MATCHED

In this dystopian society:

Everything has been cut to The 100 Songs, The 100 Paintings, The 100 Poems, The 100 History Lessons, etc. because it was “too overwhelming” to have too many creations. You can get in deep trouble if you’re found writing your own poems or carrying around a paper with words on it that do not match one of the 100 Poems.
- What’s the harm of having too many creations out there? Shouldn’t there be other things that Officials should be more worried about punishing that carrying a non-approved poem around?

Ancestors have passed down “artifacts”, which are items that are no longer in production. This includes Cassia’s compact, her brother Bram’s watch, and Ky’s compass. However, later these items are taken away and placed in a museum to “ensure equality”.

When you become of age, you are given the responsibility of carrying around 3 pills: A green one (to make you calm), a blue one (to give you enough nutrients to get by a couple days without food), and red (which you should only take if an Official tells you to take it, and since regular person seems to know what it does, there are rumors that it causes sudden death, but in actually it actually wipes your memory of the past 12 hours).

Your nutrition is monitored, so you are given specific meals that fit your recommended calorie intake each day.

Your dreams and cardio activity are monitored to keep track of your emotional and physical health.

You have the choice of either living as a Single (in which you can never marry or have kids) or getting Matched. If you’re Matched, you can only have kids until you’re age 31 (since children tend to not be as healthy if you give birth to them while older than 31).

Anomalies like albinos, color-blindness, and cancer have been phased out though strategic genetic pairings.

People who commit a crime (aka an “Infraction”) are shunned from Society. They and even their innocent kids (like Ky) become an “Aberration”. They are forced to work low-level jobs and are barred from opportunities, like for entering the candidate pool for being Matched.

There is a strict curfew each night.

You get placed in a certain job position based on your abilities.

On your 80th birthday, you get poisoned food so that you don’t have to experience more medical issues, feel unwanted, and become depressed. So you never have to wonder about how old you’ll be when you die (assuming you make it 80, which almost everyone does).
- I see some rationality behind this, but is it really necessary to kill off the 80-year-olds that are still super healthy and are loved by their families?

After you pass away, it’s a family member’s duty to collect a tissue sample from you so that Society can preserve a piece of you and bring you back once that technology gets developed.
- Why would you want a future clone of yourself? It’s not like your soul will come back. Why not just stick to the forms of new life that are brought about in a natural way?

Back

Do you choose a partner based on what Society wants from you or based on what your heart desires?

Cassia is the first person ever to get Matched to 2 people: her best guy friend (Xander) and an Aberration she’s known since childhood (Ky). Society is pushing her to end up with Xander, but nevertheless, her heart is drawing her towards Ky (although it’s unclear what this attraction is based on since Xander is funny, handsome, and understanding).

“The two desires struggle within me: the desire to be safe, and the desire to know. I cannot tell which one will win” (255).

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Some people have different reactions to the rules for the sake of those they love.

Cassia’s father bends the preservation rules for his father. Grandfather wanted to have a choice of ending his life for good (since there aren’t many opportunities of choices in Society), so he made Cassia’s father promise him that he would destroy the tissue sample and tell the Officials that he accidentally “lost” it.

Cassia’s mother told the Officials the truth that the rogue farmers actually knew that what they were harvesting was food. She did this because she thought that being obedient will help protect her family, but it actually seemed to do the opposite. The Officials demanded that Cassia’s family must move immediately since her mother “knows too much”.

“My father has always broken the rules for those he loves, just as my mother has always kept them for the same reason” (361).

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At the end of the book, Cassia is asked to do a real-life sort for a test, where she must select the stronger upper-half of a group of Aberrations for “new position in Outer Providences”. They won’t tell her what this new position is because it’s “irrelevant for the test”. Ky blends in right in the middle, and Cassia is faced with the dilemma of either keeping him in a known position (where he won’t have to move away from her, but is likely to have a short life expectancy due to the demands of manual labor) or bump him up (in hopes that the new position is better for him).

Turns out that this stronger upper-half gets forcefully sent to the Outer Provinces to serve as soldiers in the war that’s raging there. Ky’s aunt and uncle (who have played the roles of his mother and father) protest that this is unfair. In response, the Officials tell all witnesses to this protest to take the red pills so that they forget this truth. Cassia only pretends to take her pill, and now that her family has to move away anyways, she’s determined to find Ky and become reunited with him.