Tuesday 29 May 2012


Novel summary sheet – Quartering the text –
English 11 analysis

Your name: Daniel Hatenboer Quarter # pg 95-196
Novel name: Pandemonium
Author's last name: Oliver
1.Skeletal plot

    1. Using chapters titles “Then” and “now” to explain what happened in-between the two books using the chapters from “Then”, and showing us how she is now, after her experiences in the “Now”. It introduces characters from the “Then” and the “Now”, and shows you what is happening in the “now” by alternating every chapter or so.

    2. A few days after the incident with Julian at the DFA meeting, Lena goes to the DFA's rally where they are trying to convince everybody that yes, they should all have the cure, no matter the age and dangers, because it will make the world a “better place”. Before Lena splits up with Tack and Raven, Tack gives her an umbrella insisting that it is “Supposed to rain later” even though the sky is ' a perfect pale blue and streaked with the thinnest clouds, like bare white tendrils of hair' [pg 103]

    3. In the chapters from “Then”, everyone at the Home base is getting ready for the big move, the relocation down south for the winter, the camp they are at now becomes a barren land in the winter months, providing little to no food and water for them..

    4. While at the Rally, Scavengers (Invalids who only want to kill and have no purpose, completely unlike the group Lena is in) start attacking. Machine guns and explosives are everywhere and people are screaming while trying to get away. Lena notices Julian being escorted away from all the ruckus and into an old subway, so she follows him. Julian gets ambushed by scavengers and his guards are murdered, and Lena is soon captured as well. She Awakens in a stone room with Julian.
    5. In “Then” chapters, Lena is slowly learning how the Invalids live their lives and becomes a messenger, someone who collects messages form inside the Cured city's and relay's them back to camp. Messages come in the form of paint. The invalids in the city's cover troughs in paint, either Red, Green, or Yellow, and fill it with bird seed. Birds come and eat,m get covered in paint, and return to their nests outside the city. They cover their nests in the paint and eventually remove all the coloured branches ( they don't seem to like paint very much), so it's a new slate every day. Green means supplies will be coming that day, yellow means there has been some kind of delay, and Red? Red means run.

  • Conflict or “tension” (Explain) - Person vs Community, Person vs Self and person vs person

In the chapters from “Then” Lena is dealing with facing herself, and her new reality.she has to work hard and earn her place in her new community, make new friends and learn how to live again.

In the chapters from “Now” Lena is dealing with Person vs Community. She has infiltrated on of the cured city's and is blending in and pretending to be a cured. She has to deal with almost every single person that she comes in contact to believing that anyone un-cured is diseased and should be put to death, meaning herself and every one of the people she has met. She has to be calm and collected (anyone who has been Cured has barely any emotions, they are all calm and collected, almost never freak out and are very clean and organized) because any slip up of her new character might betray her and anyone around her might report her and she could be found out. She is also faced with trying to pretend to be a cured in front of Julian, whom she is now stuck in a cell with, while trying to not feel anything for him.


  1. Setting

This quarter of the book takes place in two different places in the USA: The chapters for the “Now” take place in Brooklyn, while the chapters from “Then” take place in invalid areas that have not been cured, Mostly in the wilderness surrounding Brooklyn and in-between cured cities (Ie: invalid areas/free-zones/the Wilds. The Cured's have many different names for it as do the un-Cured's.).


  1. Characters (know your character types and why this is important to your novel! Eg. Are they round/flat – why?/ static/dynamic – why?) How many characters do you meet in this quarter or do you find out more about their personalities?

Lena: Main character. Strong person, will do what she has to in order to survive, she regrets things that she has done in the past. At the beginning of the story she is “Born again” into the new Lena that you learn about. She always has the right answer for any question thrown her way. Protagonist-Dynamic character.

Alex: Lena was in love with Alex before they escaped. He died so she could get over the fence. Lena is trying to forget about him, but at the same time she uses her memory of him to survive and keep herself going. Round character.

Raven: Most of the time a bossy, strict person, but underneath her steel armour she cares for everyone at the base-camp because they're all family. Acts like everyone's mother and has an “I know what's best for them.” Recognizable by her long, black hair that is almost always in a braid down her back. Round character.

Blue: about 6 or seven years old. Thin (as is everyone out in the wilds/free-zones/invalid areas. They have to gather their own food and resources and dispense it among themselves, so most everyone is thin) hair is dirty-blond, and like Raven's hair it is long, almost to her waist. So far a flat character.

Sarah: A very cheerful, nice girl. Helps Lena out when she is weak and new at the base camp. One of the few people who is nice to Lena from the beginning Static character.

