For example, Cassia is "matched" when she is seventeen. This means that her husband is chosen for her, and she is allowed to meet him and get to know him before they get married. This may seem very impersonal for some thing as… personal as marriage. It seems odd to Cassia too when she is matched to her best friend. But later in the book, one of the Officers says, "how do you think we cured cancer? why do you think we are all so healthy?" By this the Officer meant that when the couples were being matched, they made sure to pair the right people together to ensure that mutations such as cancer, down syndrome, and other genetic diseases would not occur. It was a simple match of genes, and nothing more.
Another example of the governments control over the people is that Cassia is not allowed to choose her own job. Nobody can. Everybody's job is picked by a test they must take. The people are then matched to their job based on natural skills and capabilities. This may seem to us like an injustice, seeing how it isn't always easy to love something just because you're good at it. But by making sure that the most skillful people get put in the jobs they are best at, more gets done. It is far far FAR more efficient than letting us choose.
However, just because an action is justifiable doesn't mean it is definitely the right thing to do. While health and progress are important, they are worth nothing if nobody is happy. And Cassia is miserable by the end of the book. She must get married to somebody that she doesn't want to, and she is not satisfied with her life. I don't think that there is a definite answer to this dilemma. While control was clearly improving the health, progress, and safety of the people, it also made them miserable or unsatisfied. There must be a perfect middle ground; seeing as complete freedom is dangerous, and complete control is immoral.
I read this book 2 years ago, but had mixed feelings about it. After reading your response, you made me think more about how these dystopian stories' "villain" can actually be the opposite of what the main character believes; that there's a good reason and result to their questionable actions. I also agree with your statement on how sometimes we might not be amazing at doing the things we love, and surprisingly really good at doing something we dislike; however in terms of which one we have more success in, the disliked job seems more inviting. However, this could lead to many other results, such as the citizens to become depressed or cause hatred/jealousy between them if someone they know has a job they originally wanted. Overall though, I thought your reading response to Matched was very thorough and made me think more about possibilities in terms of why their society is the way it is.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this nook, but now i want to. You described the events very well for me to understand. the issue in this book reminds me of our Banned Books essay, in a way, the issues are similar because the reading choices of teens are taken away. however this book seems to have a darker theme of higher power deciding our fates.
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