Unravel Me

“I say nothing.”

Mafi uses the strikethrough feature, which was prevalent in Juliette’s journal in Shatter Me, to show thoughts that Juliette resists. This section, in which Juliette thinks about her fear of attempting to befriend Sonya and Sara, shows the lasting effects of her previous incarceration, which has left Juliette unfamiliar with how to make friends. At this point in the novel, fear of emotional upset is still a primary motivating factor for Juliette. This fear causes her to withdraw, and, as the final line indicates, refrain from communication, which only increases her isolation.

"It’s all my fault it’s all my fault.”

Mafi here uses the strikethrough effect, repetition, and lack of punctuation to suggest the depth of Juliette’s emotional turmoil when she sees Adam in pain during his supernatural tests with Castle. The end of the strikethrough on the repeated “it’s all my fault” suggests Juliette’s failure to hold back her guilt. She follows this reaction by unleashing her super strength, indicating the physical effects of sustained mental and emotional stress.

“I’m always apologizing. Forever apologizing. For who I am and what I never meant to be and for this body I was born into, this DNA I never asked for, this person I can’t un become. 17 years I’ve spent trying to be different. Every single day. Trying to be someone else for someone else.

And it never seems to matter.”

After punching through the research room floors and being told by Kenji that she needs to start taking herself seriously, Juliette investigates her tendency to apologize for things she can’t control. Rather than apologizing to Sara and Sonya, she decides to thank them for being kind to her. This marks the beginning of a change for Juliette, in which she chooses to reach out to others instead of pushing them away.

“My troubles.

My troubles have arrived fashionably late to this conversation, inconsiderate beasts that they are.”

At this point in the novel, Juliette’s relationship concerns are still her main focus. Here, she personifies her problems, indicating her self-awareness and self-centeredness: Though she is in a discussion with Castle about Adam’s powers, Juliette can’t help but wonder about how this affects her. The wry descriptor of troubles as “inconsiderate beasts” suggests that Juliette finds her own self-absorption somewhat absurd, given the larger conflicts at stake.

“I always dared to identify with the princess, the one who runs away and finds a fairy godmother to transform her into a beautiful girl with a bright future.”

Juliette thinks about this in a low moment, after she has injured Adam with her touch. Though she laments that she will not have the “happily ever after” suggested by the fairy tale allusion, this quote also foreshadows Juliette’s movement away from wanting to be saved. Increasingly, she becomes able save herself and help those around her.

“I know that he is a tortured soul who, like me, never gets up with the warmth of friendship or love of peaceful coexistence.”

Juliette’s consideration of what makes a person “good” or “bad” continues to develop, fueled by her preoccupation with Warner, as discussed above. This quote emphasizes the way personal relationships affect someone’s personality, and Juliette implies that the kindness of others allows someone to develop their own kindness.

“I don’t need anyone to worry for me or wonder about me or risk falling in love with me. I am unstable.”

Juliette, whose mental health fluctuates throughout Unravel Me, equates mental stability with “deserving” affection and kindness from others. As the book progresses, Juliette has to work to undo this type of thinking so that she can gain self-confidence and claim her power and self-worth.

“Make a choice and stop wasting everyone’s time. Stop wasting your own time.”

Kenji urges Juliette to decide to see the world differently and look at all the things she has instead of dwelling on her problems. Hearing things explained this way causes Juliette to feel ashamed of her behavior, but this shame encourages her to look for ways she can improve her life.

“Reestablished Nations of the World. Everything’s gone global, you know. They all trade commodities. […] It’s another reason why the whole Reestablishment thing is a pile of crap. They’ve monopolized the resources of the entire planet and they’re just keeping it all for themselves.”

Here, Ian reveals the meaning of “RNW” stamped on boxes of supplies. The world of Unravel Me is not only a military dystopia, but also a dystopia of global capitalism. While The Reestablishment uses military power to control its citizens, it does so to create extreme income inequality to benefit the few on top.

“Sometimes I wonder about glue.

         No one ever stops to ask glue how it’s holding up. If it’s tired of sticking things together or worried about falling apart or wondering how it will pay its bills next week.

         Kenji is kind of like that.”

As Juliette begins to make more friends at Omega Point and worry less about her own troubles, she can see other people’s troubles more clearly. Here, she uses an extended metaphor to think about the difficulty of doing “invisible” labor, such as Kenji’s work to keep things running smoothly.

“You hate being in your own skin. You can’t stand it. That’s not called acceptance. That’s called—I don’t know—the opposite of acceptance.”

Kenji articulates the importance of self-acceptance as part of a journey of becoming one’s truest self. This connects to Juliette’s ability to use her Energy at will, which draws on a long YA literature history of the bildungsroman, in which protagonists must undergo a process of self-discovery.

“Maybe I’m just supposed to die.”

Even as Juliette begins to take charge of her own destiny, she still sometimes engages in fatalistic thinking about what she is “supposed” to do rather than what she wants to do or is willing to work toward. Her gradual shifting toward self-acceptance underscores the difficulty of breaking established patterns of thinking, especially when this overlaps with long-term experiences with mental health.

“‘You’re not afraid of me?’

‘Are you going to be mean to me?’

