Jess
asked
Vera Nazarian:
Vera! Hello! I just finished reading Qualify and now I'm reading book 2. This is just a random question... but something I was wondering about. Was there a specific reason why the candidates didn't have access to washing machines while in training? Oh and one more... Why were they so concerned about humans learning the properties of the Orichalcum? If they are all going to die anyways... Thanks!
Vera Nazarian
Thanks for asking. :-)
As far as orichalcum, the question is too complex and filled with spoilers -- you will just need to wait and read the rest of the series to find out.
As far as washing machines -- I hope you realize that washing machines are a "first world" luxury. Many people around the world do not have regular (or even any) access to them -- I sure didn't when I was growing up in Soviet Russia. We hand-washed everything and boiled the really heavy stains, and only took the large bulky bedding items occasionally to the big city laundry in Moscow where my mom explained to me that "big machines washed the sheets and blankets." I would always be absolutely blown by that idea, and asked mom, "But how? How do the machines know where to wash the dirty spots?" :-) This was in a big capital city. Now, imagine people living in tiny villages all over the world.
Anyway, the way this relates to Qualification is, the kids were in a boot camp survival situation with only two changes of clothing, and part of Qualification involved taking care of yourself and your basic things, not to mention, teens could drop out and be disqualified at a moment's notice. Qualification happened all across the world, so to make things fair and equitable, for kids in underdeveloped places, everyone was placed as much as possible in a relatively equal but spartan situation (and for the poorest having access to a toilet and shower and a bunk to sleep in was a huge step up). The only thing that was based on their local way of life was their nutrition. If kids in the United States of America had "unhealthy" hamburgers and pizza for their school lunches, it's what they continued to receive. The kids in China and United Industan had their local food such as rice-based dishes -- since changing a diet was too much of a shock on the body already in hardship, plus it would have been too expensive and impractical to "standardize" the food worldwide on such short notice.
Notice that after they Qualified and boarded the Atlantean ships in COMPETE, there were laundry facilities available on the ark-ships.
Hope this answers your question.
As far as orichalcum, the question is too complex and filled with spoilers -- you will just need to wait and read the rest of the series to find out.
As far as washing machines -- I hope you realize that washing machines are a "first world" luxury. Many people around the world do not have regular (or even any) access to them -- I sure didn't when I was growing up in Soviet Russia. We hand-washed everything and boiled the really heavy stains, and only took the large bulky bedding items occasionally to the big city laundry in Moscow where my mom explained to me that "big machines washed the sheets and blankets." I would always be absolutely blown by that idea, and asked mom, "But how? How do the machines know where to wash the dirty spots?" :-) This was in a big capital city. Now, imagine people living in tiny villages all over the world.
Anyway, the way this relates to Qualification is, the kids were in a boot camp survival situation with only two changes of clothing, and part of Qualification involved taking care of yourself and your basic things, not to mention, teens could drop out and be disqualified at a moment's notice. Qualification happened all across the world, so to make things fair and equitable, for kids in underdeveloped places, everyone was placed as much as possible in a relatively equal but spartan situation (and for the poorest having access to a toilet and shower and a bunk to sleep in was a huge step up). The only thing that was based on their local way of life was their nutrition. If kids in the United States of America had "unhealthy" hamburgers and pizza for their school lunches, it's what they continued to receive. The kids in China and United Industan had their local food such as rice-based dishes -- since changing a diet was too much of a shock on the body already in hardship, plus it would have been too expensive and impractical to "standardize" the food worldwide on such short notice.
Notice that after they Qualified and boarded the Atlantean ships in COMPETE, there were laundry facilities available on the ark-ships.
Hope this answers your question.
More Answered Questions
Allan
asked
Vera Nazarian:
Hi Vera... I've always found it an interesting insight to ask the author who they would like to see cast as characters if the books were made into a movie? For the Antlantis Grail series, my first though for Gwen was Shailene Woodley - but that's probably just too easy because she's so familiar from a similar role in Divergent, so how about Nathalie Emmanuel? Anyone else care to comment?
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