The following excerpt from Ally Condie’s Matched, provides insightful context to the overall theme of the novel:
When she doesn’t answer right away, my father puts his arm around her and tells me. “The maple trees have become too much of a problem. The leaves get too messy in the fall. They’re not growing uniformly. For example, ours grew too big. Em’s is too small. And some of them have diseases, so they all need to be chopped down.” (Condie 252)
There are three topics present in this passage that point toward the general theme, these include control, conformity, and power. The prominent theme woven throughout the novel is the perceived perfection that exists within the Society, where individual creativity and liberty are forbidden in the
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For example, ours grew too big. Em’s is too small. And some of them have diseases…” (Condie 252). These trees pose a threat to the Society for they do not conform to their rules and this quote reflects this very notion in many instances throughout the novel. The narrator explains, “You’ve never seen me in anything but brown or black…Brown plainclothes. Black swimwear” (Condie 274). All citizens must comply with the rules and wear the colour clothes that have been assigned to their class. All citizens are only allowed to carry one artifact as well, “Though citizens of the Society are allowed one artifact each, they are hard to come by” (Condie 5). While it seems like an attempt to maintain societal equality, it really isn’t in the best interest of the citizens but rather the authorities in power. It is actually how the Society demeans civilians, stripping them of personal freedoms, rights, and choices. For this reason, the trees in this scenario are different sizes and some have diseases, similar to how the residents are divided by job statuses such as nutrition specialists and Officials, as well as societal classes such as Aberration and Anomalies. Despite these differences, all inhabitants have choices made for them; when and if they will be Matched, what they will eat, and when they will
In Matched, Ally Condie, as the story progresses, includes several shifts in tone as Cassia’s eyes are opened to the world around her and she learns about exactly how flawed the Society is. Since the book is written from Cassia’s point of view, it is natural that her attitude would change throughout the story as her experiences shape who she is.
Ally Condie is a modern author who writes young adult novels that teaches readers of all ages valuable life lessons while still allowing us to go on wild adventures with the characters. Publisher's Weekly says that her novels are an accurate showcase of Condie's “...vivid, poetic writing...” that allows us as readers to see deeply into the character's pain and desires. Condie's writing holds the perfect balance between enthralling and educational with her common themes of love, loss and friendship delicately woven into her novels. In her Matched Trilogy, Condie touches upon less talked about themes such as sacrifice and an over-powered government: What form of government is truly best for society and just how much control should that
Our government and society is a prime reason of how we live a day-to-day life. In other places of the world it could be completely different. But because of our government we are able to live freely, but imagine if everything wasn’t as it is today. What if you couldn’t even decide who you want to love? In the novel Matched, by Ally Condie, uses cultural and geographical surroundings to shape psychological traits on Cassia as she realizes that she alone can change the government. By using cultural surroundings, the novel tells how the government makes every choice for them even when it comes to marriage or a job, and knows exactly how they react to certain situations because they’ve watched and collected data on how they respond to situations
Life would be perfect if everyone could be married to their true love, jobs fit perfectly to personalities, and diseases were practically nonexistent. The Society in Ally Condie’s novel Matched offers these things and more. But what exactly is the real price for having a seemingly perfect life? In order to have a perfect society with perfect lives, freedoms have to be given up and strict laws must be observed. This may be evident in the book especially, but can also be seen around the world in the different cultures that are prevalent.
The theme is the main message the author is trying to say through any literary piece, it can be anything the author desires it to be. Schindler’s List provides many examples of the theme: the best and the worst parts of human nature. Oskar Schindler showcased the best of humanity. He had created a factory to help save many prisoners, even though he knew it was against Hitler’s command. Also, the soldiers demonstrated the worst of humanity. They were killing thousands of innocent people just because one man told them to. Similarly, the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, and the memoir, Night, demonstrates this theme. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, the society of Maycomb shows the best parts and the worst parts of human nature. Throughout the memoir,
You can tell the mother is reluctant by the way she says “the leaves of the tree are getting heavier…and the fruit harder to gather away” her tone enforces that she thinks of the tree as a burden not a family heirloom. However, as much as diction is used to convey how the family regards the tree as a difficult responsibility to manage, the vivid imagery found throughout the piece also
The most obvious of the themes is that of violence, brutality, and torture. Tied into this also is the idea of injustice. Many of these themes are intertwined. Constantly the reader is berated with violent images, or descriptions of violence. These must be on nearly every second page of the novel. A good
To begin with, one major theme that continuously played a part throughout the entire book is desire. To many of the characters, it was the one urge that they could never overcome. One
the theme is to question what the author was trying to relate to the reader.
Although there are several themes throughout the book, the major theme is courage. Courage is displayed not only by
Theme is an integral part of this story and is mostly presented through the narrator. One of the major themes of the story is conscience, in which many of the conflicts in the
Themes: A theme that is prominent throughout the text in many forms is "liberty." One of the causes of revolutionary thought is in America is the thought that liberty was being threatened in England, and therefore would spread to America. Liberty became a dream for some in America once independence from England was obtained, as slavery thrived here in irony. Liberty branched out past the physical sphere as well as Freedom of Religion became based on the idea of religion being the "liberty of conscious (263)."
How would you feel if your parents controlled your every move in life? You wouldn’t like it, would you? In Ally Condie’s novel Matched the Government is very controlling. To show, how controlling the Government is Condie uses repetition, dialogue, and inner thinking. Throughout the book, the Government is a central idea. The Government makes all the big and small decisions for the people, for what job the have or who they marry or how many kids they have. They also kill people on their eightieth birthdays. They do all of this to make sure that people don’t get out of line or god forbid make their own decisions. Ally Condie uses repetition, dialogue, and inner thinking to show how controlling the government is.
For this book report, I will give three facts about the book Matched and three opinions I have on this book. In the following paragraphs, I will give one opinion and fact on each paragraph. Firstly, I will give a brief summary of the book Matched. Matched is a book based on the main character Cassia and her beliefs on how her society.
While reading book one I’ve came to the conclusion that the text excerpts in this chapter introduces two of the basic themes of work. The first theme that I prefer the most is “what qualities are desirable in a human being. This one is important to me because in today’s world I question this every day. I wonder what are all the qualities a human being can have and why don’t everyone have the same qualities. The second theme is how morality can be reflected in one’s behavior. The story soon shifts to matters involving family and the government. During this course, with every new religion it seems like they are big on family. Since we are on the topic of family, the text seems to take on the issue of filial piety. Filial piety means refers to the virtue of respect for one 's parents or ancestors.