Crossed

Cassia’s blue tablets (stolen by Xander) are symbolic of the Society. They promise the impossible—continued survival without food or water. Medicine is one of the Society’s crowning achievements. By taking the blue tablets with her into the wilderness, Cassia attempts to use the privileges of the Society while leaving behind the disadvantages—and she almost dies in the process. In one sense, this proves the Society right: Citizens are promised a long, safe life as long as they follow the rules. In another sense, the tablets prove Cassia’s point, as the Society’s promises belie their sinister nature. The Cavern, corrupted by the Society, mirrors this aspect of the tablets: The outside looks ordinary and nonthreatening, but it’s a little “too perfect” (162). Inside are stolen tissue samples of the living and the dead in a glorified mausoleum; the tablets themselves are poisoned. By the end of the novel, Cassia decides she doesn’t need to rely on tablets anymore—or the Society.

Having stolen the blue tablets, Xander prolongs his presence in Cassia’s mind with his accompanying notes. These notes are physically situated in the packet with the tablets, and they serve as another sort of lifeline. The process of reading the notes and taking the tablets are done in tandem, and slowly take a toll on Cassia. The notes become self-defeating when she loses the one about Xander’s secret (that he already joined the Rising). An ill Cassia lets the fallen note and tablet go because it “seems like far too much work to chase it down or try to find the blue in the dark” (182). Xander’s effort to communicate this important secret through tablets ultimately proves futile—and perhaps speaks to the growing distance between him and Cassia, despite the fact they still care about each other.