The Finisher Living and existing, the two could be called synonyms, but they aren’t truly the same. When you live, you have purpose, passion, and love. But when you exist, that’s just it. There’s nothing past the act of being alive, just without the living. David Baldacci show his social commentary by showcasing what he imagines a world lacking curiosity would be like by using his book, The Finisher, as his medium. For clarification, The Finisher is about a girl, named Vega Jane, who wants to discover the secrets behind her little town of Wormwood, but there’s one glaring problem, there is only Wormwood. Her town is surrounded by a forest called the Quag, and all who enter it die, or never return back to say what is past the Quag. The Wugmorts,
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Vega had always been more curious than everyone else, and it definitely shows in this book. Vega questions the society, unlike everyone else, and ends up finding her way out into the Quag, and even surviving long enough to go past the Quag. She is the societies foil. For a society who exists, the one who ponders and tries to live is the one who finds happiness after hardship. Baldacci’s message throughout this book is to question all, and live, becoming even greater by all the new knowledge. However, the people of Wormwood are people who simply exist without purpose nor passion. Even the schooling system in this existing town is made for the sole purpose of teaching children, but does so without “enthusiasm” (Baldacci 22). For instance, Learning, as school is called, is done for long hours but without any food because is only a “distraction” for the children (Baldacci 24). By looking at both examples in unison, it becomes obvious just how this society functions at the lowest level. They ship children into a deteriorating school house for the purpose of knowledge being shoved down their throats, and then the children are shipped off into laborious jobs. All because no one past the Council …show more content…
For the normal townspeople, Baldacci uses basic sentences, and not much rhetoric. There’s no real intelligence behind their thoughts, but more just normal “yes or no” type of questions. Even more so, the word choice for normal people is very basic. There’s no word choice, but rather usage of words that mean what they want to say. Baldacci gives the Wug’s simple, easily understood sentences to show their simplicity and lack of actual self thought or intelligence. Council members, especially higher ups, however, use very deep rhetoric and easily misconstrued sentences. He utilizes their higher speech in order to show their extreme level of intelligence in a society of people who simply exist. Vega Jane, still this society's foil, manipulates her words to get out of situations, or to technically not quite lie to someone. By doing so, Baldacci utilizes his foil to her fullest, making even her pattern of speech a foil to that of all the
Vega had always been more curious than everyone else, and it definitely shows in this book. Vega questions the society, unlike everyone else, and ends up finding her way out into the Quag, and even surviving long enough to go past the Quag. She is the societies foil. For a society who exists, the one who ponders and tries to live is the one who finds happiness after hardship. Baldacci’s message throughout this book is to question all, and live, becoming even greater by all the new knowledge. However, the people of Wormwood are people who simply exist without purpose nor passion. Even the schooling system in this existing town is made for the sole purpose of teaching children, but does so without “enthusiasm” (Baldacci 22). For instance, Learning, as school is called, is done for long hours but without any food because is only a “distraction” for the children (Baldacci 24). By looking at both examples in unison, it becomes obvious just how this society functions at the lowest level. They ship children into a deteriorating school house for the purpose of knowledge being shoved down their throats, and then the children are shipped off into laborious jobs. All because no one past the Council …show more content…
For the normal townspeople, Baldacci uses basic sentences, and not much rhetoric. There’s no real intelligence behind their thoughts, but more just normal “yes or no” type of questions. Even more so, the word choice for normal people is very basic. There’s no word choice, but rather usage of words that mean what they want to say. Baldacci gives the Wug’s simple, easily understood sentences to show their simplicity and lack of actual self thought or intelligence. Council members, especially higher ups, however, use very deep rhetoric and easily misconstrued sentences. He utilizes their higher speech in order to show their extreme level of intelligence in a society of people who simply exist. Vega Jane, still this society's foil, manipulates her words to get out of situations, or to technically not quite lie to someone. By doing so, Baldacci utilizes his foil to her fullest, making even her pattern of speech a foil to that of all the