Summary
Each chapter of Scythe is preceded by an excerpt from a scythe’s (or novice scythe’s) gleaning journal. These excerpts are usually from Honorable Scythe Curie, though others are seen from Faraday, Goddard, Rowan, Prometheus, Socrates, Volta, and Anastasia. In the opening entry of the novel, Curie explains that she sees every human as both innocent and guilty, and that scythes are required by law to keep a record of the humans they permanently kill, or “glean.”
The main body of each chapter is told in the third-person closed past tense, usually following either Citra Terranova or Rowan Damisch.
On a cold November afternoon, Citra is struggling with algebra when a stranger arrives at her family’s apartment. From his foreboding voice, Citra can tell he’s a scythe. Scythes choose the color of their robes (except black, which is considered gauche); this scythe wears ivory linen, and he knows Citra’s name. Citra’s mother, Jenny, offers the scythe dinner, which he accepts, and he eventually introduces himself as Scythe Faraday. Citra and her younger brother, Ben, ask about his age and why he’s there (“I’m here for dinner,” he says, though Citra suspects he’s here to glean). Over dinner, Citra shouts at Scythe Faraday to stop torturing them and just glean one of them. Though Citra’s parents are mortified, Scythe Faraday says it’s nice to be challenged, as most people treat him annoyingly politely. He then grabs a knife from their kitchen, and Ben starts to cry.
However, Scythe Faraday allows Jenny Terranova to kiss his ring, granting one year of immunity from gleaning. He explains he’s there to glean their neighbor, Bridget Chadwell, but she’s not home and he was hungry. He tells Citra she would make a good scythe—not wanting to be one is the first requirement. When Scythe Faraday knocks later that night, Citra answers the door, and he returns the family knife, telling her that it’s symbolic of the fact that even though he’s the scythe, humanity wields the weapon: “we are all accomplices. You must share the responsibility.” Citra thinks that might be true, but she still throws the knife away.
In a different part of MidMerica, Rowan visits his friend Tyger Salazar in the hospital after Tyger threw himself off a building. Tyger likes to “splat,” or fall to his death for the thrill. Tyger is excited to learn that this most recent fall took four days to speedheal. Rowan tried splatting once but didn’t enjoy it; plus, his parents didn’t really notice, since his family is so enormous he’s largely ignored. He and Tyger call themselves “lettuce-kids,” sandwiched in the middle of large families and nobody’s favorite ingredient.
The next day at school, Rowan (tardy as usual) encounters a scythe in ivory robes, and he directs the scythe to the main office. When the scythe asks for Kohl Whitlock to be called from class, Rowan tells him off, saying Kohl is their star quarterback, then leaves in the interest of self-preservation. However, when he sees Kohl going into the principal’s office alone, Rowan follows him, saying that someone should be with him (even though Kohl doesn’t remember Rowan’s name). The scythe is annoyed but allows it. Rowan asks the scythe to explain why he’s gleaning Kohl. .303% of deaths in the Age of Mortality were in Kohl’s demographic (teenager, new car, history of alcohol consumption), and Kohl was randomly chosen from among those who fit the profile. The scythe gives Kohl a shock that induces immediate death by cardiac arrest, and Rowan holds Kohl’s hand through it, though the shock could have killed him as well (he’d have been revived, not permanently gleaned). Though Rowan is happy he stayed to comfort Kohl, the scythe warns him that no one will give him any kindness for what he’s done.
The scythe is proven correct: Rowan becomes a pariah at school, slapped and berated by Kohl’s ex-girlfriend, Marah Pavlik, and hated by the rest. Rowan hates the scythe for being right, the same way the students hate Rowan.
An excerpt from H.S. Curie’s gleaning journal here explains that in the year 2042, “the cloud” became infinite and sentient, evolving into “the Thunderhead” and eradicating death. Years were counted for a few more decades, but it stopped being important, so now years are referred to by animals—it started with the Chinese calendar (Year of the Rat, Tiger, etc) but now the animals don’t repeat. This year is the Year of the Ocelot.
In early January, Citra receives a mysterious invitation to the Grand Civic Opera, which she assumes is from someone asking her on a date. She’s escorted to a private box, where she meets Rowan, who received an identical invitation. They watch the first act of Verdi’s La Forza del Destino—since it’s from the Age of Mortality, Citra can’t relate to the themes of war, vengeance, and murder. During the intermission Citra and Rowan try to figure out why they were invited, comparing their ages, lives, and genetic indexes. Their speculation ends when Scythe Faraday joins them in the box, saying that today they’ll observe human folly and tragedy—tomorrow, they’ll live it.
From Rowan’s POV, we learn that he’s been the school outcast for two months. Eventually he stood on a lunch table and proclaimed that the other kids are right—the scythe was his uncle, Rowan told him to kill Kohl Whitlock, and Rowan gets to pick who’s next—just so the kids will finally leave him alone. Everyone avoids him now. He’s begun to feel like a ghost in his own life.
After the opera, Scythe Faraday gives them an address, instructing them to meet him there at 9 AM tomorrow. The address is the location of the Museum of World Art, which opens early just for them. Scythe Faraday shows them art from the Age of Mortality, asking them to witness the inspiration that’s lacking in post-mortal artwork. Rowan is moved by the vibrancy of the art, now that he knows what he’s looking for, finding it “unsettling but compelling as well.” Scythe Faraday takes the two teens to lunch, explaining that he’s looking for an apprentice. He’s chosen both of them, even though there’s only one position. Citra says Rowan can have it, she doesn’t want it, but Scythe Faraday says he has chosen them because they don’t want to be scythes.
