The Darkest Minds

Keana Wong
Setting
Quote:
It wasn't until that night, as I lay awake in my bunk, that I realized I would only ever have one chance to run- and I
hadn't taken it.Pg. 50 (on my phone)
I think that this quote captures the setting because this expresses the character's realization that she is never
getting out of the place she is in and it tells you a hint of what kind of place she is in.
The novel's general setting is at Thurmond, a rehabilitation center, located somewhere in Virginia. It is where
many PSI chidren are held. It's one of the largest and most fortified of the camps. All of the camps are located in
America. All the camps are controlled by President Gray. Thurmond is huge and houses hundreds of children. The PSI
are special forces of the military that work in all camps. There are large electric gates around the camp so no one can
get out. There are also cabins where the children sleep. The camp includes a huge building referred to as the
factory, though Ruby says the building is actually one huge room with rows of tables where the children engage in
many hours of busy work which is actually hard labor they have to endure for most of the day. There is also the
medical facility where Thurmond is first introduced in the book. Boys and girls at Thurmond never interact, no
touching and no talking are Thurmond's biggest rules. They are only allowed to talk for the few minutes before
bedtime in their cabin. Over the years the camp becomes more and more sophisticated and they start using signals
and tests to discover any Orange or Red campers who have so far evaded detection.
If I can explain the setting at Thurmond in three words it would be, no one escapes, because it's like a prison
where there is hard labor and you get a very hard punishment if you break the rules. There have been five escape
attempts and zero escape attempts succeeded. The PSI are the people that are controlling the camp inside of the
facility. Most of them bully the kids when they are working in the garden. They use White Noise machine that when
the kids hear the noise it knocks them unconscious. They also have handcuffs, muzzles and more things that keep the
kids under controlled.
 Rising Action- Climax:Clancy tricks them and turns out to be like

t C h a r t 1) Ruby (one of the few children that survive most oranges, selfish and willing to sacrifice

