Restore Me

“Right now, my biggest problem is also the most confusing:

Wars require enemies, and I can’t seem to find any.”

This observation illustrates Juliette’s black-and-white thinking about political enmity at the beginning of the novel. Because she is a teenager who has found herself unexpectedly in power through her perceived destiny of overthrowing The Reestablishment, she is not trained in political machinations. Now, she is the unlikely head of a movement alongside people far more educated and prepared than her. Over the course of the novel, she learns to understand that invisible enemies might be more dangerous than visible ones.

“‘I’m not sure you’re aware of this,’ [Juliette] says finally, ‘but it’s okay to mourn the loss of your father, even if he was a terrible person […] You’re not a robot.’”

Though Juliette and Warner spend much of the novel not clearly communicating with one another, this comment is made when their romance is still ongoing. It indicates that Juliette understands Warner clearly, even when he tries to hide his feelings. She recognizes that he has Complex Grief About Abusive Parents, as he mourns his father despite Anderson abusing him throughout his life. Her connotation of being “a robot,” however, is different from her boyfriend’s, as Juliette embraces feelings and humanity as valuable tools, while Warner spends much of the novel blaming his emotions for his perceived shortcomings.

“‘It would be very helpful to the soldiers,’ Warner had explained, ‘if you would at least go through the motions. We rely on rules, regulation, and constant discipline in the military, and soldiers need a system upon which they might depend, at all times. Do this for them,’ he said. ‘Maintain the pretense. We can’t change everything all at once, love. It’s too disorienting.’”

Warner here speaks specifically of Juliette’s reluctance to have a guard detail because of her superpowers, which make her nearly invincible. While the circumstances are specific, his comment speaks more broadly to the novel’s concern with the difficulties of change, even change that is for the better. The importance of gradual change is something that Juliette must learn to embrace as part of her overall project regarding learning the nuances of leadership.

“I can’t seem to stop talking now, finally confessing to Kenji all the things I feel I can never say to Warner, for fear of disappointing him.”

Juliette’s desire to impress Warner—rather than allowing him to see her vulnerable points—contributes to the tension between them as the novel unfolds. Warner also keeps secrets, fearing Juliette’s disdain, indicating that they are motivated by a shared impulse to impress the other, though these actions pull them apart. However, this similarity does not lead to the resolution of their interpersonal issues.

“Everyone is watching you now. Everyone is waiting to see what happens next. We either go to war with the other sectors—hell, with the rest of the world—or we manage to be cool and negotiate. And you have to be chill, J. Just be chill.”

Kenji’s advice to Juliette promotes the merits of inaction over action when figuring out a new political context. Though Juliette recognizes the wisdom of Kenji’s advice, this contributes to her overall insecurities about her unsuitability for leading during peacetime, when diplomacy is the primary skill needed to lead.

“I feel great nostalgia for the cookie-cutter homes, the picket fences, the small, boarded-up shops and old, abandoned banks and buildings that make up the streets of unregulated turf. I’d like to find a way to bring it all back again.”

Juliette’s nostalgia for a pre-Reestablishment life draws heavily on Americana imagery, particularly one that depends largely on idealized versions of suburbs, as evoked by “picket fences.” As Kenji points out later in the chapter, though, American suburbs have a racist history, one that Juliette, as a white girl, would not have experienced as Japanese American Kenji did. This is a metatextual allusion to contemporary audiences, who not only live in the complicated society before the dystopian takeover of The Reestablishment but might also fondly look back at idealized American traditions that hide racism or classism.

“Everyone had guns in those days, remember? Civilians had guns. Crazy to imagine now.”

Kenji’s story about how his father was killed with his own gun during a racist incident (which Kenji does not clearly describe) provides a subtle critique from Mafi of American gun culture. Guns are omnipresent in the Shatter Me series, thus making Kenji’s shock that civilians would possess guns all the more pointed. Like the previous quote, Mafi uses her characters to show what contemporary culture may look like to different audiences who wouldn’t understand current values.

“We need to set up shop while we still have the funds.”

Juliette’s point about the urgency of refurbishing Sector 45’s headquarters highlights an economic element to resistance while suggesting that her revolutionary aspirations are not specifically economic. She seeks to use the monetary system of The Reestablishment, not reinvent it. This also indicates that her desire to keep in constant action—though it is presented critically at times in the novel—is not entirely misplaced, as some actions are bound by time.

“Lately, I’ve been feeling like Castle has no faith in me—like he isn’t rooting for me at all—and it makes me think back to this morning’s conversation. It makes me wonder if I can trust anything he says. What kind of ally would stand here and point out my ineptitude in front of everyone?”

