YOU SAID:

Tuesday, April 3, 2017 Dear Mrs. Heugel, I have finished reading the book Scythe by Neal Shusterman. This book takes place on earth far in the future where the human race has conquered death and has obtained immortality. In order to keep control of population growth, there are these people called “Scythes” and once they kill someone, that someone is not revived. The entire collection of all these Scythes and their government is called the Scythedom and it is separate from the government that rules over the rest of the population. This was an enjoyable read and a genre I haven't experienced all that much. I really enjoyed the writing style and I look forward to a sequel. So the story starts off by introducing Citra and her family. She meets Scythe Faraday who gleans her neighbor. In this world, it's not murder because it is done by a Scythe who are authorized to kill. Then we meet a guy named Rowan at school and he comforts his friend as his friend is gleaned by Scythe Faraday. Afterward, everybody at school hates him because they think he actually helped glean his friend. Later, both Citra and Rowan are taken on by Scythe Faraday as apprentices and they learn what it takes to become a Scythe, however, only one of them will get to become a scythe. After the first conclave, it is decided that whoever doesn't become a Scythe will be gleaned in Rowan and Citra’s situation. Scythe Faraday later gleans himself to free the both of them from such a fate. It would have worked had Scythe Curie not taken Citra as her apprentice and Goddard taken Rowan. There actually isn't much conflict between Citra and Rowan despite them competing for the ring, even when the fact that the loser will be gleaned is introduced. It actually brings them closer together, they both are constantly trying to save each other and both coming up with plans so that they can both live when that final day comes along. However, later in the book, when Citra is falsely accused of the murder of Scythe Faraday, it creates a lot of conflict and tension. She ran and fought until the whole thing cleared up, which took a while. There was also conflict between Rowan and Goddard because Goddard had a corrupted view on how to be a Scythe and Goddard took joy in gleaning. One day, in the middle of a mass gleaning, when Goddard commands Rowan to kill somebody, Rowan takes a blade and gleans Goddard and his elegy of scythes. Once Rowan is saved by Citra on the day when she is to glean him, he becomes an unofficial Scythe and dedicates his life to fighting corruption in the Scythedom. The following passage shows the relationship Citra and Rowan have for each other. It is important because if they weren’t close, it's possible the book would have taken a different course altogether. “‘Today’s test,’ announced Scythe Cervantes, ‘will be a competition in the martial art of Bokator. The candidates will be paired and judged on their performance.’ A mat was brought in and rolled out in the semicircular space in front of the rostrum. Citra took a deep breath. She had this. Bokator was a balance among strength, agility, and focus, and she had found her perfect balance. And then they stuck a blade right in the heart of her confidence. ‘Citra Terranova will spar against Rowan Damisch.’ A murmur from the crowd. Citra realized this was no random draw. They were paired intentionally, doomed to be adversaries. How could it be any other way? Her eyes met Rowan’s, but his expression gave away nothing. The other matches went first. Each apprentice gave their best, but Bokator was a bruising discipline and not everyone’s strength. Some victories were close, other were routs. And then it came time for Citra and Rowan’s match. Still, Rowan’s expression gave her neither camaraderie nor sympathy, nor misery at having to be set against each other. ‘Okay, let’s do this,’ is all he said, and they began to circle each other. Rowan knew that today was his first true test, but not the one they had devised for him, Rowan’s test was to look convincing but still throw the match. Goddard, Xenocrates, Cervantes--and for that matter, all the scythes assembled--needed to believe he was doing his best, but that his best just wasn't good enough. It began with the ritualistic rhythmic circling. Then posturing and physical taunting. Rowan launched himself at Citra, threw a kick that he telegraphed with his body language, and missed her by a fraction of an inch. He lost his footing and fell down on one knee. A very good start. He turned quickly, rising, remained off balance, and she lunged toward him. He thought she would take him down with an elbow strike, but instead she grabbed him, pulling him forward even as she appeared to push him back. It brought him to balance and made it appear as if her attack had failed--that she didn't have the leverage to do the job. Rowan backed away and caught her gaze. She was grinning at him, her eyes intensely on his. It was part of the taunting that Bokator was known for, but this was so much more. He could read her just as clearly as if she were speaking aloud. You're not going to throw this match, her eyes said. Fight badly--I dare you--because no matter how poorly you fight, I will find a way to make you look good ” (pg 288 - 289) Citra keeps moving into Rowan’s attacks, making no attempt to dodge them and Rowan intentionally misses multiple times, they're both trying to help the other person win but obviously, it doesn't work very well. Later when Rowan is winning the match, he decides to use a forbidden move to render Citra deadish and disqualify himself, therefore, they both lose. They stop at almost nothing to help or save the other and there are other examples of this throughout the book. Rowan showed the most character development, especially after Goddard takes Rowan on as his apprentice. He started off as a very caring down to earth sort of person and we see this when he comforts one of his friends in their final moment. Once Goddard starts training him, mentally and physically, Rowan begins to succumb to Goddard’s heartless and mindless gleaning ways. Goddard doesn't care about who he gleans and in fact he sees gleaning almost as a sport while Rowan had the complete opposite mindset because of Scythe Faraday’s training. In the end, you can tell Rowan is a bit less lively and he has just lost a bit of his old self Citra starts off as an almost helpless, humble little girl it seems. After all of Scythe Faraday’s and Curie’s training, she is very well skilled, sharp, and clever. We can see this clearly at various conclaves, for example when her and Rowan spar or when she develops an escape plan so that both her and Rowan can live. The main theme wasn't super obvious and I don't really have a good way to summarize it. Basically it was don't give up when met with an unfortunate situation, think and find a way around it or to solve it. What I mean by this is that when it is announced that the loser of the apprenticeship will be gleaned, both Citra and Rowan are planning and thinking about ways to get out of it or to save the other. They try to find a way around it rather than just accepting what it is and struggling through it, instead they keep trying and planning to find a way where everybody wins. I wish I would stop procrastinating, Jacob Creed

INTO JAPANESE

月曜日 2017 年 4 月 3 日親愛なる夫人 Heugel、私が本を読み終えた、ニール Shusterman によって鎌。この本は、地球上の場所まで人類が死を征服して不死を受けた未来。人口成長の制御を維持するためにこれらの人々 と呼ばれる「鎌」と一度彼らは誰か、その someo を殺す