66 pages • 2 hours read
Catherine FisherIncarceron
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Cages and Prisons
Cages and prisons symbolize incarceration and develop The Ambiguity of Imprisonment and Freedom. Besides the literal prison of Incarceron, the novel makes frequent reference to small cages, such as the birdcage and fake bird that the Warden gifts to Claudia. The gift is beautiful, but Claudia “scowls” at it, demonstrating her disdain for the beautiful “prison” of societal expectations that restricts her daily life and long-term plans. Although Claudia is not in Incarceron, her “freedom” is constantly called into question through recurring imagery of cages, prisons, restrictive clothing, and other types of confinement. Places that are not strictly prisons are nonetheless referred to as such in order to emphasize the lack of liberty that all of the characters suffer, regardless of whether they are officially incarcerated. For example, Jared calls Sia’s palace a “prison” for him and Claudia, although according to conventional wisdom, a palace life is commonly touted as one of the most desirable situations to enjoy. However, the palace resembles a prison in many ways, for both characters are under constant surveillance, and their safety depends on them following a suite of unreasonable rules. The repeated symbolism of beautiful, elaborate cages and “prisons” therefore suggests that money cannot buy freedom in this dystopian society.
Eyes, Stars, and Birds
Eyes, stars, and birds symbolize surveillance, imprisonment, and, at times, freedom. Inside Incarceron, the prison’s millions of eyes constantly watch inmates, serving as a persistent reminder that they are imprisoned and their activities are being monitored. To inmates, stars symbolize freedom because there are no stars inside Incarceron, so many inmates dream of escaping and seeing the stars, which they believe would be amazing and beautiful. However, to people who have seen both, the prison’s eyes look remarkably similar to stars. By creating a visual resemblance between objects that symbolizes surveillance and incarceration and objects that symbolize freedom, the author emphasizes The Ambiguity of Imprisonment and Freedom.
Birds also complicate the distinction between imprisonment and freedom. In many stories, birds symbolize freedom because they can fly, and the author sometimes employs birds to convey this conventional symbolism. However, at other times, birds flit in and out of rooms where Claudia and Jared are having secret conversations, causing them to worry about being overheard by listening devices. Many of the animals that exist both within and beyond Incarceron appear to be organic but are actually machines. This reality raises the possibility that any animal might actually be a spy, and with this recurring issue, the author further enhances the novel’s atmosphere of surveillance.
Keys
Keys symbolize freedom, for in the most conventional sense, they are designed to unlock doors and grant access to heretofore forbidden spaces. Keys are so rare inside Incarceron that most inmates have never heard of them and cannot recognize them. This ingrained ignorance illustrates the fact that the inmates find the concept of freedom to be so foreign that they ascribe almost mythical qualities to the objects associated with freedom. For example, some inmates refer to keys as “magical” devices, for they have suffered lifelong incarceration with little to no hope of escaping. Ironically, the keys in Incarceron really are “magical” compared to real-life keys because they have functions beyond simply unlocking doors. They can allow the user to communicate with others, teleport, and change their own size.
These varied functions of the keys illustrate the multifaceted nature of freedom as a concept. The keys in Incarceron do allow prisoners to escape Incarceron, but because this is not their only function, the narrative suggests that true freedom entails far more than mere physical movement away from confinement. Given that the keys allow people to communicate with each other remotely, the author implies that open communication and access to knowledge are essential aspects of authentic freedom; by extension, the fact that outsiders also lack crucial knowledge reveals that they, too, labor under subtler versions of confinement. The communicative function of the keys there develops The Ambiguity of Imprisonment and Freedom because the outsiders are not wholly “free.” The keys can also render users invisible to Incarceron or other scanning devices. This develops The Distinction Between Appearances and Reality because Incarceron is sometimes unable to perceive people who are still present, and this detail also suggests that “freedom” requires the absence of perpetual surveillance.