Hunter: Blond and tall. The nicest person in the Home-base. Everyone loves him and he's everyone's friends. Also one of the few people who is nice to Lena right off the bat. Static character

Bram: He and Hunter are always together. Seemingly an effort relationship on their part, everyone loves the both of them and cares for them. In the city of the cured, the relationship between Bram and Hunter would have stapled them as “Unnaturals” and they would have been discouraged, and separated. In the Cured city's, Unnaturals are separated and forced to have the procedure done as soon as possible, so they can “forget” anything they ever had and live the normal life planned out for them. Static character.

Tack: Everyone says he has a bad attitude, but in Sarah's eyes he's a very nice person. Flat character

Thomas Fineman: The creator and head of the DFA, set on making everyone Cured. His son is Julian Fineman. Static character.

Julian Fineman: The son of Thomas Fineman. Poster child of the DFA, Standing for everything they need and want. He and Lena are now stuck in a cell together, after being kidnapped by Scavengers Dynamic character.


4. P.O.V ~ First person
Why do you think the writer chose this point of view to develop plot characters or themes?

I think Lauren wrote this story in first person so you could get more in-depth views of Lena's character, while getting to see how others around her react to what she does, and how she views them as a person. You follow her and get to know how she's feeling and every experience she has you have with her. The way she writes makes it feel like you're right there with her, experiencing everything she is and getting to see for yourself how she deals with situations and how others do


  1. Notable's on writers style and structure!

[] Are there similes or metaphors?
Yes, there are a lot of metaphors. Not quite as many similes, but they are still there

[] Visual or other imagery?
A lot of visual imagery, you know exactly what your surroundings are and can picture them perfectly.

[] Is there unusual vocabulary or diction? Record a quote:
Lauren's does use unusual vocabulary and diction. I'm not looking foreword to being outside. It was bitterly cold last night. The wind shrieked through the trees, tore down the stairs. Probed all the cracks and crevices of the burrow with long, icy fingers. I came in half-frozen from my run this morning, my fingers numb and blunt and useless. But I'm curious about the nests - I've heard the other homesteaders use the word-and I'm anxious to get away from Blue.

[] Is the novel structured with a particular theme? Record a quote or explain:
The theme of the book is proving that what you have is never wrong, and how you are born is how you should live. You shouldn't have to remove things to be perfect, you already are. When you remove things and change things about yourself, parts of you change and die with the things that are removed. You become a completely different person, nothing like who you were before.

[] Is there dialogue and is it realistic? Record a quote:
Yes there is dialogue, it is more realistic in the chapters from “Then” than the chapters from “Now” because people from “Now” have been cured and are always calm, collected and always know what to say, while the people from “Then” are normal, unchanged and have more Human and emotional reactions to things. But in the second quarter, being stuck with Julian in the cell, he hasn't been Cured dso his reactions are more human than most“Now” QUOTE: Julain: ”Tell me a story [...] Lena : “what?” [...] Julian: “I said, tell me a story, it'll make the time go faster” [...] Lena: “I don't know any stories” [...] Julian: “tell me about your life then, it doesn't have to be a good story” pg 149 - 150


  1. Themes: Record words and topics related to the themes contained and developed in your novel

  • The scavenger, Impatient bends down to grab my bag, and as she does, I swing upward with all my strength, moving through the pain. The bag catches her in the side of the head with enough momentum to knock her off balance – She tumbles to one side, landing hard on the ground. I launch to my feet. She grabs for my ankles, and I kick her hard, twice, in the ribs.
      The priests and scientists are right about one thing: At our heart, at our base, we are no better then animals

  • Love, the deadliest of all things. It kills you, both when you have it, and when you don't.

  • For years, the invalids have been able to count on one critical fact: They are not supposed to exist. The government has for decades denied that anyone inhabits the Wilds, and thus the Invalids have remained relatively safe. Any large-scale physical attack from the government would be tantamount to an admission of error.
      But it seems that has changed


Personal response to this quarter: What you thought or felt, related to, did not relate to; How universal is the experience that your protagonist goes through?

During “Then” chapters, Lena has started working, gathering water for the group, her new family. Everything changes when there is a bombing which forces the group to move sooner than they planned. People died and the group gets torn to pieces, but everyone manages to stay together, like a real family. Lena buries the last remnants of her old life, accepting whatever come next for her. In the “Now” chapters, She has to stay calm and collected, being stuck in the cell with Julian she has to pretend to be cured so he doesn't freak out, and so no one suspects her. She also has to figure out a way to get out of the cell, without being caught and possibly killed.

~Daniel Hatenboer

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