The Plot

Identifying the different parts of the plot is never a hard work for me as the book is somewhat short and direct to the point.

Exposition

During the first three chapters, the main characters were introduced. Different stuffs about the main characters were presented such as the life story of Artemis Fowl and how he came searching for the fairy race and Holly Short and her job as the lone female officer of LEPrecon. In addition to the main characters, the exposition presented the minor characters that will play a role in the lives of the main characters. Angeline Fowl, the mother of Artemis Fowl, will be the source of inspiration of Artemis to continue his evil plan despite the danger that it can bring. Butler, the bodyguard, and maybe the best friend of Artemis as he knows him very much, will be the protector and the one who helps Artemis execute his plans. And lastly, Commander Root and how he inspires and controls Captain Short to do her duties.

The exposition, aside from introducing the characters, also introduced the setting of the story. Somewhere in the second chapter, the story explains why Artemis is searching for the fairy and why he wanted to have a hand on one of them. According to the story, he wants to bring back the glory that was once associated in the Fowl’s name. After the death of his father, he became responsible for the family and his mother.

During the first chapter, Artemis got hold of a book about fairies. The Book contains almost everything about one should not know about the fairies as it is a secret of the fairies. He got the book from Nguyen, an old fairy, by tricking her to drink alcohol. After capturing the images of the pages of the book, Artemis translated it then to be able to understand by the Mud People like him as it is written in fairy language. Before coming up with the proper translation, Artemis used all his available resources and most especially his brain. In the end, he was able to translate the Book and read everything that has to know about fairies.

Rising Action

The story picks up the intensity when Artemis captured Captain Short during her ritual. Every once in a while, the fairies need to refill their energy, specifically the shield which enables them to be hidden in the eyes of the Mud People, by during the Ritual. The Ritual should be done on a full moon, and beside an oak tree.

After translating the book in the second chapter, Artemis devised a plan to catch a fairy. However, problem arises in the plan of Artemis. He knew about the Ritual and the possible places that can actually held it, but which of the thousand possible place to go to? Thanks to technology and the power of the brain of Artemis, he and Butler were able to find one. Unfortunately for Captain Short, despite the numerous fairies during the Ritual, she was the one spotted by Artemis.

Before getting captured, Captain Short fought hand-on-hand with Butler and Artemis. But due to knowledge that Artemis has about the fairies, she was outlasted and eventually captured.

Climax

The story was at its highest when the LEPrecon, with Commander Root leading the way, tried to retrieve Captain Short from the hands of Artemis Fowl. It started when Commander Root noticed the disappearance of Captain Short from the Ritual. Good thing though, they have trackers installed in their gears. Unfortunately again, Artemis knew about it and used the same against the fairies. Knowing that the fairies will come after their fallen officer, Artemis drew up a plan in an instant to send a message to the fairy race. What he did was he set up the tracker into a place, drew Commander Root into it and blasts the place through a time bomb. Commander Root is fortunate enough to escape the explosion in time.

After the explosion incident, Command Root has decided to launch an all-out attack in the house of the Artemis Fowl. Through the help of Foaly, Commander Root was able to locate the Fowl Manor where Artemis Fowl and his family resides. This is also the place where Artemis held Captain Short as a hostage. According to them, Artemis already knows a lot about the fairies, although they can’t be sure where he got all the information. They decided to blue-rinse the whole place of the Fowls whether Captain Short is retrieved or not, but of course, they want to retrieve her. After using the blue-rinse formula, or the bio-bomb, all the living things will be dead and will leave nothing but dust. The blue-rinse formula will only apply to living things and will not affect the house of the Fowls. However, to do this, they must apply first the time-stop fields, which Artemis already knew that it will be used against him, including the blue-rinse. All of the attacks of the LEP Retrieval team, the finest fairies, were countered by Artemis and Butler. Commander Root then entered the house of the Fowls to negotiate, a feat that the fairies does not do when meddling with the Mud People. During the negotiations, Artemis told the Commander Root that he can escape the time-stop field and be saved from the blue-rinse formula. Commander Root waves off the idea and told Artemis that he will think of the terms of the negotiations first. Little did Artemis knew that Commander Root has one ace in the deck that will lead to the disruption in his plans, but still able to continue his plans in the end. Commander Root then used Mulch Diggums, a convicted dwarf, to try to gain intelligence about Artemis and try to free Captain Short. The adventure of Mulch is neither a success nor a failure. He has succeeded to identify the source of the knowledge of Artemis but was not able to retrieve Captain Short.

Falling Action

Running out of alternatives to rescue Captain Short, the council of the fairies then turn to Gudgeon for help. Gudgeon was a colleague and a friend of Commander Root, long before Gudgeon betrayed Root for a position. Going back to the story, Gudgeon thought of using a troll in order to retrieve Captain Short from the hands of Artemis Fowl. Foaly and Root told Gudgeon that it is not a good idea to use a troll in order to have a place in the council, but he does not listen.

To be fair, I will say here that everything is going according to plan until the troll messed up with Butler’s little sister named Juliet. Butler challenged the troll in a mano-a-mano. Butler was defeated at the first round of their battle. But with Captain Short’s helped, he regained his strength and eventually defeated the troll, leaving the poor creature half-dead.

Resolution

After defeating the troll, victory is almost at the hand of Artemis Fowl. There is one more problem to be solved, that is, to find a way to escape death inside the time-stop field. The field is almost gone so the blue-rinse formula should be launched immediately. Without hesitations, Root commanded the formula be launched already. After the explosion, the LEPrecon immediately went inside the Fowl Manor in order to check and get back the gold that Artemis got due to negotiations. To the surprise of the fairies, Artemis and the other residents of the Manor was able to survive the blue-rinse because of the wit of Artemis. In the end, the fairies accepted defeat in the hands of Artemis.

*Notes*

I believe that the story did not used flashbacks in a full sense. The author just used it as a reference to introduced new characters or events in the story. Without these flashbacks, the story would still continue. The story did not have any turning point as the fairies are always outwitted by Artemis. His plans may not be fool proof but he was still able to defeat the fairies.

Sources:

Colfer, E. (2001). Artemis Fowl. New York: Hyperion Books For Children.

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