Dystopian Transfer Task Comparison Essay

Christina LeBlanc Reflections of Setting and

the Heroine Within Them
The Testing and Under the Never Sky
Cinder lit the night with liquid fire. Searing flashes rolled past

as the Aether let out its horrid shriek. Long legs matted in a

tangle of brownish hair. A hunched back. Curled lips revealing

blackish teeth. And the eyes These marvels, good and bad may

they be, are a part of uncanny, yet decidedly different futuristic

books. While these devastated settings in the dystopian literary

works The Testing and Under the Never Sky, by Joelle Charbonneau

and Veronica Rossi respectively, are similar, its effect on the two

female protagonists, and the roles they play as a heroes, varies

marginally.

In Charbonneau and Rossis two distinctly different versions of

a hero, one of the things complementary in their works is the

setting. Cia lives in her home in the Fives Lakes Colony, one of

many small communities that works to revive the land after the

havoc caused by the wars both man and nature waged. Aria resides

in the Reverie, a sheltered pod that guards the people within from

the Aether-- an earth generated and earth destroying fire raging in

the heavens. The basis of both settings set up worlds to be both

very similar, and very different. In The Testing, Cia is constantly

observing her surroundings. I look at the decaying devastation

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Dystopian Transfer Task Comparison Essay
Christina LeBlanc Reflections of Setting and
the Heroine Within Them
The Testing and Under the Never Sky
around me. Steel and rock. Glass and wood. Buildings broken and

collapsed A layer of sooty grime covers it all Trees that have

been corrupted by the tainted earth but are determined to survive

twist through the pieces of the broken city on their way to the sky.

(p. 148) Arias situation is much the same. After being thrown out of

her domicile, she sees how much the Aether has ruined the land. It

was said, Broken pieces pokes through the soles of her Medsuit,

hurting her feet. She stopped, scanning the sea of cement. Pieces of

iron stuck out of the rubble, sculptural, bent and rusted. A great city

once, she thought. (p. 79) From these evidences, we see how

difficult it would be to survive on an earth like this. Aria and Cia

certainly struggle. Even before they were forced out of their homes,

food was a concern too. While these settings are alike, how the

characters react within them are very different. Cia grew up outside

in her world, therefore already, if inadequately, prepared. Aria on

the other hand had no idea what the outside was like. She

expresses her awe and horror at the things she sees quite clearly as

well, not having prior need to control or disguise her feelings. In

contempt of Cia, Aria is woefully behind on her survival skills. She

has no problem using logic and her knowledge of the area she will

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Dystopian Transfer Task Comparison Essay
Christina LeBlanc Reflections of Setting and
the Heroine Within Them
The Testing and Under the Never Sky
be travelling to decide what 3 items she can bring with her into the

fourth test. She knows what shes talking about, her only problem

comes with the follow through. These quotes show that Cia and Aria

will turn out to be very different. Aria panics out in this new

environment, only surviving with help from an uneasy alliance;

whereas Cia is self sufficient but chooses to travel with her

companion because they trust each other, and neither wants to be

alone. Both girls are willful and stubborn; however these are

harmful traits to Aria. Aria faces off with her companion Perry, who

has lived his whole life outside and clearly knows how to survive.

This puts their relationship, and his willingness to help her past

gathering food, on edge. Contradictingly, these two traits applied to

Cia aid her in keeping Tomas alive. A perfect example of this is

toward the end of the book, when Tomas is wounded too severely to

be of any help; she refuses to leave him, and instead dragging him

the last several yards, by hand and by bike, over the finish line.

With one hand, I balance Tomass unconscious body as I use my

other to steer. My arm, my muscles, every part of me is on fire. But I

wont give in to the pain or the fatigue. (p. 286) Her resilience and

devotion saves Tomas and herself. Withal, it is certain that even

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Dystopian Transfer Task Comparison Essay
Christina LeBlanc Reflections of Setting and
the Heroine Within Them
The Testing and Under the Never Sky
though a setting may be similar, how the characters handle the

present situation is just as important.

