Young Adult Book Reading Challenges discussion
This topic is about
Matched
Matched Discussions
>
Sorting: What exactly is it?
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Tatiana
(new)
-
rated it 2 stars
May 04, 2011 07:06AM
Again, I might be the only one with this question, but all throughout the book I couldn't understand what exactly Cassia's job entailed and what its purpose was. Could someone explain this to me? Thank you.
reply
|
flag
As a sorter, she helped find the patterns that would give the Officials the data they need. So, if she was sorting a group of children, she might be able to determine which children are most likely to be able to kick the ball the farthest--just like she did with her live sort when she chose the best workers for a better position (ha!). The Society is entirely based on best probability, so it seems the sorters are held in high regard. Sorters can become part of the team that help choose the Matches.
I was wondering about this too, thanks for the explaination!
At first she is just sorting numbers, patters, colors and stuff like that... So I was also a little confused... But then I understood that this was just like practice so the society can see how good she is at observing and identifying patters so they know where to place her for her vocation... (view spoiler)
Great explanation! I also thought they "changed the sort" to make her focus on different details. She's essentially trained to see what sticks out and to arrange everything into "order." it's a good description of the entire Society in fact, since it's based on such a rigid caste system. The problems crop up when the Society "experiments" (Cassia's microcard mix up) or "makes exceptions" (like with Ky).
Mod
I think since most everything in the Society is based on probability that the sorters probably have a more important job than it may appear. All of the things they sort are to provide statistical analysis for one thing or another, providing the Society with all those "optimal results" they are so fond of...
Oh, and of course sorters do the Matching.
I never understood what Cassia's first job was. I know she was meant to be a Sorter, but how did she sort the numbers on the screen, what did they represent, and how did that help the Society? Surely she wasn't only playing with fake numbers everyday for training...they weren't even sure she would be an official Sorter. So what was she doing at her part-time job?
Mod
Funny... whenever I pictured what Cassia was doing on her job in my mind I imagined the computer screen looked like the Matrix!
Angie wrote: "I mean how many sorters does a society need though? The book acting liek it was this excellent popular job.. but I can't really think of too many jobs with sorting. Ok so the hundred songs and po..."The sorters deal with statistics, probabilities, and trends. I remember in the book Cassia talked about how the officials gave them certain foods and portion sizes. Perhaps the sorters help determine this by looking at how much activity the person does.
I would also imagine that they help compile the data that is used to Match people and assign vocations. Different data could be used to plan bus routes, figure out what games should be offered at the rec center, place food in the grocery store for efficiency, etc.
I got the impression that the society was very involved in the citizens' lives, and maybe the sorters are important in interpreting all this information that the society gathers.
On a slightly related note, the popularity of this job makes me think of how America has fewer manufacturing jobs and more service jobs than it used to have. We have fewer factories but more people who provide services such as doctor, hair cutter, lawn care people, insurance people, etc. I know that those were random examples, but I hope that this makes sense to you guys.
