Shatter Me

After their argument, Adam doesn’t talk to Juliette. Juliette wants him to think that she doesn’t like him; she prefers this to having him suspect that she likes him too much. Juliette senses that Adam is hiding a lot of pain, and this scares her. She doesn’t even hear the screams echoing in the institution when she remembers his embrace and “the strength of firm hands holding all of [her] pieces together” (43). Yet she shakes off those dreams by reminding herself that no one should touch her. Juliette thinks of the horror in her mother’s eye when she saw what her child was capable of, and how her mother “stood back and watched as [she] was dragged away for a murder [she] didn’t know [she] could commit” (44).

Juliette decides that perhaps it is safer for Adam to stay away from her. Her thoughts are interrupted when five soldiers storm into the cell, pointing rifles at them. Although the soldiers command Juliette to put her hands up, she is so scared that she remains motionless, and one of the soldiers kicks her in the stomach. Juliette forces herself to get up and lift her hands. She assumes that they are finally going to kill her, and that’s why they brought Adam—to take her place. Juliette is almost unconscious when soldiers begin to drag her in an unknown direction.

Juliette opens her eyes and finds herself, beaten and bruised, in a different cell. She wonders what might have happened to Adam when a guard storms into the cell and commands her to follow him. Then Adam comes into the cell beside the guard, holding a gun. This time she is not scared to look him in the eyes, but they seem “glassy and distant, far, far away” (47). As Juliette is being taken away, she tries to come to terms with the realization that Adam is a soldier.

The soldiers take her to a bright room and keep her on the floor, pressing a boot into her back. She hears a man address her, but she can’t lift her head to see who is speaking. After the voice commands to release her, Juliette lifts her head and sees a young man sitting on “what he imagines to be a throne but is nothing more than a folding chair” (49). She is surprised to see how young he is, about her age. The man, Warner, is blond and handsome, with clear green eyes.

As he tells Juliette that she is so stubborn she wouldn’t even cooperate with her cellmate, Juliette realizes that she has been betrayed. Warner invites Adam to come in, calling him by his last name—Kent. Juliette scolds herself for not grasping this earlier: she heard stories of soldiers infiltrating the public to report on suspicious acts. Yet she doesn’t understand why Adam would need to spy on her. She asks Warner if they are going to kill her, but he states that they have a proposal instead.

Juliette is perplexed since she doesn’t understand what Warner can possibly want from her. Adam is still in the room when Warner tells Juliette that she is “kind of a pet project” (52) and that he knows her secret. Warner assures Juliette that her whole life is “documented in hospital records, complaints to authorities, messy lawsuits, public demands to have [her] locked up” (52), so he knows exactly who she is and what to expect from her. Warner admits that he sent Adam into her cell to make sure she hasn’t forgotten the basics of human interaction during her time in isolation.

Warner praises Adam for being one of the best soldiers and for playing his part “a little too excellently” (52). He assures Juliette that Adam doesn’t know her secret yet, so she shouldn’t worry about it. Juliette looks at Adam, but as soon as their eyes meet, Adam quickly looks away. Noticing this, Warner offers Juliette to make her and Adam “a permanent assignment” (52) if she agrees to cooperate. Juliette refuses, and Warner tells her that if she missteps, Adam will have to kill her. Although Adam is listening to everything Warner says, he doesn’t react to these words. Juliette is surprised to realize how much Adam’s betrayal has hurt her.

Her thoughts are interrupted by Warner, who promises her that if she accepts his offer, she will live like one of The Reestablishment members. Juliette understands that Warner wants her to torture other people. As Warner comes closer to her, she notices that he is wearing gloves for protection. He leaves the room, telling Juliette that she is “a fighter for the wrong team” (55) and instructing Adam that he is now in charge of her.

Adam leads Juliette out of the room. Once they are in the darkness of the institution’s corridors, he tells Juliette to take his hand. She responds that she will never do it, and Adam comes closer to her and puts his hand on her lower back to guide her through the hallways. Adam warns Juliette that they are going outside, but she can hardly believe it. When they leave the building, she has an insatiable desire to breathe. Although the air is not as fresh as it used to be, for her, “even the waster oxygen of the dying Earth tastes like heaven” (56). Standing under the sun and feeling the wind on her skin, Juliette feels free for a moment. Adam holds her by the waist and opens a tank door for her.

As they drive in silence, Juliette observes a landscape she hasn’t seen in almost a year. She sees the abandoned houses and deserted roads with no street signs. There are no cars on the road because all cars are now manufactured only by one company and the general population cannot afford them. Juliette sees industrial buildings around her since traditional homes have been mostly abandoned.

Juliette begins to remember the promises that The Reestablishment gave about these changes being temporary. She recalls that they promised to form a “new generation comprised of only healthy individuals” (59) and how they banned all holidays and religions. She notices propagandistic posters on the walls, urging the people to “reestablish society” (60).

Although the situation seems dreary, Juliette thinks of those civilians who are ready to protest, “who have already begun to fight back” (61). She studies everything she sees, “stealing everything to store away in [her] mind” (61). The tank pulls up to a large building with no insignia. Adam puts his hands around Juliette’s waist and leads her inside the building.