Juliette’s frustration at Castle indicates her Difficulty Distinguishing Allies From Enemies, something she puzzles over throughout Restore Me and which is not resolved at the end of the novel. Her lack of political education and socialization leaves her confused about the gray area of her circumstances, particularly about whether people can be allies but also critical or unlikable. As her political context becomes more complex, Juliette must continually reassess what she wants from her allies—whether that is hard truth or flattery.

“I don’t want to share stories from my life that only disgust and revolt me, stories that would color her impression of me. I don’t want her to know how I spent my time as a child. She doesn’t need to know how many times my father forced me to watch him skin dead animals, how I can still feel the vibrations of his screams in my ears as he kicked me, over and over again, when I dared look away.”

Though Juliette laments Warner’s secrecy about his past throughout the novel, Warner here offers the reader context to this secrecy. His fear of Juliette seeing him differently indicates the lingering trauma and shame he experiences, even if logically he understands that being a victim of parental abuse was not his fault. In this installment, Juliette does not come to recognize that Warner’s secrecy may be more about self-protection than about keeping her in the dark about important information.

“‘But we were told that the new supreme was wild, lethal—terrifying—’

I nod. Feel my face warm. ‘Yes. That’s me. I’m Juliette Ferrars.’

Haider tilts his head, his eyes scanning my body. ‘But you’re so small […] I apologize, I meant to say—that you are so young. But then, also, very small.’”

Haider’s comments upon meeting Juliette indicate assumptions about teen girls, some of which the novel rejects, some of which it considers. Juliette’s super strength means that her size is irrelevant to her power, thus metaphorically indicating that girls also have more power than they seem to possess. However, her youth is considered a meaningful barrier to her leadership capabilities.

“‘If they think you incapable it is because they are idiots. Idiots who’ve already forgotten that you were able to accomplish in a manner of months what they had been trying to do for decades […] You are inexperienced,’ I say to her, ‘that is true. But you can learn these things. There’s still time.’”

Warner’s faith in Juliette is both immovable and framed, in the text, as a reasonable approach. Unlike other characters, who question Juliette’s ability, Warner treats experience as something that isn’t fixed and can be gained—particularly by leaning on one’s allies. This indicates that the success of The Reestablishment in the novel’s climax is due in part to the successful division between Warner and Juliette, as they are stronger together than apart. Without his support and experience to bolster her, she is left exposed and vulnerable to manipulation.

“This is new. The Nazeera I remember did not cover her hair—why would she? Her head scarf is a relic; a part of our past life. It’s an artifact of a religion and culture that no longer exists under The Reestablishment.”

Warner notes how The Reestablishment sought to control the populace by making illegal any religious or cultural connections that might be stronger than people’s alliance to the totalitarian regime. Nazeera’s headscarf is thus a symbol of resistance, which lets Mafi structure the religious symbol (one she wears in real life) likewise as a sign of self-expression and resistance, rather than the cultural narrative that frames wearing a hijab as a form of oppression.

“‘Men,’ she says, ‘are always so baffled by women’s clothing. So many opinions about a body that does not belong to them. Cover up, don’t cover up’—she waves a hand—‘no one can seem to decide.’”

Nazeera here frames her choice to wear a headscarf as not merely an element of Muslim women’s oppression but as one that has broader implications for women’s autonomy regardless of race or religion. Juliette gradually embraces some of Nazeera’s confidence about her appearance as a presentation of herself, something that parallels Nazeera’s increasing role as Juliette’s ally.

“‘I was hoping to have a more productive conversation with all of you this evening, but I’m afraid my sister is unhappy to be here; she didn’t want to leave home.’ He sighs. ‘But you know Baba,’ he says to me. ‘He gave her no choice.’ Haider shrugs. Attempts a smile. ‘She doesn’t understand that what we do—the way we live now’ —he hesitates—‘it’s the life we are given. None of us has a choice.’”

Haider’s defeated attitude about the role of The Reestablishment in his life indicates his unclear role as an ally or an antagonist in the novel. Though Haider is not a passionate defender of the regime, he seems unwilling to resist its powerful control. His ambivalence only deepens Juliette’s difficulty distinguishing allies from enemies, as she cannot trust whether the children of the supremes will help or hinder her leadership project.

“It turned out to be a song called ‘Like a Rolling Stone.’”

