40 pages • 1 hour read
Emmy LaybourneMonument 14
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Social Hierarchies: Male Power Dynamics
This novel explores the theme of social hierarchies through male power dynamics. The group at the Greenway is a microcosm of high-school social dynamics. Jake and Brayden are at the top of the hierarchy, while Niko and Dean are at the bottom. A significant aspect of hierarchal dominance in the novel is physicality. First, handsome looks are important. Secondly, securing the attention of a sexually-desirable female is important to status. Jake and Brayden are better-looking and receive more attention from females than do Niko and Dean.
Dominant males enforce their positions through humiliation and violence. When Brayden sees Dean writing on his own, he says, “Jesus, Dean, are you a total reject” (80). He also calls Dean “Geraldine”—in this world, femininity in males is considered weakness. When Jake suspects Dean of spying on him and Astrid, his position is threatened, and he puts Dean back in his place with physical violence.
This social hierarchy does not remain static; rather, it is challenged over the course of the novel. When Niko is elected, he unseats Jake as the leader of the group. Dean also challenges what it means to be male. In this group, males should be leaders who assert themselves through action and aggression, but Dean subverts this ideal by taking on a caretaker role, which is typically feminine. He nurtures the group by cooking while still maintaining a sense of self. Dean also continues to write, even though it is considered “gay” (118). Here, to exhibit anything other than heterosexual alpha-male masculinity is to risk status in the group.
Social Hierarchies: Female Power Dynamics
The novel also explores female power dynamics. The major roles for post-pubescent females in this novel are as sexual objects and caretakers. To rank at the top of the hierarchy, a female must be sexually-desirable. In this way, females serve as currency for males to express their dominance: “So smooth and wonderful and soft. She looked so soft. A sculpture of some Greek goddess awoken from cold stone into warm pulsing life” (150).Sexual desire is frequently expressed: “She looked so good to me I wanted to take her, in a dark and terrible way” (61). Attaining Astrid would guarantee Dean a higher status. However, Dean does not rank as high as Astrid on the social scale, so she pairs up with Jake, the more-dominant male. Sahalia’s primary drive in the novel is to attain attention from the dominant males, thus attaining high social standing. Almost every time Dean notices Sahalia, he comments on the provocative nature of her outfits. When the students wash their hair, Sahalia wears “a really, really short skirt […] [s]he had on ripped fishnets and absurdly high-heeled boots. Some kind of a tank top over a paper-thin T. She looked like a twenty-year-old fashion model” (96). Sahalia grows jealous of Josie’s increased social status when she attains Brayden as a mate.
Females also function as caretakers. Dean notes, “Where Astrid had that kick-ass camp counselor thing, Josie was a mom. A sixteen-year-old, middle-aged mom” (108). Astrid is less of a caretaker than Josie and abandons her role after she attacks Batiste. Josie becomes “mother Josie” and nurtures the other students (130).
The novel challenges some of these dynamics through Josie’s character. She takes action to break up the fight in the kitchen by blowing an air horn. Also, she shoots Robbie when he is attacking Niko. In this way, she channels typically-male aggressive energy to use a phallic tool of violence, making Josie both nurturing as well as aggressive.
Reliance on Technology
The novel examines the theme of reliance on technology and the ways in which such a reliance can be harmful and alienating. In this futuristic world, people rely on minitabs (like smart phones) and bigtabs (like smart TVs). When the network goes down, everyone is at a loss because they have no connectivity. Furthermore, the tech security at NORAD is breached. This advanced, aerospace defense department is supposed to protect people, but, in the end, ends up harming people. The toxic chemicals that leak from the facility prove to be more destructive than beneficial. In this way, technology that is meant to be helpful can also prove destructive.
As a counterpoint, the novel explores technology’s analog or manual counterpoint. It represents a way to connect deeply to the self and others. When the students can no longer interact with their tabs, they are forced to interact with each other. In this way, they develop a sense of community and closeness by going back to the basics. Moreover, Dean embraces an analog form of communication—writing. He enjoys using pen and paper to express himself, which is a way in which he self-actualizes. Dean’s mother is also an aspiring writer, and “had started buying books with a mania, as if she was afraid people would stop printing them at all” (78). Writing things on paper provides security and comfort. At the very end of the novel, Dean gives Alex paper and pens and says, “You write it all and you write it tome. Tell it to me” (291). The act of writing in a journal solidifies the connection between Alex and Dean and allows Alex to process all of his experiences.
