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What aspects of Dystopian control is being presented in your novel?  How are the characters handling them?  Do any of these aspects of Dystopian Control resemble conditions happening in our world today?
In my Dystopian novel the thing that is running everything is called the Society. They are controlling everything everyone does granting them very little freedom. For example, they choose when everyone dies, they choose what everyone eats, they choose where everyone works, they choose what they can and can’t do according to their data, etc. They never make mistakes and there are never happy accidents. My main character is starting to realize that the Society has made a huge mistake about her Match and she’s struggling to figure out what to do. RIght now she’s handling it pretty well. The other characters are handling it well too. Some of their aspects of control resemble conditions happening in our world today, but not many. For choosing when people die, that’s one of them because some stranger with a gun could end someone’s life any second and that right there is choosing when someone dies. Of course it’s under completely different circumstances though.

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What theme topics are you seeing in your novel?  Explain a bit how your protagonist is reacting to these topics.
Right now the kinds of theme topics I’m seeing are oppression and rebellion. My protagonist isn’t handling them very well. She’s trying to keep everything a secret and she’s becoming paranoid that she’s going to get caught, but there isn’t much she can do about it. She’s torn between doing the right thing or listening to her grandfather and be her own person that makes her own decisions.

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What are the common ideas taking place in your novel? In what ways do the common ideas effect your characters choices or actions?
There’s really only one common idea in my novel at this point. The common idea right now is questioning. She’s questioning whether the Society is doing everything right and if it really is as perfect as it may seem. She’s starting to question why they do the things they do without a good enough explanation of why they’re doing it. The way it affects my characters choices is that it makes her break the rules. She doesn’t see why it has to be the way it is. It affects the way she thinks about things, they way she does things, and they way she is for the most part. She can’t wrap her head around why they’re doing all that stuff. If there are these rules that are meant to keep everything in the society perfect, then why is she falling in love with someone she’s not supposed to and why is she suddenly feeling the need to bend and break those rules?

Pg. 201-202 “Bram. He’s going to lose something today too. I think of Grandfather’s watch and anger rises in me. Do they have to take everything?”

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Thinking back to the aspects of the Hero's Journey that we studied during the Odyssey,  What are some of the elements that are also utilized in your novel and with your protagonist?

Some other elements utilized in my novel and with my protagonist is challenges and temptations and a bit of transformation. My protagonist is has the temptation to be with someone she wants to be with. The challenge with that is she has to keep it a secret and no one, like the officials, can know about it. If anyone found out, then both her and the person she wants to be with will get in a lot of trouble. The reason transformation is one of the elements is because at the beginning of the book, she’s someone who follows the rules doesn’t think twice about it, and lives her life like everyone else without any secrets. Now, she’s breaking the rules, following her heart, and is questioning if her society really is perfect or if they’re just making it seem that way.

Pg. 308 “One by one, the people I can talk to have gone. Grandfather. My mother. And now, Xander.

You are strong enough to go without it, Grandfather told me about the green tablet.

But, Grandfather. Am I strong enough without you? Without Xander?”

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What social commentary do you think your author was making with this novel?  What is the author saying or warning about today's world?

My author isn’t saying good things about today’s society. She’s making me question whether or not we have as much free will as we think and does the government really have everything under control or is it just a huge lie. At the end of my book they start being very forceful of everything and the way they handle it is not good at all. It reminds me of today’s society because police tackle people to the ground when they haven’t even done anything. That’s kind of what happened at the end of my book. I think she’s warning me to be careful of my choices and thoughts because it could cause a lot of things to happen that weren’t intended and it ends up in a giant mess.

Pg. 320 “I can’t get to him. Not this way. Not now. I can’t push past the Officer on the stairs. I’m not strong enough to fight them or fast enough to outrun them-

Do not go gentle.

I don’t know if Ky speaks the words to my mind somehow or if I think them to myself or if Grandfather might be out there somewhere in this almost-night, calling words on the wind, words with the wings like angels.

I veer to the side of the platform, feet fast on the cement. Ky sees what I’m doing and he twists away, a sharp movement that earns him a second of freedom before their hands clamp down on him again.”

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Describe the main character of your story. Include both physical traits and personality characteristics. Do you like/dislike this character? Why? Include one quote from the novel to describe your character.  Include the page number you find the quote on.

My main character is very smart and is good at almost everything she does. She has strong beliefs and is starting to realize things going on in her society that don’t seem right. No one else really seems to notice them. She’s also not very tall. She’s extremely fit and healthy.

Pg. 135 “A little slip of paper curls out onto the table next to me and I pick it up. ERROR AT LINE 3568. I hardly ever make errors, so this will cause interest. I go back to the line where the mistake was made and correct it. If this happens next week while the Officials are watching -- It won’t happen. I won’t let it happen.”

