English Thematic Essay Scythe

Alex Łuczkiewicz
10/10/2019
Dueher, Period 4
Morality In Death
Neal Shusterman's Dystopian Book Scythe takes place in the future where death
is gone diseases harmless and the economy stable. Everything has been discovered,
and now the population is no longer kept in check by nature; it is now the duty of the
scythes to glean and keep the community in check. They possess the most crucial role
of all, so they have only the barest of necessities and solitude, a lesson this take on the
future earth has to teach us cold be that morality is what makes us human.
Straight from the beginning of Rowan and Citra's training as apprentice scythes,
Faraday is placing the burden of death on them to show them his honorable ways.
Faraday did that to show Rowan and Citra that death is severe. You can see Faraday's
actions and how they affect the apprentice scythes on one particular scene on page 91,
"and who do we glean next?
"I...Uh...Narrowed it down to four."
"And?" Said the Scythe.
"All four fit the profile."
"And?" Said the Scythe again.
"Well this one just got married, and this one just bought a house—."
"Pick one," Said the Scythe.
"—And this one received a humanitarian award last year—"
"PICK ONE!" Yelled the Scythe with a ferocity, Rowan had never heard from the
man. The walls seemed to recoil from his voice. Rowan thought he might get a reprieve,
as he had when Faraday asked him to hand that woman the cyanide pill. But no; today's
test was very different. Rowan looked to Citra, who still stood in the doorway of the
weapons den like a bystander at an accident. He was truly alone in this awful decision.
Here we see Rowan experiencing the weight of death.” PThis is a test done by Faraday
to see if Rowan is honorable enough to own the role of a scythe. If Rowan had picked
the target with ease, he would have shown a lack of honor and no regard for human life.
And painting him as a monster, and he would have lost his apprenticeship right then
and. there
Moving forward to Rowan's experience with Scythe Goddard, you see what
happens to an apprentice who has no problem in picking who to glean. He massacres
large groups of people as often as possible to feed his desire to kill. Goddards
monstrosity is shown in a scene from the book very well. Just after he had begun
training in the morning, Goddard brings in 13 civilians for Rowan to kill. Goddard will
time him like it's his twisted sport. He dispatched 12 of them with unrivaled speed and
precision all 12 of his victims fell Instantly, Rowan hiding his sorrow while battling his
inner predator. Goddard and his crew were clapping and cheering like avid fans at a
sports game. Rowan, after pretending to enjoy killing, for the first time part of him
enjoyed it. Goddard loved what he saw Faraday would've gleaned himself instead of
having to watch that. Goddard is the opposite of Farady; he is the Scythe that has no
problem with choosing his victims. Goddard isn't human; he was a monster with no
honor.
Scythe Curie is another Scythe with one of the highest honor standards. She was
apprenticed by Faraday and kept the same honor using different gleaning methods.
Curie has journal entries popping up between chapters giving us insight, background,
context, and unobstructed views on current events giving us the best possible look of
the chaos that is Goddard. On-Page 155 in Scythe, there is a revealing journal entry
from Scythe Curie. Here are a few pieces with notable meaning and craft moves used
by the Author.
"The Thunderhead is the world's best listener.
But not for scythes. For us, the Thunderhead is eternally silent." The Author, Neal
Shusterman, separates the silence of the Thunderhead into a separate paragraph to
show meaning. They later add, "...And yet it does, and we know it." This is referring to
how the Scythes know the Thunderhead exists as an entity they can't interact with,
which can create a sense of longing. They have access to all its knowledge, but it does
not exist as an entity to them. But it does exist, and the Scythes know it. This is an
example of varying sentence lengths. The Author splits these things into separate
paragraphs to show that are vital points. That paragraph/sentence concludes the idea
from the last section into a thought-provoking statement. This connects to a theme
relating to morality because Curie ponders if the Scythedom should succumb to the rule
of the Thunderhead to eliminate all corruption. If this happened, all Scythes would
overcome their pride and surrender to justice. This would be an honorable act.
While some may argue that the theme is actually that a perfect civilization will still
have flaws, they most likely forget that the entire story is based around the conflict of
morality. At the beginning of the story, there is a lot of detailed description of how the
world works, and it is brought up throughout the story. For example, Faraday was
explaining to Rowan and Citra how the Scythedom is falling into corruption with Scythes
like Goddard. People who believe that a theme relating to the flaws of perfection is the
more predominant theme may say that the whole book wouldn't have happened without
the weaknesses of the world. While that's all good, these flaws of earth played more of
a passive role because Scythe Goddard took the active part of corrupting the
Scythedom. Those actions changed everything within the Scythedom. If Goddard had
not acted in the way he had, the Scythedom would have fallen apart in a much less
destructive manner, or its methods would have changed into something else. This
connects to the point that Goddard was the casual factor of corruption, which means
that the theme of morality is what makes us human is more applicable than a perfect
civilization has flaws.
In the trials that Rowan and Citra went through, they found a valuable lesson,
which is morality makes us human. If you think about it, this is true everywhere.
Goddard had no virtue and was a monster; Faraday had high standards and is a great
person. Who are you if you don't stop and help someone or do something for someone
else. You're not living.

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Alex Łuczkiewicz

"and who do we glean next?

"I...Uh...Narrowed it down to four."

"And?" Said the Scythe.

"All four fit the profile."

"And?" Said the Scythe again.

"Pick one," Said the Scythe.

"—And this one received a humanitarian award last year—"

happens to an apprentice who has no problem in picking who to glean. He massacres

"The Thunderhead is the world's best listener.

Shusterman, separates the silence of the Thunderhead into a separate paragraph to

civilization has flaws.

else. You're not living.

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