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

Beta

Discussion Questions

Character Analysis

Juliette Ferrars

Juliette Ferrars is the narrator and protagonist of Ignite Me. She has powers of super strength that initially manifested in Shatter Me as lethal touch, which meant that anyone who had skin-to-skin contact with her (aside from outliers Adam Kent, her ex-boyfriend, and Aaron Warner Anderson, her love interest in this book) was violently injured or killed. As a result, Juliette was institutionalized and isolated for a year. This experience left her eager for contact (both physical and emotional) with others and highly empathetic.

Over the course of Ignite Me, Juliette continues to gain control of her powers, which she learns to wield with increasing skill throughout the novel, leading her to increased confidence that manifests in her determination to become the new leader of her society following the defeat of The Reestablishment’s oppressive regime. Accessing anger becomes an important skill for Juliette, who uses this emotion to motivate her, as opposed to her previous tendency toward self-pity, which precluded action.

Though much of Juliette’s journey in Ignite Me coincides with her growing romantic relationship with Warner, the novel emphasizes this relationship as something that supports Juliette’s personal growth, rather than something that dictates her actions for the sake of the relationship itself. Juliette ends the novel secure in her relationship with Warner and determined to continue her journey to end The Reestablishment’s reign of terror.

Aaron Warner Anderson

Aaron Warner Anderson, known to all as Warner (except to Juliette, who sometimes calls him by his first name), transforms from the role of antagonist to love interest over the course of Ignite Me. Though Warner moves between these roles, the novel emphasizes the ways in which this movement between archetypes does not signify actual change in Warner, but rather Juliette’s changing understanding of Warner (and, via Juliette’s narration and communication with other characters, the reader’s and other characters’ shifting understanding of Warner).

Warner himself, by contrast, emphasizes regularly that he has always been the same. While he frames these assertions to indicate that Juliette should not romanticize him or consider him more “good” than he actually is, the novel frames this in another way: Rather than running the risk of seeing Warner as “too good,” the previous installments of the series over-ascribed “badness” or “evil” to him.

Despite his refusal to apologize for his past misdeeds and his continued insistence that he cares only for Juliette, Warner gradually shows more vulnerability throughout the novel. Though he struggles to reveal himself, particularly due to the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, Warner shows an eagerness for emotional intimacy through his relationship with Juliette and interest in getting to know his newfound brothers, Adam and James.

Kenji Kishimoto

Kenji Kishimoto is Juliette’s best friend and occasional mentor in Ignite Me. Though Kenji emerged in the series’s previous installments as closer to Adam and Castle, in this book, he and Juliette refer to each other as “best friends” and regularly banter and playfully bicker, even during tense moments in the plot. Kenji self-consciously takes on a “comic relief” role for the other survivors of Omega Point, a role that he confesses to Juliette frequently exhausts him. Despite his proclivity for humor, Kenji is a capable commander, and increasingly takes on the role of the leader of the Omega Point group over the course of Ignite Me, superseding Castle, who previously held the role. In this role, Kenji advocates for the needs of his people and acts as peacemaker, particularly during interpersonal conflicts between Juliette and Adam.

Adam Kent

Adam Kent is Juliette’s ex-boyfriend. In Ignite Me, Adam struggles with feeling betrayed by Juliette’s growing relationship with Warner, which frequently leads him to lash out in hurtful ways. Adam’s dislike of the changes he observes in Juliette serves as a foil to Juliette’s growth; his continued reminders of the way things used to be between them only emphasizes to Juliette how much she likes this new version of herself. Adam is deeply protective of his younger brother, James. As the novel ends, Adam shows slight signs of moving past his anger via his willingness to get to know Warner, now revealed to be his brother, and in his potential romantic interest in fellow Omega Point survivor Alia.