65 pages • 2 hours read
Tahereh MafiShatter Me
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Birds
When Juliette is in her cell, every day she looks out of the window hoping to see a bird. Although humans have abused nature so much that birds are a rare sight, she keeps hoping to spot a bird because she has heard stories “of birds that fly” (8). In the novel, a bird symbolizes Juliette’s hope to be free. Since Juliette has been contending with The Impact of Physical and Emotional Isolation for most of her life, she dreams of being free as a bird and able to go where she wants.
Juliette has a specific image of a bird in her head, “a white bird with streaks of gold like a crown atop its head” (10). When she sees a tattoo of a bird that looks exactly like this on Adam’s chest, she perceives it as a sign that Adam is the one who will set her free. When Juliette asks Adam why he had decided to get this tattoo, he reveals that he, too, has always dreamed of seeing this bird. Thus, the bird becomes not only a symbol of freedom but also a symbol of kinship between Adam and Juliette, two people who are constrained by their circumstances but who dream of being free.
Juliette’s Notebook
Juliette’s notebook symbolizes her connection with the outside world and her attempt to break through the isolation she has felt all her life. The journal is Juliette’s only companion when she is in the cell, and writing down her thoughts becomes an antidote to her growing feelings of hopelessness and fear.
The notebook also becomes a symbol connected to The Importance of Resisting Tyranny, as it illustrates Juliette’s noncompliance with the efforts of The Reestablishment to destroy all books and cultural artifacts in order to start everything anew. For Juliette, losing a language equals losing humanity, and keeping the notebook is her means of fighting against the dehumanization imposed by The Reestablishment. When Juliette arrives at Sector 45, she finds her notebook in one of the pockets of her dress and interprets it as proof that Adam is on her side since he secretly brought the journal from her cell. Thus, the notebook also signifies the shift in the relationship between Juliette and Adam.
Windows
Throughout the novel, windows symbolize Juliette’s belief that she doesn’t have to perceive herself as a monster and can live a normal life among other people. When she is kept in a psychiatric institution, she often looks out of the window, with her eyes focused on the promise “of what could be [...], of something grander, something greater [...], some explanation for [her] ability to do anything without ruining everything” (10). Although in the cell Juliette’s window is small and the landscape she sees from it is dire, as long as she can look out of the window she has hope for a better life.
Later in the novel, a window becomes Juliette’s getaway to a new life, when she and Adam decide to escape from Sector 45 through the window in her room. After they flee, Juliette learns that there are other people with gifts that are similar to hers, and she finally finds the feeling of acceptance and learns to believe in her humanity.
Degrading Ecosystem
The abandoned and devastated landscape that Juliette sees everywhere around her represents the consequences of an anthropogenic impact on the environment. She notices that “the landscape has been ravaged by war and neglect” (27), and that the world around her is devoid of all plants, animals, and birds. Human impact on the environment has reached such proportions that people no longer have enough food and the seasons are non-existent. In many instances, the colorless and dead world outside Juliette’s window echoes her inner shattered world. The mental fortitude required to persevere in this bleak setting emphasizes the theme of Embracing Hope as a Form of Defiance: Just as nature has the ability to regenerate, so too Juliette has a chance to start a new life.
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