The Final Banquet.

A Diary Entry By Cassia Reyes.

Dear Diary,

It was Grandfather's eightieth birthday a few days ago, but not only that, the final banquet. The day people wonder about. My mind was and is filled with memories of my grandfather & I as we walked up the stairs to his house. He layed there, helpless. I had to blink away the tears that try to flood my face. We all had brought gifts for him, a little something each. Bram had picked a rock from Arboretum for grandpa and I wrote a letter with poetry in it. I worried he would not like it. People normally do not care about poetry these days but Grandfather and I love it. He had asked for us to all have an one-on-one with him before it is time for him to rest. When it was my turn to talk to Grandfather, I gave him my letter. He liked it but encouraged me to use my own words next time. It was weird. A secret full of trust was handed to me that day as well. He put a piece of paper in my compact. He said to me "Cassia, I am giving you something you won't understand, yet. But I think you will someday. You, more than the rest. And, remember. It's all right to wonder." That night he ended his life saying I love you to my family and I. Now, today, a few days later, I am  hurt and confused. I hid during hiking today and read the paper Grandfather gave me. A poem. Grandfather gave me a poem. Ky saw me read it. I am scared. We arent aloud to have poetry like this, and I dont know what to do with it. I want to keep it but if an Officer sees it, I can be in huge trouble. Ky will keep it secret. I hope. When I got home from hiking today, Officers were at my house. I thought they knew about my compact.What Grandfather had given me. They are still here. I need to go hide my compact FAST and see what happended. I will let you know what happens as soon as I get a chance.. Oh no I hear them coming.. Gotta go...

From,

Cassia

In The View Of Cassia Reyes.

In the View of Cassia Reyes; An Interview.

Q: In a society of perfect people and perfect apperance, how would you describe your apperance?

A: Well, like you said, we are all perfect. Every gene is a perfect gene full of beauty and perfection. Each individual would fall under the defination of beauty. As for myself, I wonder. I am told that with society making sure everyone is the best apperance they can be, I still stop and think that they may have made a mistake on me. With people all around me so stunning, its hard for me to think I dont match up with them. I question the fashion here as well. I mean plainclothes are exactually what they are called "PLAIN" clothes. Everyday we wear the same clothes and have no twist at all. With my eyes being green and my hair being dark brown, it does not look that appealing with the plain look of them. I love fashion and beauty, and this whole plainclothes thing is just not working for me, Im like the plain clothes cop. I would love to open my closet and it be like the rainbow fell from the sky into my closet. At the match we were able to finally choice the clothes we wanted to wear. I chose of course something that would bring out my eyes and look flattering with my hair and body, not like them hideous plain clothes. That sure was a special time in my fashion life. Haha.

Q: In the novel Ally Condie wrote on your society and life, what role do you play in it?


A: I was asked to be the main character. She wanted to base the story on my life and my experiences. So, pretty much I have the most important role in the story. In the story, she writes about my experience with the match and afterwards. I feel though as if every single role in the story is very important and has impact on how the story is told. Without one of the "roles" there wouldn't be a story!


Q: With your life involving around some challenging situtations, how do find you behave in tense, frightening, or dramatic situations?

A: Im a very reserved but fun girl, so those situations do bother me to a large extent. I dont stress myself out alot and i dont find that tense situations revolve around stress so when they do occur I find the best way to stay calm is to just stop, and relax. When it's a tense situtiation like at the matching banquet for instense, I have a hard time dealing with them. I get really nervous, especually because I dont like being centre of attention. Frightening and dramatic situations are worse than tense. I find myself stuck into knowing what to do and then panic.

Q:  Is there another character that you are close with, and how would you describe that relationship?

A: My grandfather, he is my role model. In the beginning of the novel, it talks about when he turned 80. On a citizen's 80th birthday they have their final banquet (death banquet). My grandfather and I were really close. He was one of the people I trusted, looked up to, and went to for advice. Not only are we close in love but we are close in birthdays. For my matching banquet, he gave me a compact. I chose to bring it with me. I later found out that the compact was not just an ordinary compact, it held something dear. I love poetry but orginal poetry is banned in Society. The compact had a secret compartment that held a poem that my grandmother wrote before she passed on. I knew that after my grandfather gave me something so special and worthy, I can truely trust him with everything. He was the first and only person I told about the mixed up trick with Ky and Xander. All and all, most people would think that Xander & I are the "main" characters, I feel as though my grandfather makes it into that category. I love him so much.

"Every minute you spend with someone gives them a part of your life and takes part of theirs."

-Cassia Reyes.

First Impression.

The beginning of the matched story, has a great first impression on me. The main character Cassia, tells her story of the day of her childhood dream; her match day. On this day at the age of seventeen, Cassia and her parents head down to the City Hall where she will find her "perfect" match. The problem is, she has no idea who she will be matched with and may not even know the person. This causes her to worry but cant help to be excited as this is a day everyone waits for. It was her turn to recieve her match, when normally the match would show up on the screen, hers was right in the room with her, her best friend Xander. She laughs at the fact that he was truely her dream and perfect match. The part I stopped at was when Xander and her headed home to their families as they waitied until their "first date." She was excited to see the micocard, just to see what it holded, but she knew already what was going to be on it, as she had known Xander all her life.

This story and its dystopian setting makes me think of they way our society is. We have the choice to spend the rest of our life with anyone, its not chosen by Society. It makes me think of how life would be with that type of setting.

Ally Condie's book "Matched" and it's dystopian setting where Society controls all, and its love story  feel, this book so far has captured my interest and has made it impossible to put down.
No wonder why its a New York Times Bestseller. I am happy to have choice this novel to enjoy.

http://youtu.be/xaeNWL8rlBI