whole action takes place ( For example: THE ELEVENTH DAY: Monday, 13 December). A subdivision is made by headlines which determine the current place of action ( For example: THE RED OCTOBER or CIA HEADQUARTERS). After World War two a new balance of power had been created. The two super powers who, together with their allies, had been facing each other were on the one side the United States, or simply U.S., which stood for ideas like individuality and freedom of economy, and on the other side the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the U.S.S.R., which more likely enforced the ideas of a collective, and communist ideals. This bipolar image of the world was the basis for the, so called, cold war. For about 40 years the two adversaries were to compete on most sectors of the political, and prestige, world. For example the very well known space race. The competition as far as the power and influence of the military of the two super powers is concerned has to be seen as the most important basic for Clancys novel. All around the world both sides wanted to gain more and more influence, and to build up military bases, in order to be able to monitor any of the enemys steps and to react on them as quickly as possible. Both sides kept developing new weapon systems all the time to always keep up with the other side. Primarily the main aim of both sides was to be able to launch eno...