74 pages • 2 hours read
Lisa McMannThe Unwanteds
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaSymbols & Motifs
Magical Items
When the children arrive in Artimé, they are introduced to a world in which they are free to learn creative endeavors. Alex trains as an artist, Meghan as a musician, and Samheed as an actor. These skills become the foundation for everything they learn in Artimé. When they begin Magical Warrior Training, the skills their learn are developed from their artistic talents. The items the children use when performing magic have a key symbolic meaning, reflecting each child’s respective artistic trait. Alex, for example, learns how to use magic splatterpaint and sculpting clay to immobilize enemies.
The magical items’ symbolism is also evident in their use. Alex’s skills as a painter allow him to paint 3D doors that transport him to distant places. He paints a door that leads him to Aaron’s military dorm, allowing him the opportunity to invite Aaron to join him. The door itself is a symbol. Quill is closed off—a strictly controlled place hidden from the outside world. The door is an opportunity for freedom, provided it is used with the best intentions. Alex’s sole desire in creating a new door is to contact his brother, demonstrating how he believes that everyone should have access to the freer Artiméan society. However, much like the greater concept of freedom, the door’s symbolism can be inverted. When Aaron follows Alex through the door back to Artimé, he chooses to stand in the doorway. He does seriously consider a life in Artimé and ultimately chooses to return to Quill and report on what he has seen. What was an opening to a free and creative world becomes the catalyst for that world’s potential destruction.
Additionally, magic items are not always positive. Aaron’s ability to wield magic for negative purposes is demonstrated when he repeats one of Alex’s spell and sends a metallic shard into his brother’s chest. This moment is intended as a callback to Alex’s first magic lesson, wherein he learned to fling (metallic) paperclips.
The Wall
The wall that encircles Quill is a formidable structure that separates the community from the rest of the world. It is also a symbol of everything that Quill represents—isolation, authoritarianism, and intolerance. Rather than protecting the people of Quill, it traps them and ensures that they are unable to escape the hellish state.
At the beginning of the novel, Quill’s isolation is gratefully accepted. Though the state’s infrastructure is at the point of near-collapse and selected residents are ritually slaughtered (or so they believe), there is almost no dissent. The people of Quill believe the wall protects them. They no longer remember that the world beyond their walls is not full of antagonistic societies—something Justine orchestrated by design—so they appreciate the separation the wall provides. For everyone else, such as the Artiméans, the wall symbolizes oppression, control, and delusion.
Just as Quill is defined by its wall, Marcus Today defines Artimé by its lack of a wall. He refuses to erect such a structure, so much so that he would rather leave Artimé vulnerable than completely shut it off from the world. Where Quill is paranoid and oppressed, Artimé is naïve and free. As such, neither world is perfect, though the novel’s end implies that Quill’s isolationism is the worse choice.
The Quillitary
The battle between Quill and Artimé is a disparate one. Quill is a large and powerful state that seems poised to destroy the smaller, weaker world of Artimé. This is represented by the existence of the Quillitary, Quill’s military force that has no Artiméan equal. The Quillitary is largest social institution left in Quill, and it is the one career trajectory that most children dream of pursuing because it seems to be the only path to a better life. Both Will and Samheed spent their entire lives in anticipation of joining the Quillitary.
But while the military embodies hope for many, it is objectively a broken institution that symbolizes Quill’s overall failures. For years, the Quillitary has taken most of the resources available. Food and water are diverted into the military, ensuring the fighting force is always well fed and well resourced, even at the expense of everyone else. But while they train hard and often, the Quillitary does not actually fight. The states beyond Quill’s walls tend to ignore the isolationist authoritarian state, thus rendering the use of Quill’s resources a waste. The Quillitary’s existence is, overall, a projection of High Priest Justine’s extreme paranoia.
