Previous

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Day’s Pendant Necklace

Day loses his pendant necklace the night he breaks into the hospital trying to steal a cure for the plague. The necklace is a highly sentimental object to Day because his father gave it to him when he was young. Day is distressed when he realizes he lost it. Later, readers learn the pendant is actually a dangerous object. It is a United States quarter from the 1990s that Day’s father found in a swamp. The quarter is a relic that proves that the Republic and the Colonies were once one, a fact the Republic is trying to suppress to remain in power. Days’ parents decide to make it into a necklace for Day rather than hide it so that it wouldn’t arouse suspicion if they were ever raided. Like Day, the necklace is an “open secret,” out there for the world to see, but somehow still disguised and hidden. The pendant is also a symbol of truth; Day’s father gives it to Day over his other two brothers, likely realizing that Day is the one who has the strength and desire to fight the Republic’s lies.

Metias’s Journals

Metias’s journals become a symbol of subversion in a technically advanced state. Metias keeps a journal because he is an expert hacker and knows how easily anything online can be traced and therefore compromised. A journal keeps information in one place and easily away from the prying eyes of others if safely kept hidden. Metias likes keeping a journal because it is old-fashioned, and he’s sentimental about the past. He keeps photos of his family around and in plain view to remember the past. It is through his journals that Metias can communicate his secrets to June and inform her that the Republic killed him and his parents. The journals show that not everything can be overcome with technology. Sometimes a simple pen and piece of paper can be just as powerful tools of resistance as the Republic’s highly advanced electro-bombs. In effect, the journals show technology’s inherent vulnerability.

Sea Daisies

Sea daisies are Day’s mother’s favorite flower. When Day finds them sprouting up in the abandoned library in which he is hiding out, he picks some for her. Because Day’s mother thinks he is dead, Day can’t give them to her directly, so he leaves them for her outside the house. He tells himself that the daisies prove that he is still alive and watching over his family. When Day returns to the house to warn his family that the plague patrol is coming, he squats near the sea daisies he left for his mother and sees that they are now withered and dying. Day misses his mother’s care and dreams that he can collapse in her arms and receive her love like his other brothers. The sea daisies symbolize Day’s connection to his mother and her motherly protection, which mirrors his protection over his family. The dead sea daisies foreshadow Day’s mother’s death, which occurs shortly after he sees them.

Previous section Motifs

Take a Study Break