Themes

The main themes of this book are freedom, fear, loss and mortality.

Freedom – Freedom plays an important part in the Declaration as Anna and Peter fight for a better life, escaping from Grange Hall and seeking shelter from ‘the Underground’. There are situations in the book that tells us of the other surpluses in the hall that were very ‘bad’ surpluses. This scales the fear of misbehaving within the Grange hall. The stories of them tell us that they had believed their parents were going to rescue them from that horrible of a place, but years go by and they are still stuck there. However, those that still strongly believed that they would be rescued, generally rebelled and finally Mrs Pincent moved them out to an unknown location in the desert. It is apparent that they’d be working their bones to death out in the scorching heat, being unfed and in harsh conditions.

Fear – Signs of these are shown as Anna had been brainwashed to believe that she didn’t have the right to exist, that her very being was a wrong. The kids are also subjected to cruel torture and punishments when they misbehave – even a step out of line may result in a beating. They live in plain, white cold halls, with a thin blanket. They shower in cold water, being underserving of energy resources. Every surplus fears of escaping for freedom, in case they will be exterminated or brought back to the hall only to be punished severely.  The boss of the place, Mrs Pincent is a frightful woman

Loss – Many cases of loss are present in the novel. Anna had lost the feeling of her parents, who she grew up to hate. Peter, who was dumped as a child at a home had a bleak life where he lived with no one that is similar to him in age. Then there are the ‘Legals’ who have forgotten the great benefits of raising a younger generation, and the younger generation who are on the brink of extinction due to the Declaration itself. The style of the Declaration contributes to this theme immensely as it shows a dull and dark outlook of life in this dystopian world.

Mortality – In this book, mortality is the main theme of the book. Readers are confronted with moral dilemmas. Science has made it possible to live forever, but the world cannot cope with the scarcity of resources. The audience are given the question – If you can live forever, provided that you do not produce any offspring, will you take it?  The choice of living forever and never having children also links with loss as for the sake of becoming immortal people have to be willing to sacrifice the right to have kids, due to population concerns. It is possible that such an environment could exist in the future – with the current way we are spending our resources, we may leave nothing for our future generations. The whole setting and style of this book has mortality as its foundations. The book delves further into these ethical and moral questions throughout the series. It shows that all great things come with a price.