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What and how are your protagonist resisting? Is he/she experiencing success or roadblocks, and how is the success or roadblocks being handled?
My protagonist is resisting her society, or she’s trying to at least. The way she’s resisting it is by not following the rules they have. There are very specific rules to the society she lives in and one by one she’s breaking those rules. They decide when you die, who you marry and fall in love with, what you eat, etc. She’s sort of experiencing some roadblocks. It’s very hard to get away with breaking the rules when she’s always being watched. For how difficult it is to not get caught she’s handling it pretty well. One of the major rules she’s breaking right now is who she loves. She’s not supposed to love anyone but her Match. She’s starting to fall in love with someone else and that’s a major thing to do. She could get the both her and the guy she’s falling in love with in deep trouble if anyone finds out that they love each other like that.

Pg. 196 “Maybe he never wants to touch me. Perhaps to Ky I am only a friend. A friend who finally wants to know his story nothing more.

At first that’s who I was. I wanted to know more about this boy who lives among us, but who never truly speaks. More about what happened before. I wanted to know more about my mistaken Match. But now I feel like finding out about him is one of the ways I find out about myself. I did not expect to love his words. I did not expect to find myself in them.

Is falling in love with someone’s story the same things as falling in love with the person himself?”

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What aspects of the Dystopian society are found in your novel?  What statement is the author trying to make by utilizing that particular aspect?  What is the change that your character/s are attempting to bring about?  Do you think they will be successful and if so, will the change bring what they hope?

Most of the time the citizens in my society are being watched and they have very little information about things and free thoughts. They have to stay in the city unless they get relocated to the farming lands. They also created the illusion that the society they live in is perfect when in reality it isn’t even close. I think the author is utilizing that not everything in society is perfect and that if you have enough information to be satisfied with and you don’t have all of it or you have almost all your choices made for you, then they can get by with just about anything and that’s how they create that perfect illusion. The change my character is trying to bring about is how things are run and who you can love. She doesn’t want to go gently which to her means that she’s not going down without a fight and she will do something about what’s happening, no matter what happens to her. She’s been keeping many secrets and one of them is about who she loves. She’s already Matched to someone, but she’s fallen in love with someone else. That’s not supposed to happen. Now the Officials in her society has found out about her and the other person she fell in love with, Ky. She’s questioning everything they do and why they do it. Her Official tells her that it’d be to chaotic without all these rules and no one would really be happy. I think that she’ll be successful in what she’s doing and trying to do. I also think that the change will be what she hopes for, and more.

Pg. 241  “We do not kiss. We do nothing but hold on and breath, but still I know. I cannot go gently now. Not even for the sake of my parents, my family.

Not even for Xander.”

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In what ways has your protagonist changed and evolved?

My protagonist has changed and evolved in several ways. At the beginning of the book she was a rule follower and never dared question her society. At the end of the book, she’s breaking most of the rules and is questioning what her society is doing to her and the rest of her city. The main reason this happened was because they were doing a test on her, but what they didn’t realize was that they were testing the wrong person. She fell in love with someone that was never supposed to be fallen in love with and now she’s doing anything and everything she can do just to be with him. She’s gotten stronger and smarter throughout the book, too. She doesn’t stand down when she’s told and she’s starting to stand for what she believes is right. If everything the society wanted went as planned, everything would’ve been different and nothing would’ve actually changed.

Pg. 363 “My hands are in the soil; my body is tired, but I will not let this work take away my thoughts. Because that is what the Officials here want: workers who work but do not think.

Do not go gentle.

So I fight. I fight the only way I know how, with thinking of Ky, even though the pain of missing him is so strong I can hardly stand it. I put the seeds into the ground and cover them with soil. Will they grow toward the sun? Will something go wrong so that they never push, never turn into anything, just stay here rotting in the ground? I think of him, I think of him, I think of him.”

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Describe the setting of your Dystopian novel.  Is it similar to anywhere you have visited, viewed, read about, heard about?

I'm not sure when my book takes place, but I'm pretty sure it’s in the future. The setting seems plain and bland. I imagine everything as grey, white, and dark colors. I think that currently in my book it’s summer or around summer time. I think that they should’ve described the way it looked better because it’s not like anything I’ve ever seen, hear of, or read about before.

Pg. 4 “As quickly as the air train moves, it still isn’t fast enough. It hushes through the night, its sound a background for the low rain of our parents’ voices, the lightning-quick beats of my heart.”

This is the quote that makes me think that it’s in the future.

Pg. 27 “The green has not yet given way to stone and concrete when I notice white flakes drifting through the sky. Snow? In June? The woman next to me asks. It can’t be, a man across the aisle mutters.”
This quote leads me to think that it's the summer.

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In the Dystopian Elements handout, there are six examples of conflicts the protagonist/main character might got through.  These are not the only conflicts the character might encounter, but just a start.  Identify at least one internal conflict your main character is experiencing.

At the end of the beginning of the book, my character seems to be having some troubles with boys. She was Matched with her best friend but when she goes to open this micro card containing information about him, another face pops up that she knows. Now she’s starting to question if the Society made a mistake and that’s who she’s really supposed to be Matched with. Now she can’t stop thinking about that other boy who popped up on the screen that she isn’t Matched to.

Pg. 68 “My grandmother would want to know if I wondered if it wasn’t a mistake after all. If Ky really were meant to be my Match. For a moment, I did. When I saw Ky’s face flash in front of me so quick I couldn’t even see the color of his eyes, only the dark of them as the looked back at me, I wondered, Is it you?”