Thursday 29 August 2013

What are the main events in Siobhan Dowd's The London Eye Mystery?

One of the first major events in Siobhan Dowd's The London Eye Mystery occurs when the family reaches the Eye. Kat is surprised when a stranger approaches them and offers to give them his one ticket. After thinking things over, Kat decides that Salim should have the ticket since he wants to ride the Eye so badly and is soon leaving England.

A second major event occurs when Salim never emerges from his pod. Ted and Kat keep a very careful eye on Salim's pod, and Ted is certain Salim's pod is the one that would land at 12:02 PM. When the pod arrives and all passengers exit, Salim is not among them. He is also not in any of the later pods.

A third major event is the moment Detective Inspector Pearce reads Marcus's statement. Marcus's statement confirms Ted's deductions that Salim had switched identities with the girl wearing the "sunglasses and a pink fluffy jacket," who also rode in Salim's pod (50). Marcus's testimony further explains that who the kids thought was a girl in a pink jacket getting onto the pod was actually Marcus, and later Salim emerged wearing the girl's disguise. According to Marcus, he and Salim intentionally pulled a con that day on the Eye because Salim had wanted to run away back to Manchester since he did not want to move to New York City with his mom. Marcus states in his testimony that Salim changed his mind that day, and the last time he saw the still-missing Salim was when Salim was waving goodbye and about to head back to the Sparks' home.

A fourth major event occurs when Ted and Kat figure out exactly what happened to Salim that day as he arrived on the Sparks' city block. Ted figures out that Salim had felt attracted to the tall, abandoned building called the Barracks, which was soon to be demolished, and couldn't resist exploring the building and taking photographs from its highest point:


[In the pod he] wasn't looking at Manhattan, Kat. Or the sun. He was looking at something that reminded him of Manhattan. A big tower block. He was looking at the Barracks (303).



Ted further figures out that their father, responsible for overseeing and locking up the building, had unknowingly locked Salim in the building that night. Salim had been trapped in the building for the past three days and is finally found by the Sparks at the end of the story.

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