Previous Next

Chapters 16–20

Summary: Chapter 16, June

Day is happy because he has managed to steal a case of nectar wine. June thinks the wine is cheap stuff, but Day acts like it’s the best thing in the world. June and Day stay up talking while Tess sleeps. June asks Day why he needs so much money. He replies that money can buy happiness because it can buy the things that make your life safe and comfortable. A bit tipsy from the wine, Day tells June she’s attractive. She tells him the same. Day leans in and kisses her, and June is surprised that she’s kissing him back. As she watches Day fall asleep, she notices in horror how he grabs for a necklace around his neck that isn’t there. She remembers the pendant in her pocket that she found at the scene of Metias’s murder and realizes that the boy she just kissed is Day. 

Summary: Chapter 17, Day

Day waits for June to fall asleep before slipping out to go check on his family. On his way there, he thinks about how much he likes June. Day arrives at the house and signals for John to come out. John tells him that Eden isn’t doing well and only has a few weeks left. Day says he has collected almost enough money for a cure and to stay hopeful. John asks to help Day, but Day quickly shuts him down, saying he doesn’t want John to get into any danger. 

Summary: Chapter 18, June

June secretly follows Day to his house. When she sees Day enter a house with a three-lined X, she realizes that her suspicions are right. The boy is Day, and he was the one who raided the hospital looking for a cure for his family. June is angry, but she also wonders if Day did kill Metias. She tells Thomas through her mouthpiece that she’s found Day and gives him the location of the house. Thomas tells her that is the same house headquarters was scheduled to investigate the next morning for a special plague case. He tells her they’ll send extra troops. June gives orders that no one should be hurt, and everyone should be taken in for questioning. Thomas is surprised by her authoritative tone. 

Summary: Chapter 19, Day

Day has a dream that he is at his home with June, holding her hand. He tells her he wants her to meet his mother. June shakes her head and says Eden is dead. Just then, Day is jolted awake by the sound of military medic truck sirens. Tess and Day are taken aback when June says the trucks are the plague patrol coming for Day’s family. Day realizes that June followed him the night before to his family’s home, but he can’t figure out why. 

Summary: Chapter 20, June

Day demands that June tell him how she knows his family is being taken away. She admits she followed him the night before and heard some guards talking about sweeping a house with a triple-lined X. As Day rushes off to his family’s house, June immediately feels a pang of guilt, especially because Day trusts her so much. Tess wants to follow, but June makes her stay behind, to protect her. June readies herself mentally to go after Day by reminding herself that he’s a criminal, and she has a score to settle.

Analysis: Chapters 16–20 

Chapters 16–20 continue to explore the theme of prejudice through June’s battle between her preconceived notions of Day and life in the poor sectors and the deep emotional experiences she’s having with Day. June considers Day just another boy from the streets when they first meet. She’s unsure she can trust him and is on high alert. June worries about whether it is safe to travel with him or not, figuring anyone on the streets could be dangerous, an assumption she might not have held if she were back in her wealthier neighborhood. She’s also on a mission, however, and realizes that Day (whom she doesn’t know is Day yet) could very well be the fugitive killer she’s looking for, so she stays on. 

When Day offers her some wine he steals, June comments to herself how “low quality” and cheap the wine is, revealing her privilege and snobbery. Day, on the other hand, treats it like the best wine he’s ever tasted and savors each sip. Day enjoys the wine, knowing that every moment is precious and could be stolen from him. June, on the other hand, can’t enjoy the wine because she judges it of poor quality. Furthermore, she finds it strange that Day enjoys the wine so much since it isn’t good wine. The novel suggests that wealth and privilege can make someone judgmental, which can get in the way of enjoying day-to-day pleasures. Class and status can affect a person’s ability to simply enjoy life and not take things for granted.

Day, for his part, has always assumed June is just another girl from the street, and he is simply intrigued by the fact that she challenges his assumptions and judgments. When he first saw her fighting in the ring at the Skiz fight, he noticed her fighting skills were exceptional and she carried herself with much more grace and poise than Kaede, her opponent, and other girls from the street. After they begin talking and spending time together, Day notices how intelligent June is. Her heightened observations about his clothing, demeanor, and actions reveal that she’s just as perceptive as he is, if not more. At the same time, June can be naive, which he finds odd since this is not a trait common in people who live their lives in survival mode every day on the streets. Day chalks it up to her letting the streets make her stronger, not more cynical. Whatever June is, Day finds it irresistible, and he’s drawn to her because she’s different from what he expects. He likes her because she challenges his preconceived notions and judgments about girls and people who scrape by. 

For all of June’s and Day’s outward differences, however, there are deep similarities between them that go beyond class status. Their parallels continue the theme of how the poor and the wealthy are not essentially different. June and Day are both motivated by family and put family first. Day won’t leave the Republic even though it’s dangerous for him to remain there because he’s committed to taking care of his family. June is out to avenge her brother’s death. Not only do Day’s and June’s inner capabilities match, but in this way, their values do as well. Unlike Day, however, June still maintains allegiance to the Republic and believes in its precepts, something Day left behind long ago after being put in the labor camps and watching his father get beaten by the police. Day lives by his own moral compass, not the state’s.

June and Day have both been through tragedies, showing how being wealthy doesn’t necessarily protect someone from life. June lost her parents in a car crash, and now her brother in the line of duty. She has no family left. Day lost his father when he was young and has been on the run, separated from his family, ever since he escaped the labor camp. The novel suggests that deep, shared transformative emotional experiences can create a bridge between people and overcome superficial prejudicial notions that keep people apart.

Previous section Chapters 11–15 Next section Chapters 21 & 22

Take a Study Break