The Measure Literary Elements

Science fiction

NYC after the arrival of the strings

Third-person multiple point-of-view

Narrators:
Nina
Amie
Maura
Ben
Hank
Anthony
Jack
Javier

The tone is anxious, and the mood is tense and surreal

The protagonist(s) are Nina, Maura, Amie, Ben, and Hank. The antagonist is Anthony Rollins.

The major conflict is the appearance of the strings and how it has created an us-versus-them mentality within the country towards those with short strings. This is furthered by the presidential election in which Anthony is leading after he positions himself as guardian of the long-stringers and takes advantage of the violence at the hands of short-stringers to further inspire fear within society.

The climax begins with the short-stringer support group attending the protest at Rollins's rally in NYC. Hank notices a woman who appears to be about to enact violence. He jumps in front of her gun and is killed. Rollins uses this as proof of the violence of short-stringers and the media paints Hank as someone who saved Senator Rollins rather than someone there to protest his candidacy. Anthony is invited to the president's STAR Initiative which requires string transparency for high-security clearance positions. Rollins is rising the ranks, despite Jack's taking the microphone from him during his biggest television appearance to discourage voters from voting for him, informing them that he doesn't care about short-stringers and only about money. Anthony Rollins wins the presidency.

The rise of Anthony Rollins is foreshadowed throughout the book—from Jack believing that he won't have to continue on the campaign trail after the appearance of the strings because surely people will want a tried-and-true candidate in the face of uncertainty. An event in June that will change everything is also referenced, as well as the broadcast from Wes Johnson on New Year's Eve that indirectly admits defeat.

Hank joining the short-stringer group for people who have more time was an understatement of how short his string is. Anthony Rollins's knowledge of the assailant's true motive is understated as he says he had no knowledge of her true motive being tied to her brother, whereas he had been briefed on it years before his election to the presidency. Amie accuses Nina of not thinking straight about her decision to marry Maura, which is an understatement because they've been together for two years and Nina knows when Maura will die.

The songs that play within the book are allusions to the present state of society. For example, an eerie song, "Little Boxes," is being sung in the empty subway after the arrival of the boxes. Also, Amie's inscribed plaque for Ben for their 10th anniversary is an allusion to Simon's letter to Gertrude, which is the subject of their first letter exchange.

The description of the boxes and how the string is covered in light paper to give people a second chance to decide not to look at the string is an example of imagery within the text. Ben's experience in the subway terminal throughout the beginning of the book illustrates the mood throughout society: the imagery is very tense, overwhelming, and anxiety-inducing. The shop in Venice where Nina and Maura see and learn about the history of the masks illustrates the colors and shapes of the masks.

The main paradox is that the uncertainty of death is what causes the most anxiety in people. We don't know when we or a loved one will die, and whether or not we are at fault. However, when the boxes arrive, it causes more upheaval and discrimination than when we had no access to this knowledge. Further, as described by Nina, the vows we've always taken in marriage, vowing our love to someone without knowing when the parting will occur, are now seen as unthinkable even though now we can plan accordingly and not leave our families in disarray.

The parallelism in Anthony Rollins learning his link with the assailant shows how he's compartmentalized his life in order to get closer to his dream of becoming president of the USA. He remembers the story of the boy who was hazed to death at his fraternity party, but reasons that the boy always had a short string anyway. In the same paragraph, he cannot fathom that God would've known what Anthony and his frat would do that night, and has to believe that anything could have caused the boy's death—not that his string was short because of Anthony. He drinks to silence the thoughts, and through the use of parallelism, we get an honest look at Anthony.

Through Maura explaining her belief that after the strings, Nina wouldn't propose to her, and her explaining that her marriage to Nina is the one thing the strings haven't been able to take away, we see that even though Maura has a lot of uncertainty in her life, she's always been sure about Nina. And even further, she's always wanted to marry Nina.

N/A

The strings are personified as taking away time from people, limiting their opportunities and being a symbol of God's favor for them.
Maura personifies Venice as being similar to short-stringers in how it is always underestimated but always persists despite its predicted end date.