Specials

For much of the book, Shay serves as Tally’s antagonist. Tally wants desperately to please her friend, calling her “boss” and following her lead. This is because Tally feels guilty for events that occurred previously in the series, namely taking David away from Shay. Shay herself acts as if she has overcome her resentments, but they quickly bubble to the surface once Tally disobeys her. When Tally decides to remain with Zane and the runaways rather than go with Shay directly to the New Smoke, Shay is “disgust[ed],” claiming that Tally cares more for the feeble Zane than for the superior Specials. Shay taunts her, “You’re even a failure as a Special, always worrying about everything” (159). However, Tally remains firm in her commitment to Zane.

Shay’s dominance over the others rests with her seniority, as she “had been special longer than any of them” (25). Her Special status is only further bolstered by her attitude; reckless and unaccountable, Shay believes she can get away with anything, hence the fearlessness over attacking the city’s Armory. At the same time, however, Shay’s vulnerability becomes clear in her rivalry with Tally. She wants Tally to side with her, even as she mocks Tally and taunts Zane, whom Tally loves.

Later, Tally thinks, “It seemed like no matter what happened, Shay was destined to hate her” (163). As with most conflicts in the book, much of the problem derives from Dr. Cable’s meddling: Once Shay is despecialized, she forgives Tally. She also allows Tally the freedom to decide whether she wants to take the cure, rather than forcing it on her, offering a form of redemption to her character. Still, Shay is motivated by the need to end the war and absolve herself in her actions. While Tally truly changes on an emotional level, Shay stays much the same.

While David’s character appears only briefly in the book, his presence looms large over everything that Tally thinks and does. At first, she is so thoroughly brainwashed by her Special surgery and training that she sees him as her primary adversary: “Specials didn’t forget their enemies. Not ever” (20). She and Shay pursue David and the other Smokies in their attempts to imprison them and to destroy the New Smoke. David represents the threat to the city in the form of the cure, the nano pills manufactured by his own mother, which destroy the brain modifications in the citizens. David himself is highly intelligent and self-reliant in his own right; he has never lived in the city, learning instead to fend for himself in the wild.

As Tally’s brain slowly rewires itself, she begins to remember David more generously and how he fell for her when they first met: “he’d called her beautiful, even when she was ugly” (179). Though this former love is initially eclipsed by Tally’s concern for Zane, the two young men both act as Tally’s conscience at different times. Zane convinces Tally to stop engaging in self-harm, while David attempts to remind her that her strength started the revolution. David believes so fully in Tally that he does not fear her transformation into a Special—or, at least, not very much. He knows that Tally can fight against the modifications implanted by Dr. Cable, even without the cure. His proves his loyalty when he tells her, “You’re not alone, Tally. Don’t pretend you are” (301), then he ensures that she is not. He follows her into the wild, serving as her partner in their shared mission to preserve the natural world.