As our heroes journey through these broken worlds, being

tried and tested, we get to see what kind of hero they really are,

and sometimes find differences within our similarities. Cia and Aria

are much the same when it comes to their personalities and traits,

but how they conduct those traits, on the setting and characters,

shows us their different roles as a hero. From the text it can be said

that Cias role as a hero is number one, because she knows

something is wrong, and sets out to save her own existence,

because her opinion varies with those around her. It does not

necessarily cause conflict, except for when she and Tomas must

make a decision that affects someone else. For example, when the

gang of 3 people wandering on the road stumble by, Tomas needs a

little bit of convincing to go the extra mile in helping them. Her

father also told her that The Testing was twisted, not to trust

anyone. Cia even mentions how suspicious she is, going as far as to

sleep with all her belongings, yet she still held to her standard of

honesty and caring, even if it was inconvenient or unreciprocated.

In the third test another of the candidates, Brick, was about to be

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Dystopian Transfer Task Comparison Essay
Christina LeBlanc Reflections of Setting and
the Heroine Within Them
The Testing and Under the Never Sky
tricked into a trap that would kill. jIf he isnt involved in Romans

trap, Brick will learn about it from me and gain the opportunity to

pass when he doesnt deserve to. Shame. Hot. Deep. Oily stomach-

churning embarrassment fills me. My thoughts make me no better

than the person I believe Roman to be. Cias strong sense of

integrity helps many more than Brick throughout the book. Aria

conversely, is the third hero role. She was a part of the

governments perception of the dystopia, though not necessarily

high standing, and was happy there. That is, until she got kicked

out. Even then Aria continued to believe in her government as

shown by her dialogue with Cinder. Why did you leave? I didnt

leave, I was thrown out You were thrown out but you want to go

back? Thats crazy, Dweller (p. 178) Until she learned how the rest

of the world worked, and realizes that living in Reverie was

degenerating peoples mental health, Arias secondary goal was

getting back to her pod. She did not know what it was like to really

feel and experience things for within the pods, people used virtual

realms to pass the time. This society deprives people the ability to

feel deep emotion, something beyond sadness because you could

not get the newest eye color. Then, we Aria as thrown outside into

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Dystopian Transfer Task Comparison Essay
Christina LeBlanc Reflections of Setting and
the Heroine Within Them
The Testing and Under the Never Sky
the real, she was obviously angry, lonely, and scared. A certain

stubborn, harshness came over her, and an attitude of My way or

the highway. Yelling at the very person keeping her alive, her

unwillingness to be helped for nothing outside was worth anything,

and her lack of rationality when it came to certain situations all

were a result of her relentlessness and pain. One situation to bring

up would be one in which Aria was unknowingly befriending

cannibals while Perry was out hunting. When Perry saved her from

the possibly disastrous outcome, she thought him a murderer, and

even more an animal than before. No gratitude was to be gleaned

from her. She had seen only the cannibals friendliness, not the fact

that when they invited her to eat with them, she was going to be

the meal. (p. ) Her trust, and basic morals blinded her to certain

aspects of outsider life. So, while the main protagonist's

personalities may be alike, they definitely would, and do, react very

differently to any given scenario.

When all is said and done, analyzing the actions and roles of

the heroes in relation to their environment reveals just how many

commonalities exist between them, but also how many diversities

there are. The settings described layout a common ground on which

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Dystopian Transfer Task Comparison Essay
Christina LeBlanc Reflections of Setting and
the Heroine Within Them
The Testing and Under the Never Sky
Cia and Aria stand. Decimated lands filled with creatures changed

by unnatural, yet earth originated problems. However their

knowledge and personality differ so that they create for themselves

different problems. Variability is the law of life, and as no two faces

are the same, so no two bodies are alike, and no two individuals

react alike and behave alike under the abnormal circumstances,

William Osler once said. This is relevant, seeing both girls practice a

similar traits, one of them being stubbornness. However Aria is

unable to use it effectively in contrast to Cia, making it a tool of

harm rather than survival. In this, we can see how even when a 2

people are put in similar situations, how they act depends on the

them, their knowledge, and their values. Even Cia and Aria, two

similar people, practice their same characteristics differently, and

for all the things you see in common, persons unique experiences

determine a unique reaction.