Essay Questions

In the beginning of the book, Fiona Tarsis is told to chop off her hair and look like a boy. Told not to identify herself as a female, why do you think that it is important that the militia does not find out her real gender?

Gender roles are an important issue in the book. Most women in the book are on the side of the wall that is healthy and happy, and therefore they do not have to deal with hardships pertinent to survival. As a woman, the population assumes fragility and the easy ability to manipulate. This is why Fiona take on the persona of a boy. It gives a psychological idea of strength and as a male is given a little more respect. As a boy, she doesn't have to worry about rape and molestation, rather she can focus on escape and survival on the side of beasts and monsters. As a girl, it would be even harder to survive and easier to be killed.

In the book, we see the common theme of greed and self-preservation. These two can almost be seen as the same, but are actually completely different. What is that difference?

Greed is seen as taking every resource for yourself instead of bothering to split it among others. Self-preservation is when you have no other choice but to take the resources for yourself for the sake of survival. In the book, the theme of self-preservation is more prevalent as we can see Arrin struggling with the choice to share her water and food. Humans on the side of the wall are easily willing to throw each other under the bus for the sake of living a good life or even eating something other than worms or leather. Greed is mainly seen on the good side of the wall, where people refuse to help the people affected by the disease and easily shun them instead of trying to work towards a proper cure. The people that are healthy are taken care of first before the people who are suffering and dying.