Ignite Me

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2014

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-11

Chapters 12-32

Chapters 33-45

Chapters 46-65

Chapters 66-78

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Background

Ideological Context: Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is a political system that disallows any opposition to its authority and exhibits an extreme level of control over the lives of its citizens. Totalitarian states are typically controlled by singular rulers or small groups of autocrats who hold complete control over their governments and, correspondingly, the lives of those who live subject to that government’s rule. Leaders of totalitarian regimes are often dictators or absolute monarchs invested with authority that cannot be challenged by any other body within that government.

Totalitarianism is frequently considered a modernist governmental form, and the origin of its roots is still heavily debated among academics. Totalitarian states can emerge on both the extreme left and the extreme right wings of the political spectrum. The USSR’s Joseph Stalin, for example, is often considered a far-left totalitarian dictator, while Italian fascist Benito Mussolini and Nazi leader Adolf Hitler are both examples of far-right totalitarian dictators.

Totalitarian regimes differ from authoritarian regimes in that authoritarian states seek to control only political power, while totalitarian regimes seek to control all aspects of the lives of their subjects, including educational, economic, religious, and social spheres. The ideals of totalitarian states are promoted using propaganda—often circulated by state-controlled media—which may be the only form of media or news made legally accessible to citizens. Censorship is often enforced by surveillance systems and secret police, designed to create a persistent atmosphere of fear of retribution for breaking even the smallest of rules. Totalitarian regimes may also employ other methods to control its populace, including restriction of movement (making it illegal to leave the country), mass incarceration or prison camps, racist violence or genocides, and the creation of either a state religion or state-mandated atheism.

Social Context: Resistance Movements

Resistance movements refer to groups of people who operate in opposition to a dominant form of rulership, such as a government or invading power. These organized movements may use violent means, nonviolent means, or a mixture of the two to resist the power that controls their society; resistance movements frequently consider themselves as acting in opposition to tyrannical or oppressive powers such as authoritarian or totalitarian regimes.

Some scholars, however, dispute that resistance movements emerge exclusively in opposition to oppressive regimes, which has given rise to controversy over the difference between what constitutes a “resistance movement” rather than a group of “unlawful combatants” or “a terrorist organization.” An amendment to the Geneva Convention, added in 1977, asserts that a resistance movement forms during a conflict “in which peoples are fighting against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist regimes” (“Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949.” International Humanitarian Law Databases). The United States Department of Defense defines resistance movements as “an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to resist the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability” (US Department of Defense. Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. 2016). These definitions and terms primarily agree on two points: that citizenry has the right to defend itself from tyrannical rule, and that a framework for social justice must consider, first and foremost, the perspective of the oppressed group.

Resistance movements have existed since antiquity. Examples include the Conseil National de la Résistance in France and the Polish Underground State in Poland, anti-Nazi forces during World War II; the Irish Republican Army who violently opposed British rule in the twentieth century; and the American Indian Movement, which opposes systemic issues facing Native Americans.