Chapters 33–37

Summary: Chapter 33, Day

With time running out, Day makes a haphazard plan to escape. He pretends to be sick with the plague. One of the guards mentions to another that Day was exposed to his brother, who is “Patient Zero,” confirming Day’s suspicions that the Republic infected Eden with a new mutation of the plague for testing. When the guards let Day out to help him, Day overpowers them. He doesn’t make it far, however. Several guards come up from behind and restrain him. Commander Jameson and June are among them. June whispers to Day that she’s going to help him escape. Jameson threatens Day, saying she’s going to make his execution slow and painful. He bites her in response. 

Summary: Chapter 34, June

June goes to the Lake sector to look for Kaede and Tess to enlist their help to save Day. When June finds them, she learns that Kaede is working for the Patriots and Tess has joined them as a medic. Kaede is reluctant to help June or even listen to her because June was the one to betray Day. Also, the Patriots aren’t willing to take risks to help just one person. June convinces Kaede by offering her the reward money June earned for catching Day as well as an electro-bomb, which June confiscated from headquarters. June also asks Kaede to help John escape the next day. They plan to rescue Day on the day of his execution by creating a diversion and sneaking him out of Batalla Hall using Patriots dressed as Republic soldiers. 

Summary: Chapter 35, Day

Day has a slew of dreams as he awaits his execution. One of them stands out, however—a dream about something that happened when he was younger. He and John were playing street hockey outside with a paper ball. Day accidentally knocked the ball into a police officer’s face. Instead of backing down when the officer threatened him, Day just stared at him and stood his ground. John, who is four years older, had to stop the police officer from beating Day by offering him all the family’s money and a chicken their mother just bought to celebrate John’s new job at the steam plant. John scolds Day, warning him never to defy a police officer again because it’s too dangerous. He tells Day that he would rather die than watch an officer beat him again. Day wakes up realizing his dream is likely a premonition. 

Summary: Chapter 36, June

June accepts Thomas’s invitation to a movie because she doesn’t want him to get suspicious. Thomas reveals he came to her house the night before, but she wasn’t there. June tries to evade answering by asking Thomas why he came. Thomas replies he wanted to check up on her. He also reveals that Commander Jameson moved Day’s execution up a day, probably in retaliation for Day biting her hand. June scrambles to think of another plan to rescue Day because now she won’t have time to get Republic uniforms for the Patriots to wear. She wonders why Commander Jameson didn’t tell her of the change in execution date and whether Thomas is in on some secret plan. 

Summary: Chapter 37, Day

Day is given a last request on the morning of his execution. June is there. She mouths to him to ask to speak to John. When Day and John meet, John encourages Day to be strong until the end and to go down with a fight. Their eyes are filled with tears as they say goodbye. Just as Day is led to the execution yard, he overhears Thomas arrest June. She’s being held under investigation. 

Analysis: Chapters 33–37 

As a representative of the Colonies and the Patriots, Kaede demonstrates how the Patriots are a well-organized, prudent, and efficient group, suggesting that to truly fight the establishment, a highly-organized offense is needed. When June approaches Kaede for help, Kaede is reluctant to provide it. First, she knows that June works for the Republic and was the one to turn Day in. But even when June convinces her she’s on Day’s side, it’s not enough. Kaede says that the Patriots will need more. Even though they have been wanting to recruit Day for a while, they aren’t willing to put their whole organization at risk for one person. This shows the Colonies’ prudence in their actions and willingness to work carefully and methodically to take down the Republic. This approach contrasts with Day’s, whose methods are to stage dramatic terrorist attacks at random, causing large-scale destruction to airfields, banks, and other property that is significant to the Republic. The novel suggests that much more will be needed to take down the Republic, however, and Day’s methods might not be enough.

The novel also shows that the Colonies like their displays of power, too. Kaede doesn’t accept just money from June to help Day escape his execution. It’s the promise of the illustrious electro-bomb that convinces Kaede to help. The electro-bomb is a highly-prized symbol of the Republic’s power, a high-tech device that can paralyze guns in a certain perimeter around it when detonated. When Kaede accepts the device as payment for the Patriots’ help in saving Day, it’s implied they might save the device for themselves, perhaps for a planned-out offense down the line. Their only task is to simply create a diversion outside to allow Day to escape, and the electro-bomb is not needed for that. Instead, they detonate the bomb, and on top of that, rain down the money June gave them for dramatic effect. This means the Colonies walk away with nothing. While their goals are altruistic, they also clearly want to show the Republic that they are just as powerful. The novel suggests that on both sides of power—the establishment and anti-establishment—there is a need to show off and a susceptibility to glamour.

No matter what side Day or June is on, however, they need to look out for themselves above all. Neither side is that safe—the Colonies are not willing to take risks for Day without some sort of gain in return, and June’s position inside the Republic was never really safe since the Republic had both her parents and her brother killed. The novel suggests that pledging allegiance to any faction, government, or authority is inherently unsafe because none of these things prioritize the individual. Authority, in any form, the novel suggests, is naturally flawed because of its inherent need to retain power over its factions. This idea is especially exemplified by Commander Jameson, the Republic’s purest expression of raw power. Jameson wants to save face at all costs, and she is angered when anyone questions her authority or insults her. She moves Day’s execution up in retaliation just because he defied her, and she hates him. She cannot withstand any suggestion that her power is not absolute, whether it’s a real threat to her position or not. The novel suggests that no form of authority should be believed in and trusted wholeheartedly. 

Finally, the motif of eyes forms its last poignant image in the novel when John and Day lock eyes in Day’s cell. The brothers don’t say much, but their eyes are filled with tears. Looks rather than words are shown to be the purest form of expression, especially in a totalitarian society like the Republic. They are the way to see into the heart of another character. Day’s imperfection in his eye reveals his uniqueness both inside and out. June’s eyes, which look like her brother Metias’s, give away her identity to Day. June tries desperately to hide her eyes from Thomas when they are eating, to make sure he doesn’t realize that she knows about her parents and how he murdered her brother. Earlier, Day remarks how he and his brother’s eyes are so similar they could be mistaken for twins in the dark. Now, their tears over their broken family and impending separation unite them and make them the same again. Eyes cannot hide the truth. They reveal the heart, mind, and inner qualities of the characters.