Plo the epidemic) gets sent to a place called

Thurmond, a rehabilitation camp that
anyone in pursuit of his own goals and tries to kill
them.Ruby, Chubs, and Lee manage to escape
holds the survivors of the disease. when the camp is overrun by Psi soldiers and they
Inciting Incident: Most of
2) Ruby is organized into the greens continue their travels
the child population of
3) Now sixteen, Ruby is an orange, one of the
America is wiped out by an
dangerous ones. When the truth comes Falling Action:Eventually finding the father of Jack,
incurable disease and only a
out, Ruby barely escapes Thurmond with another of their friends who was killed during an
few are left. Those who
her life. Now she's on the run, desperate to escape attempt. Jacks father shoots Chubs,
survived the disease were left
find the one safe haven left for kids like wounding him so seriously that Ruby is certain he
with unnatural powers that
her-East River. will die. Faced with the likelihood that Psi soldiers
could only be described by a
4) She joins a group of kids who escaped will be taking them back into custody, Ruby calls on
color: the greens (super
their own camp. Liam, Suzume, and Chubs, the League, the people who helped her escape
intelligent), the blues
that help her escape from the people who from Thurmond but also tried to use her. They are
(telekinesis), the yellows
got her out of Thurmond. They escaped rescued but now in the Leagues control with little
(control over electricity), the
their own camp and now searching for the chance of escaping.
oranges (power over the
Slip Kid, a powerful orange that helps kids
mind), and the reds (control
escape the camps and leader of East River. Resolution:Ruby makes a deal with the League to
fire) and are contained in
Throughout their travels they grow closer remain with them on the condition that Liam is
rehabilitation camps that are
together. released. Ruby and Lee are romantically involved
controlled by President Grey.
5) After evading capture, they arrive at East by this point and Ruby knows that Lee wont leave
River and meet the leader, The Slip Kid an without her. Knowing this, Ruby makes a decision
orange. Also known as Clancy Grey, the and pulls all Liam's memories of their time together
president's son. from his mind so that hes free to go on with his
life.
Ruby
One thing that motivates this character
is that she will do anything to protect
the ones she loves and herself. She
would define freedom as not being
imprisoned and not being held against
your will and able to do whatever you
wish to do. I wanted to go with her, to
face whatever was behind the door.
Anything had to be better than being
alone again without anyone or anything
to anchor myself to. I think this quote
describes Ruby because ever since she
was a little kid she's been really afraid
of being alone and lots of trauma left
her weak and afraid.
Liam
One thing that motivates this character is
that he is always the first person that
would help you no matter what the
danger and he always looks after the ones
he loves. He would define freedom as
being not under the control or in the
power of another and be able to do
anything they want (not like the world
they are in). He's so busy looking inside
people to find the good that he misses the
knife they're holding in their hand. I think
this quote represents liam because he is
always looking for the best in people and
trying to help them but they manipulate
him.
Sam
One thing that motivates this character
is that she stands up to the PSI military
forces to protect her friends and herself.
She would define freedom as being able
to go and do anything you want and not
being imprisoned by people. I
remember seeing her dark eyes burning
with hate at the back of the van they
had locked us in. She hadn't screamed
as the others had. I think this defines
her because she always stands up to the
PSI bullies and is brave unlike the
others.
Chubs
One thing that motivates him is that he
is very protective of his friends and
would do anything for them but is very
stubborn with new people. He would
define freedom as to be capable of
going and doing anything without
anyone's permission. You are f-----
awful, and you sure as hell don't have
me fooled... You talk about us all being
equals, like we're one big rainbow of
peace and all that bull, but you never
once believed that yourself, did you? I
think this quote represents him
because he always stands up for his
friends and himself if they are in
danger.
Tone
My hands were shaking so hard now that I had to fist them around the backpack to keep him from noticing. I
thought I had escaped the monsters, that Id left them locked up behind an electric fence. But the shadows were alive,
and they had chased me here.
pg 189
The perspective of the narrator is the main character, Ruby. Everything that has happened has happened through
Ruby's perspectives and experiences. The reactions of the narrator can be described as miserable and hopeless. The
narrator's been through may miserable and tragic experiences and feels hopeless that she can never escape her past.
The word choice sets the tone for the by pointing out her fears and how she thought she could escape her past but
couldn't outrun it in the end. In three words I would describe the tone of the novel as fearful, sinister, and
threatening.
Mood
I wish I could have seen his face as he spoke, because I think he knewhe must havethat this threat, the crimp in
our supposedly glorious future, had nothing to do with the kids who had died. Buried underground or burned into
ash, they couldnt do anything but haunt the memories of the people who had loved them. They were gone. Forever.
Pg 189
This passage makes me feel tense, uncomfortable, and worried. I can't imagine what the characters think in the book
when they lost people that they cared about and how they felt helpless to stop the disease from spreading. This
passage gives a tense description to send a fearful mood to the book. The general emotions of the characters are
heartbroken, fearful, hopeless, miserable and cold. I three words the mood of this passage is haunting, hopeless, and
heart-rendering.
Hero's Journey Characteristics
Characteristic 1)The hero suffers an unhealable wound, sometimes an emotional or spiritual
wound from which the hero never completely recovers.
I think this characteristic of my main characters Hero's journey because she had more than one
emotional wounding experiences that she never really recovers from.
Characteristic 2)The hero meets monsters or monstrous men
This characteristic fits with the main characters hero's Journey because the hero meets monstrous
people that try and hurt her or control her throughout her journey.
Archetypes
Situational Archetype: The Unhealable Wound
The unhealable wound is described as either a physical or psychological wound that cannot be fully healed. The
wound symbolizes a loss of innocence. It's the same kind of experiences that the narrator goes through and becomes
more mature in a sense and sees more clearly but is still fearful of the world around her.
I squeezed my eyes shut. But I couldn't pull back from the images that came next-the lines of marching muzzled
monsters.
Character Archetype: The Shadow
The Shadow is described as a worthy opponent with whom the hero must struggle in a fight to the end. Must be
destroyed or neutralized. Psychologically can represent the darker side of the heros own psyche. This represents the
book's main character because she is fighting for freedom and fighting her own demons.
They will kill you tomorrow...Why did they even bother to wait? Why not take me out to the buses and shoot me
now? Isn't that what they did with the others? The Yellows , Oranges, and Reds? They killed them, because they were
too dangerous. I am too dangerous.
Symbolic Archetype: The Maze
The maze is a symbolic archetype that is described as a puzzling dilemma or great uncertainty, search for the
dangerous monster inside of oneself, or a journey into the heart of darkness. The main character faces problems
from the antagonists and inside herself. She tries to conceal her true self from herself and others.
There were over three thousand of us at Thurmond, and I was the last Orange-maybe in the entire world. Or one of
two, if the boy in the infirmary was like me. It had only been a matter of time before they found out the truth.
Vocab
Regimented
The children sent to Thurmond were regimented. They couldn't talk or speak to one another at any time except for the few
minutes before curfew. The children also were forced to work for hours in the hot sun.
We knew we weren't getting out. Dreaming led to disappointment, and disappointment to kind of depressed funk that wasn't
easy to shake. Better to stay in the gray then get eaten by the dark pg 57
Rebellion
The children were making a rebellion against President Clay and the PSI soldiers.
The second her shoes touched the mud, she bolted to the right, ducking around the nearest PSF hands. One of the PSF barked
out a terrified stop! But she kept running, straight for the gates. pg 31
Sedition
The sedition is undergoing great stress against the government.
There was a chance that the PSF could catch up to us, that i'd be back in camp or dead before we even got to Virginia. pg 159
Themes
Overcoming fears
In The Darkest Minds, throughout the journeys the main character is overcoming fears she carried around with her
for a long time with the help of her friends and her friends overcome some fears they've had too.
Loss of Innocence
In the book, all the characters go through a loss of innocence which they come into reality of what situations they are
in and they become more mature throughout the book and what they experience.
Freedom
In the book, all of the characters fight for freedom and escape the control of President Clay and the PSI soldiers.
Creative Choice: Letter
Dear Ruby.
You have gone through so many challenges in your life. You have struggled with the fact that you're an orange, one of
the dangerous ones, and because of that you accidently erased your parents and sam's memory of you ever even
existing. You have faced great dangers and almost killed. But you persevered through it all. You save Liam from a
terrible fate even though you had to erase his memory and even though Chubs is gone he will always be there.
Suzume will be safe with the others too. Just know that if you can survive all of that strife than you can survive what
comes next.
From, Keana
Main Message Of The Novel
The statement the author is making about society is that you should always fight for freedom. You should never give
up and always persevere through hard times.
The novel is warning against oppression and selfish people that try to control others.