Juliette’s discovery that Warner repeatedly listens to Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” offers a reminder that Juliette’s dystopian world arises from the audience’s real world, something that lets the dystopian setting serve as a cautionary tale. If The Reestablishment came from our world’s flaws, it argues, a similar totalitarian regime could arise if these problems go unchecked. Moreover, the theme of “Like a Rolling Stone,” discusses the loss of innocence. This parallels Warner and Juliette’s childhoods, which were granted limited space for innocence, and their increasingly complex political settings.

“I’m dreaming about birds again.

I wish they would go away already. I’m tired of thinking about them, hoping for them. Birds, birds, birds—why won’t they go away?”

Birds are a recurrent motif in the first three books of the Shatter Me series. They represent Juliette’s two love interests (first Adam, then Warner) and her desire for freedom when she is trapped in the asylum. The return of this motif in the latter part of Restore Me indicates, along with Juliette’s journals, how the past that Juliette has tried so hard to repress has remained relevant to her character arc.

“[Juliette] was injected with a drug that would destroy critical parts of her memory, and sent to live in Sector 45, under my father’s supervision.”

The introduction of erased memories opens a new plot avenue for Mafi’s series. Though Juliette’s past is clearly established in the first books in the series, the idea that these were false, planted memories allows Mafi to disregard those details, which is helpful for the plot in her upcoming installments. It also contributes to the novel’s emphasis on the challenges of knowing who or what to trust—even within one’s own memories.

“It’s James. He’s still the size of a child, and for some reason this surprises me.”

Warner’s surprise at James’s youth suggests the limited childhood that Warner himself was allowed. This contrast is emphasized because the two—unbeknownst to James—are brothers. James and Adam’s presence on the base thus contributes to Warner’s complicated feelings about his abusive father’s death.

“Right now I can see her, this other version of myself […] If I could reach inside myself and rip her out of me with my own two hands, I would […] But she refuses to die. She remains with me, an echo.”

The desire to repress their past unites Juliette and Warner, though they fail to communicate this to each other throughout the novel. Juliette finds, however, that she cannot fight her past with force. This emerges as another way in which Juliette must find a new way forward—as with politics, she must address subtle emotional threads rather than forge ahead with her superpowers.

“‘I’m sorry but, like, does Juliette know you’ve been in other relationships? Because she’s never mentioned anything about that, and I think that would’ve been, like, I don’t know? Relevant?’

[…] ‘No, she doesn’t know.’

‘Why not?’

‘She’s never asked.’

Kenji gapes at me. ‘I’m sorry—but are you—I mean, are you actually as stupid as you sound? Or are you just messing with me right now?’

‘I’m nearly twenty years old,’ I say to him, irritated. ‘Do you really think it so strange that I’ve been with other women?’”

Kenji and Warner’s conversation about Warner’s past relationship illustrates the novel’s tension between youth and adulthood for its young adult characters. Though Juliette, at 17, is constantly reminded of her youth, Warner, only two years older, feels an adult expectation of past romantic relationships. It is not worth mentioning to him, as it is to Juliette, their past relationships or lack thereof. He assumes that someone as adult as he would obviously have a romantic past, while Juliette, by contrast, assumes that someone as young as they are might be facing their first loves.

“‘Kenji is going to be pissed.’

Nazeera stops smiling. ‘What does he have to do with anything?’

‘Well—’ I nod in her general direction. ‘I mean, what you just did? That’s Kenji’s thing. And he’s not good at sharing the spotlight, generally.’

‘I didn’t know there could be someone else with the same power,’ she says, visibly heartbroken. ‘How is that possible?’”

Kenji and Nazeera are the first characters in Mafi’s world to have the same superpower—in this case, the ability to turn invisible. This foreshadows a possible romantic connection between the two characters, as Mafi often shows her romantic pairings as having compatible powers, such as Warner’s ability to gain power from Juliette’s lethal touch. They also have parallel flaws, such as Nazeera and Kenji’s joint vanity, discussed here.

“I’ve never had a traditional teenage experience of any kind; I’ve never had parties to attend. I’ve never been subjected to the kind of peer pressure I’ve read about in novels. No one has ever offered me drugs or a strong drink, and probably for a good reason.”

Juliette’s decision to drink Anderson’s expensive alcohol stems, in part, from her desire to have a “traditional teenage experience.” However, it’s one that she understands from media, not reality, as all her contemporaries grew up in a totalitarian regime like Juliette. Her experiment in having a supposedly stereotypical experience is shadowed in irony, as she gets drunk on the expensive alcohol of the military predecessor she murdered, something that is a decidedly atypical experience.