August: Matched by Ally Condie

[Shelli, Co-owner of Cafe Libri]

August's Book of the Month.

[Shelli, Co-owner of Cafe Libri]

Matched is told in first person; how would the story be different if someone besides Cassia were telling it?

• The Society only allows citizens to own one object from the past. What can readers learn about Cassia’s world from this rule? If you were asked to select a single item to pass down to another generation, what would it be and why?

• What is the purpose of the three emergency tablets each member of the Society is required to carry with them at all times? Why is Cassia encouraged to never take the green tablet? Consider the lack of effectiveness the tablets have on both Xander and Ky. In your opinion, does this put them at an advantage?

• Each member of the Society is assigned a job as well as a spouse. Consider your personal strengths. What role might you play in such a community? What problems might arise from being given a job
based only on your strengths?

• Readers learn that in Cassia’s Society, only one hundred pieces of art, music, and literature are saved from the past, as a way to ensure that their world isn’t too cluttered. Do you agree with such a practice? What are some of the other outcomes for the Society by providing such restrictions?

• Throughout the course of the novel, Cassia, Xander, and Ky learn that the world as they know it might never be the same. In what ways will it be better or worse for them? Have you had an experience that reshaped your life? In what ways have you changed due to this incident?

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1. What makes Matched dystopian? How does the Society compare with the worlds in other dystopian novels you’ve read.

2. What details and events make the world Ally Condie created realistic and believable? What do think the positive qualities of the world are? What do you think the negative qualities of the world are?

3. What scene sticks with you after you’ve finished reading?

4. Why do you think The Society was so restrictive with the art and literature it permitted?

5. What artifact from your life would choose to pass down to other generations?

6. Cassia has a special relationship with her grandfather. Why do you think he gave her the poem even though it was so dangerous?

7. Why do think that Cassia is so inspired by Dylan Thomas’ poem Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night? How do you think her understanding of the poem changes throughout the novel?

8. Cassia is to be assigned as a data sorter. If you were to be assigned a role in The Society what would it be and why?

9. Cassia has an impossible choice. Would you make the same decision as Cassia? Why or why not?

10. Now that you’ve read Matched, what questions would you most like to have answered in the upcoming sequel?