Shatter Me is a dystopian novel written by author Tahereh Mafi in 2011. This makes it a novel of our current time, a time with great focus on equality, freedom of speech, individuality and different political ideas. It is a curious era that experiments with themes such as humanity, stereotypes and challenging the way of writing.
The plot focuses on Juliette Ferrars, a girl with a special power that makes her unable to touch anyone; her tough is lethal. Now the Reestablishment plans to use her as a weapon. She finds herself struggling for freedom from Warner, the young leader of Sector 45, and finds an unexpected friendship in Adam, the boy with the kind eyes she thought she would never see again. Together, she and Adam start to plot to make…show more content… That makes the setting an almost completely ruined society in the future. The world is in chaos after an environmental crisis. There is no food, no homes and no water because everything is destroyed or poisoned by the dubious weather. That was why the people, all over the world, let the Reestablishment take over and divide the world between six men; because those men promised to help them, to end their famine and rebuild their homes. Instead they betrayed the people by abusing their power and enforce a strict military basis society.
What I think is interesting in the society Mafi has created is that she, as many other authors of modern dystopias, founded its convictions in a somewhat extreme socialistic or communistic ideology. I think this is an interesting thought, especially since I noticed most of the famous dystopian novels in Sweden are American ones. I don’t know if it is a conscious choice to make their novels critical of socialistic beliefs or if it is the general liberal convictions of the US that incuses the authors. Whichever it is, it was an interesting observation I made while reading this…show more content… Both show a curious way of experimenting with both new and old and finding new ways to express our individuality.
What I believe Mafi wants her novel to do to the reader is plant a seed of criticism. I believe she wants us to open up or eyes and question the different political ideas we are faced in our everyday life. I also believe she wants us to question the treatment of our environment.
However I think the most important message in the book is that you have to question and look deeper into other people’s personalities, and acknowledge that everyone is more complex and changeable than we first imagined. Mafi challenges the perspective of humans throughout the book and experiments with what we call monsters. A consequent thought is that not all humans are monsters, but all monsters are humans, so what is a monster? And I think this is a really interesting question to explore through the page.
At the same time she is repeatedly coming back to the message of self love and confidence, message I think is very important for the readers. Especially since its main target is adolescences.
I would like to argue that the following quote summaries these messages very well:
“’I don’t want to be a monster,’ I say, perhaps more for my sake than