Reading Response on Matched

          It’s true, I have an obsession with science fiction. Recently I have been reading more of it than usual. I finished reading Matched yesterday and am on to Crossed, by Ally Condle. Now this may be just my opinion but I wasn’t extremely impressed with the book because I feel like the plot line was exactly the same as all the other sci-fi books. The characters live in a futuristic world where there are tons of rules to keep the prisoners “safe.” Now although I was not totally impressed by the plot line, the book does bring up some interesting ideas to think about that take a look at the life we live today and questions it.

          The whole “Society” is shaped around being better than the past life when the decades were thought to be chaotic and harmful. For example, when the Society took rule of the people, they decided life was too cluttered with stuff so they limited the poems, artwork, and music citizens can enjoy down to a list of 100. The rest were destroyed. But I wonder, why was all that art considered to be clutter? I don’t think it is bad at all to have a wide range of art to look at or listen to. If this were the law today, why would painters even paint pictures, or composers compose songs if only 100 would be chosen to be available to the public? I think that the Society judged what should be put into the 100 songs/100 paintings/100 poems by substance. I think that the Society believes some art works will put rebellious ideas into peoples heads, or even just thoughts that aren’t as peaceful or uniform as the Society would like them to be.

          Also, each citizen is only allowed one Artifact. An Artifact is an object from the past years, often passed down from generation to generation. Cassia’s Artifact is a gold stopwatch given to her by her grand-father. I really want to know why they are only allowed one Artifact. It’s not like they are dangerous for you. They are the things that keep the past alive! Unless of course, the Society doesn’t want to keep the past alive. At one point in the story, the artifacts are taken away from everyone because “a person who did not own an artifact was seen with one” and “this way it will be fairer for those who do not own artifacts.” I think the Society had a greater reason behind taking them all away, other than to make it “fairer”.

          While reading this book I was forced to think about life today and the principles we live by. While I agree that society can be chaotic, messy, and full to the brim with art, at times, I certainly think it is better than to have a limited selection. I’m also not saying that more is better than less, but in this situation I would choose the disorganization over rules and laws and more rules.