Starters

While good and evil seem clear forces to Callie between the Starters struggling to survive and the Enders benefitting from the youth’s suffering, the reality becomes murkier the more Callie gets to know about the people and world around her. Every person she encounters, including herself, becomes more complex and rounded as she gets to know them, and the common denominator between the way these characters grow is the notion of an impossible sacrifice.

The most obvious sacrifice begins with Callie selling her body to Prime Destinations to secure enough money to build a stable life with her younger brother, Tyler, and her friend, Michael. Despite her fear of needles and headstrong nature, Callie goes against her better judgment and gives up her autonomy for the chance at freedom from their circumstances. This sacrifice is a decision that will shape the rest of the narrative and Callie’s life. It also makes her a sympathetic protagonist because even though she’s discerning and cautious, she chooses to do something incredibly risky, putting her body and life at stake for the possibility of something better.

Likewise, Sara, the young girl at Institution 37, is more than willing to give up her body to Prime Destinations to escape her circumstances. When Callie meets Sara, she feels badly for Sara and thinks she’s naive because Callie knows better now, having made the same mistake. Sara is also very young, and Callie thinks she can’t understand the situation fully. However, Sara’s sacrifices allow Callie to ultimately have hope and survive long enough to see the end of Prime Destinations. Sara’s first sacrifice is small: half of the Supertruffle Callie gave her a few days ago. They don’t get quality food to eat, but because Sara knows Callie has it worse in the incarceration ward, she gives her the remaining piece, forgoing the nutrients for herself. This small sacrifice is symbolic of her ultimate impossible sacrifice. When Callie sneaks away from the Old Man at Institution 37 and hides in the truck, Sara creates a diversion to let Callie get away, which it seems gets her killed. Sara’s sacrifice of her life for Callie’s escape shows the stakes of freedom. Callie realizes that Sara isn’t a naive child but a brave girl who had an impossible choice.

Lastly, one of the most surprising sacrifices comes from Senator Harrison, who throughout the novel appears to be a cold and cruel politician. He outright lies about what the new law he has pushed means for the youth, asserting that, “‘By doing this, we will give meaning to the aimless lives of countless minors’” (204). However, by the end, Callie learns that Senator Harrison too faced an impossible choice and made an impossible sacrifice: For his grandson's life, whose body was kidnapped by the Old Man, the senator bartered away the unclaimed minors to Prime Destinations. He doesn’t want Blake to know about what happened during those weeks. Senator Harrison simply told him that “he was ill for those weeks,” which shows the good intention beyond his deed (324). It wasn’t a choice he wanted to make, but he had to do it to save his grandson’s life.

Over the course of the story, many sacrifices, some of life, possessions, and body, occur that ultimately shape Callie’s understanding of herself, others, and the world around her. Rhiannon’s willingness to give up Madison’s perfect body for her morals, Helena’s openness to dying to save Emma, and the middle-aged people who died during the Spore Wars for the good of the vulnerable demonstrate these sacrifices further. Good and evil aren’t always obvious, despite how it may seem at first, as most main characters experience intense pressures that are hidden from view and cause them to make these impossible sacrifices.