‘Never.’

‘Then why would I be afraid of you?’”

Juliette’s conversation with James plays into the trope of the “wise child.” Even though James now knows about Juliette’s powers and that she accidentally used those powers to kill someone, he goes straight to the point of wanting to be friends with her again, so long as she has good intentions. The “wise child” trope suggests that the simple way that children have of viewing things is often more accurate than the complexities that adults assign to issues.

“I don’t know what I was expecting.

         Maybe I thought he’d be old and slumped and slightly blind. Maybe he’d be wearing a patch on one eye and have to walk with a cane […] Whatever I was expecting was wrong so utterly, incredibly, horribly wrong.

         I’m staring at a man who is absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful.”

When Juliette firsts meets Anderson, she is astonished by his beauty. Anderson’s good looks build on the motif that appearances can be deceiving. Additionally, the idea that Anderson might use a cane foreshadows Anderson using a cane after Juliette shoots him in both his legs.

“It’s always so difficult to kill a beautiful thing.”

Anderson’s assertion that it is more difficult to kill “beautiful things” indicates that he does not comprehend the novel’s recurring motif that beauty and worth are separate, which further suggests that he is an evil character, incapable of the kind of nuanced thinking that Juliette must learn. Additionally, his referring to Juliette as a “thing” demonstrates Anderson’s disregard for human life, particularly women.

“I keep telling myself I have no interest in killing people but somehow I always find a way to justify it, to rationalize it when I want to.”

This passage shows Juliette’s internal struggle throughout the novel as she attempts to reconcile her powers with her desire to be good and the necessity of violence during a time of war. It also suggests the dangers of rationalization, warning that good intentions can easily be twisted into bad actions.

“‘You say you love me,’ he says. ‘And I know I love you.’ He looks up, meets my eyes. ‘So why the hell can’t we be together?’”

This conversation between Adam and Juliette builds on the novel’s theme that decisions are always made in context, and that circumstances affect the path of a character’s life. In this particular circumstance, Juliette learns that loving Adam is not necessarily enough to justify the dangers of them being together. A successful relationship, as she learns over the course of the novel, requires multiple forms of compatibility, so that both parties in the relationship can grow together.

“Because what if one day I slip? What if one day I fall through the cracks and no one is willing to pull me back? What happens to me then?”

As Juliette becomes closer with Warner, she thinks more and more about the nature of forgiveness and understanding. While earlier in the novel she wished to dismiss Warner (and herself) as a “monster,” she here thinks about how she would want to be treated if she did something bad. Being willing to forgive Warner, in this context, is portrayed not as an act of foolishness but as an act of generosity.

“‘Books,’ he’s saying […] ‘are easily destroyed. But words will live as long as people can remember them. Tattoos, for example, are very hard to forget.’ He buttons his buttons. ‘I think there’s something about the impermanence of life these days that makes it necessary to etch ink into our skin,’ he says. ‘It reminds us that we’ve been marked by the world, that we’re still alive. That we’ll never forget.’”

Warner, here discussing his decision to tattoo an excerpt from The Tempest onto his skin, even though he admits to not understanding Shakespeare very well, emphasizes the power of words. This aligns him with Juliette in her use of grammar to create meaning in her life. Additionally, this connects Warner to Juliette’s tendency to connect emotional experiences to physical sensations; Warner literally applies words that have meaning to him to his body.

“‘Can you believe that?’ he asks me, still not looking in my direction. ‘Can you believe he thinks I can just wake up one morning and be different? Sing happy songs and give money to the poor and beg the world to forgive me for what I’ve done? Do you think that’s possible? Do you think I can change?’”

Warner’s defensive attitude toward Castle’s suggestion that he could change comes from a place of fear; his question about being forgiven suggests that he does not believe such forgiveness is possible. Rather than pursue the possibility of change, which is likely to be painful, Warner insists that he knows he cannot be different.

“The world around us is a blurry landscape of blues and grays and mottled hues and the few trees still standing have a hundred shaky, quivering arms ripping through their ranks, reaching up to the sky as if in prayer, begging for relief from the tragedy they’ve been rooted in. It’s enough to make me feel sorry for the plants and animals forced to bear witness to what we’ve done.”

Imagery of the landscape in this passage contributes to the bleak atmosphere of the rainy day during the battle between Omega Point and The Reestablishment. Personification of the trees highlights the tension between humans and nature, a conflict in which humans are categorized as a cruel, destructive force.

“This is the moment, this is where we have to let go, this is where we fight alone, just the 3 of us, 3 ancient kids fighting to save 26 faces or we die trying.”

As in other works of YA fiction, Unravel Me deals with characters on the cusp of adulthood, a period that is often complicated by dystopian conditions. Here, Juliette looks at herself, Adam, and Kenji as simultaneously young and old, which suggests how war and brutality can force children to grow old before their time.

“My conscience has declared war against itself.”

This quote demonstrates the novel’s recognition that political concerns also cause personal turmoil. Faced with the brutalities of war, Juliette wonders at the senselessness of violence, even as she recognizes the necessity of fighting back in the face of injustice. Taking action even though it is emotionally difficult signifies a developmental leap for Juliette, as she arrives at the end of the novel.