Citra is absolutely furious at Faraday’s “sick little scheme” and knows she’ll never become a scythe. However, when she tells her parents that evening, they ask her if she’ll do it; she realizes that if she becomes a scythe, her family will be granted immortality—most importantly, her younger brother will. Still, she can’t imagine finding purpose in gleaning people.
The decision is easier for Rowan—he doesn’t think he’s morally superior, but he thinks he has more empathy than most people; plus, he already knows what it’s like to be separated from the rest of the world, between ostracization at school and being ignored at home. Ultimately it’s the art that decides for him, the passion of the Age of Mortality—both good and bad passion. The next morning, he tells his mom he’s dropping out of school to become a scythe, and she responds with ambivalence.
Citra goes through with the apprenticeship, dropping out of school and saying goodbye to her friends, though she can’t believe she’s actually doing it. She and Rowan wear green apprentice armbands, and they live in Scythe Faraday’s small, spartan house. Scythe Faraday tells them they can never have anything romantic between them. Citra is annoyed that Rowan doesn’t seem to care, and Rowan is secretly attracted to her, but he wants to foster a good relationship between them, despite being in direct competition for the scythehood.
At the supermarket with Scythe Faraday, Citra notices that people treat him one of three ways: pretending he’s not there, running away, or kissing up to him. One woman seems different, chatting with Scythe Faraday pleasantly (they learn later that she works in the coroner’s office). Citra chooses mostly snacks, and Rowan chooses staples like flour and meat substitutes; they bicker over this. After they check out, Scythe Faraday observes a woman dropping her groceries in the parking lot, and he says they’ll glean her later today—at Rowan’s request, Faraday explains that he’s chosen her because 1.25% of accidental deaths were in parking lots in the Age of Mortality.
That afternoon, they glean the woman, Mrs. Becker, in her office. Scythe Faraday gives her a life-terminating pill that will kill her painlessly when she bites it, and he allows her to write a letter to her children. Scythe Faraday commands Rowan, then Citra to put the pill in Mrs. Becker’s mouth, but they refuse (passing his test by proving they’re not eager to kill). After Mrs. Becker is gleaned, Scythe Faraday commands Citra to check her pulse. Both she and Rowan feel conflicted and confused, especially when Scythe Faraday says they’ll be attending her funeral—it's not a rule, but he considers it common decency to pay respects. Citra and Rowan realize that by participating in a gleaning, their apprenticeship has truly begun.
Analysis
The protagonists, Citra and Rowan, have clearly different personalities, histories, and outlooks. But one thing they have in common is how they treat Scythe Faraday: neither of them falls into the three types of attitudes Citra observes in the supermarket. The difference in their personalities makes for a more engaging narrative, but it also highlights each person's characteristics through constant contrast and parallels. Citra's internal conflict about becoming a scythe can be compared directly to Rowan's, which informs the reader's understanding of each of them. From the groceries they choose to their opinions on art, Citra and Rowan are at odds in this part of the novel, which fits a coming-of-age narrative progression.
When he sits with Kohl Whitlock, Rowan tries to do a good act, but he's punished for it. Though Rowan believes himself to be (and frequently is) more empathetic than other people, the reaction surprises him here. He thought he was doing something objectively good, but instead of being rewarded, he is punished. The constant lack of validation Rowan receives—even for heroic acts like comforting Kohl as he's gleaned—makes him even more susceptible to Scythe Goddard's praise later on, so even as Rowan does things he knows are wrong, he can't help but finally feel good.
This section introduces scythes as a concept, though only one scythe is actually depicted: Scythe Michael Faraday. Scythes choose their dress and their own manner of gleaning, within reason—it's gauche to wear black robes, and it's bad to kill with unnecessary cruelty. Scythe Faraday wears ivory robes (presumably difficult to keep clean, indicating fastidiousness) and he never gleans the same way twice. He chooses people based on statistics from the Age of Mortality, trying to preserve the "cause and effect" linearity of natural death. He claims that death is always there with him, which is a contrast to Scythe Goddard, who wants constant death but actually spends most of his time partying.
Scythe Faraday also has his own method of paying respects for the gleaned: going to funerals. Only one other kind of paying respects is depicted in the novel (Scythe Curie's), and of the two, Scythe Faraday's method is more in line with the Age of Mortality, where funerals provide catharsis and community when a loved one has passed. Scythe Curie's method of offering to let the loved ones kill her wouldn't work very well in the Age of Mortality; hers is a post-mortal comfort. Of course, Scythe Goddard doesn't pay respects to the gleaned in any way, just grants immunity at his gates in a crushing, chaotic mass ceremony.
On a structural note, beginning the book with a gleaning journal excerpt from H.S. Curie allows readers an insider look into the scythe ethos, but from a specific angle. Scythe Curie is the most commonly quoted journal writer in the novel, so readers get to know the old-guard scythes first and most intimately. With this choice, the novel presents the old-guard outlook—meditative, self-condemning, almost religious—as the standard or correct way for a scythe to behave.
