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Transcript

Robes

Scythe

  • The scythe is a symbol of death and fear

  • It is normally associated with the grim reaper
  • The Scythes are the socially accepted grim reaper in an immortal society

  • Many fear scythes as they are the tools of death

  • Scythes represent upcoming death and despair when they are present
  • The robe of a Scythe symbolizes many things

  • The robe shows the Scythes' personality and way of life
  • For example Goddard's robe was bright blue with diamonds
  • Faraday's was a more subtle color

  • These differences show the polar personalities
  • Goddard was nontraditional and youthful
  • Faraday was older and stuck to the roots of the founders

Characters

Symbols

Summary

  • Main
  • Scythe Faraday
  • Takes on Rowan and Citra
  • Scythe Curie
  • Plays crucial role in ending of story
  • Citra
  • She is very competitive and is taken under Faraday's wing
  • Rowan
  • Quiet guy, he sees himself as the "lettuce" taken under Faraday's wing too
  • Others
  • Scythe Goddard and crew
  • Revolutionary group who believe the traditional way of gleaning is over
  • High Blade Xenocrates
  • Oversees MidMerica's Scythedom

Recommended for...

High school students and older:

  • Prominent violence
  • Harder to interpret/subliminal messages that may be more difficult to interpret at younger ages
  • Future/Utopian environment
  • Humans are immortal
  • No government because of thunderhead
  • Thunderhead is the cloud but much smarter. It runs everything on Earth
  • Scythes are the bringers of death
  • Prevents overpopulation, randomly chose people for permanent death
  • Main problem is the corruption within Scythes

Themes

Conclusion

What society believes is not always the right belief

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

The author makes it very clear that the story of Scythe is about morals. The society has allowed certain individuals to choose to kill, however this may not mean it is the right way of doing things. The reader is left wondering what is right from wrong.

  • 5 star rating
  • Effective subliminal messages
  • Interesting concept of a dystopian/utopian world - makes you think

People can change over

competition

Concluding paragraph

Kostas Mateer, Ryan Miller, John Golden, Kevin Buchwald

Rowan and Citra are both civil and reasonable people but when you put them in competition - their motives and personalities shift to conform to whatever they need to in order to survive. Rowan is still sensible about his views on being a candidate for the Scythe's apprentice, where Citra takes a more radical approach. Competition ensues, following the principles of "survival of the fittest" ideology.

Authors' Tone

Scythe is an amazing work of literature as it dives into the depths of reason behind human existence. It will leave you deep in thought and Neal Shusterman does an outstanding job of leading you on an exploration of the morals and value of human life. Scythe introduces the reader to a deeper level of thinking and challenges the reader to think on their own about what might happen if we take technology to another level. Scythe is the perfect read for people really ready for a wake-up call to life.

The authors' tone in this passage is very foreshadowing of the fact that there will be a competition between Citra and Rowan at some point or another.

Paragraph

"They took to the court in earnest, and in earnest played to lose, just as Tyger had. Was this how it would always be? Was he now such an intimidating presence that even his own friends would now be afraid to truly challenge him? The only one who ever challenged him in any way now was Citra."

Man vs. Society

Ethics within the book are a prominent conflict, as the Scythes in the book have different opinions regarding the topic of gleaning - if it should stick to traditions where it is picked randomly, or if gleaning should be done in large numbers, or if they should even attempt to reduce the population at all.

Reading Passage

Conflict

Man vs. Man

Explanation

Rowan vs. Citra: Rowan and Citra are both candidates to become a Scythe's apprentice, yet only one may take the position, and the other will be gleaned.

This passage is talking about how Rowan is realizing that for the rest of his life, people will be living in fear of him except for Citra, who he will now be in competition with. He will now not have the opportunity to make friends and have a normal life.

Man vs. Supernatural

Importance

The idea of spontaneous gleaning represents the supernatural aspect of the conflict. Most Scythes go around and randomly choose who to glean. This leaves one's chances to live up to luck.

Rowan realizes how much power a scythe actually has over people and that his whole entire life has been flipped upside down. The only thing he has to focus on now is not losing his temper and winning the competition between Citra and himself.

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