Shatter Me

“I will never fight back because I’m too petrified too paralyzed too paranoid.”

When Juliette gets a new cellmate, he immediately takes her bed and her blanket, but she is too scared to fight for them. This quote showcases how helpless Juliette was at the beginning of the novel. Raised in the atmosphere of fear and misunderstanding, she doesn’t believe in her ability to stand up for herself, yet as the story progresses, she finds her self-confidence.

“I only know now that the scientists are wrong. The world is flat. I know because I was tossed right off the edge and I've been trying to hold on for 17 years. I've been trying to climb back up for 17 years, but it's nearly impossible to beat gravity when no one is willing to give you a hand.”

This quote highlights Juliette’s emotional state when she was growing up. Abandoned and isolated, she was devoid of any interaction with other humans, and although she was always willing to help others, no one ever wanted to help her.

“The weather, the plants, the animals, and our human survival are all inextricably linked. The natural elements were at war with one another because we abused our ecosystem. Abused our atmosphere. Abused our animals. Abused our fellow man.”

The world in which Shatter Me takes place is devasted by pollution and climate change, and it is being ruled by a totalitarian government. In this passage, Mafi highlights the connection between the abuse of nature and the abuse of human rights. She emphasizes that as soon as people stop taking care of nature, they become insensitive to each other and prone to manipulation.