It provides background information on the topic.
and It gives the main topic of the paper.
I think it could happen because the girl (don't remember their names sorry) snuck onto the ship where she wasn't supposed to go. Obviously if you do something wrong, no necessarily sneaking onto a spaceship, there are always consequences. The man did try to save her life, but there wasn't much he could do because it was too late for both of them to survive.
What details? You didn't provide a picture or anything.
The colonists wanted to be free from Britain and that's led to their decision to fight against the British rule.
