AllisonB9 Blog Post #1

Theme in a novel is the underlying meaning or main idea. In the book, Matched by Ally Condie, there were multiple themes. One theme that stood out was love. Looking at the novel as a whole, it is a forbidden love story. As the story begins, Cassia attends a match banquet to find out who she will spend the rest of her life with and who she will love. In the Utopian society that she lives in, the government determines every individuals match. Each individual in the society, at the age of seventeen, discovers their match. After Cassia's match banquet, a major conflict rises as her microchip shows two different matches. The first face shown was Xander, her childhood best friend and the second face was also a familiar one who goes by the name of Ky, who is not accepted by the society due to his father. Throughout the novel, Cassia is torn between the government's match they made for her and the love and passion she feels toward Ky. In the end, the government forbids Cassia to pursue Ky, or else she will become an aberration. This does not stop Cassia from continuing her flourishing love for Ky as she moves to the station where Ky is said to be working. The theme of love is evident throughout the book through Cassia's actions and feelings towards Ky, Xander, as well as her family members. The theme of love keeps the reader interested, and also creates many of the conflicts in the book due to the strict Utopian society.