Summary
Summary Grade 10: The Mark: Character Map and Themes
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The Mark Novel - Character Map and Themes found throughout the novel
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ThemesFreedom and control
1. The theme is very clearly demonstrated through Ettie’s words and actions. She hates the
trade she has been assigned to, “’My trade is right down there in the gutter’, and does
everything in her power to remove the mark so that she can follow her own path. Nicolas
demonstrates this theme as he too tries to avoid the future his mark has set out for him, “I am
not a Locust. And I can never be a Locust. I’m not sure who I am yet, but I don’t want to be what
The Machine tells me I am.” The desire for freedom of choice that he recognises in Ettie is what
draws him to her: “Because you are just like me … I know you’ve tried everything, Juliet,
because I have too.” Other characters in the novel such as Kitty, Me and Handler Xavier
demonstrate this theme in the sense that they are prepared to fight for freedom and
independence despite the risks involved in going against the state.
Appearance vs reality
2. In the election process, citizens have 20 votes and 20 candidates. Having an election seems
democratic but it is just a charade. Hylton goes on the campaign trail and boasts about the
response of the people. Meanwhile, his position has already been guaranteed. Ettie points out
that the ‘smallest of the government buildings is Parliament’ where ‘the twenty Guardians pass
laws that keep us all in our places’. Parliament should be the place where the freely elected
representatives of the people serve to create a peaceful and ordered society, not where severe
laws are passed by a small elite to control the population. The Machine maintains the status quo
by matching people of the same class and excluding any cross-breeding. Because the elite
control The Machine, they are able to manipulate the system to ensure that their children are
matched to a suitable mate, thereby perpetuating the system. At the trial, Kitty does not plead
because all prisoners are assumed to be guilty. Ettie informs the reader that ‘even those who
profess innocence plead guilty after a month in the cellars’. The criminal justice system is
perverted if prisoners are assumed to be guilty and tortured until they confess to things they
haven’t done. Even in Slum City, there is pretence. The orphan warden is supposed to look after
children but pockets the money. The older orphans are given a living allowance but it isn’t
enough to live on. The children go to school but they don’t receive an education.
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