The 100

“Glass shifted uncomfortably, unsure whether to take a seat. Being Luke’s ex-girlfriend somehow felt odder than being an escaped convict. She’d had six months in Confinement to come to terms with her criminal record, but Glass had never imagined what it would be like to stand in this flat feeling like a stranger.”

In this scene, Glass has arrived at Luke’s flat after escaping the Earth transport, and she suddenly realizes that the privilege she has enjoyed as a resident of Phoenix does not extend to every aspect of her life. After pushing Luke away so that he wouldn’t be implicated in her unapproved pregnancy, Glass believed that she could simply return to him and resume the relationship. Her naïve approach completely disregards his emotional anguish over her decision to cut short the romance and disappear from his life. Her incarceration over breaking the Gaia Doctrine did force her to understand that actions have consequences, but now that she is faced with a distant Luke who has a new girlfriend, she also realizes that interpersonal actions have consequences just like legal ones. These lines are the beginning of Glass’s journey toward overcoming the biases inherent in her privilege.

“‘I’d rather drop dead right away than spend days being slowly poisoned,’ one said grimly.

Clarke sort of agreed, but she kept her mouth shut. There was no point in speculating. The trip to Earth would be short—in just a few more minutes, they’d know their fate.”

Clarke overhears this comment while she is on the transport to Earth. The passage as a whole reveals that Clarke is not the only one on the transport who is resigned to the possibility of death. Her reaction also highlights her pragmatic nature, for instead of worrying about what might await them all on the planet, she stays calm and keeps her focus on the present moment. Her choice to keep her thoughts to herself also shows that has no desire to spark panic by voicing such dire thoughts aloud.

“First, orange streaks appeared in the blue, like an oboe joining a flute, turning a solo into a duet. That harmony built into a crescendo of colors as yellow and then pink added their voices to the chorus. The sky darkened, throwing the array of colors into even sharper relief. The word sunset couldn’t possibly contain the meaning of the beauty above them, and for the millionth time since they’d landed, Wells found that the words they’d been taught to describe Earth paled in comparison to the real thing.”

In this scene, the kids see the first sunset of their lives. As Wells points out, they learned the technical meanings of words like “sunset,” but abstract knowledge is very different from a firsthand experience. This moment is designed to emphasize the kids’ profound disconnection from humanity’s true origins. Because Wells has no conception of the view before him, the only way he can describe it is to compare it to a different personal experience, such as the layered sound of instruments playing together.

“Bellamy squinted up at the sunrise. He’d always assumed those ancient poets had been full of shit, or at least had much better drugs than he’d ever tried. But they were right. It was crazy to watch the sky go from black to gray and then explode into streaks of color. It didn’t make him want to break out into song or anything, but then again, Bellamy had never been the artistic type.”

By showing the same sunrise from different characters’ perspectives, the author uses their varied responses to this spectacle to indirectly characterize each teen. While Wells sees the world through a lens of privilege and poetry, Bellamy’s view is jaded by his struggle to survive. Comparing the two passages offers context for Clarke’s love triangle, revealing Wells as softly artistic and Bellamy as starkly pragmatic. Yet even as this contrast highlights Wells’s relative social privilege, it is clear that both boys can equally appreciate the wonder of Earth’s sky. 

“‘If you hadn’t been Confined, you’d never have come here,’ he said quietly.

She whipped her head back to face him. ‘You think I should be grateful for what you did? I’ve seen kids die, kids who never wanted to come here but had to because some little shit like you turned them in just to feel important.’”

This passage appears when Clarke and Wells discuss their fraught past without touching on the exact events or circumstances involved. Because the back story is only hinted at, this exchange adds to the tension of the narrative and raises unanswered questions that will only be revealed fully in subsequent flashback chapters. Clarke’s bitter, accusatory tone nonetheless indicates that a matter of monumental importance occurred to break her trust in him, suggesting that as much as she once cared about Wells, she never truly knew him. Additionally, Wells’s opening line reveals just how misaligned his mindset is from the dire reality of this moment. Since he chose to get himself arrested so that he would be sent to Earth, he now sees the experience as an adventure. For Clarke, however, this new situation is just the next step in an already unjust punishment.

“Graham had strong-armed most people into handing over any packs they’d salvaged and had supposedly put an Arcadian named Asher in charge of distributing them, but there was already a fledgling black market; people were trading nutrition packs for blankets and taking on extra water shifts in exchange for reserved spots inside the crowded tents. Wells had spent the day trying to get everyone to agree to a more formal system, and while some people had seemed interested, it hadn’t taken Graham long to shut him down.”

These lines encapsulate The Struggle Between Oppression and Freedom and highlight the differences between Wells and Graham even as both boys struggle to seize and hold a leadership position in the group. Wells tries to follow his father’s example by establishing a formal system for dividing supplies, but because many of the kids have been oppressed for so long, they are wary of a system that promises them something and then fails to deliver. Instead, the black market forms because the kids trust themselves to get what they need more than they trust Wells to give it to them. As a result, Graham exploits this situation of distrust to seize power for himself; because he has hoarded the resources, he forces the kids to go through him to get what they want. Because this type of oppression feels comfortable and familiar, the kids fall in line easily, and their passive reactions suggest that oppressive leadership is designed to create submissive behavior patterns.

“Technically, you were supposed to use ration points at the tea stand, but Glass couldn’t remember the last time she’d been asked to scan her thumb. It was just one of the many small luxuries of life on Phoenix that she’d never given a second thought until she started spending time with Luke.”

Here, Glass is at the exchange—a type of marketplace where people trade or purchase things like tea, textiles, and other nonessentials, and the difference in social norms between Phoenix and Walden forces her to deconstruct the privilege she was raised to enjoy. As she wanders the exchange after seeing how different Luke’s life in Walden really is, she finally realizes how much she has taken for granted. Because she is beautiful and privileged, she has not had to pay for things that Walden’s people are forced to pay for, and for the first time in her life, she sees how unfair this system is. This excerpt highlights a more personal level of the novel’s focus on The Power Inherent in Privilege.

“Bellamy winced as water sloshed through the gap above the soles. It would be uncomfortable walking back to camp with wet socks, something he’d learned the hard way. He wasn’t sure why that wasn’t mentioned in any of the books he read. What was the point of knowing how to build a snare out of vines, or which plants to use to treat burns, if you couldn’t walk?”

As Bellamy is out gathering supplies, his mishap highlights the difference between learning from books and learning from experience. Despite all of his past studies, he is now becoming more fully acquainted with the minor annoyances and practical considerations of life on the ground. The books Bellamy read were designed for a target audience that was already familiar with the realities of a terrestrial existence. Bellamy’s wry reflections on the limitations of book learning once again emphasize just how disconnected the people have become from the planet that gave rise to humanity. 

“They were so different on the surface—Wells, whose belief in structure and authority had resulted in her parents’ execution, and Bellamy, the hotheaded Waldenite who’d held the Chancellor at gunpoint. But they were both willing to do anything to get what they wanted. To protect the people they cared about.”

In this scene, Clarke compares Wells to Bellamy, and her observation of their many similarities explains the quick development of her feelings for the latter. This moment also foreshadows the fact that Clarke will waver between the two boys throughout the novel, and her contemplations suggest that no matter which boy she chooses, she must reckon with the challenge of forgiving Wells for his grievous mistakes so that she can forgive herself for hers and move on with her life.

“Glass groaned softly. Their new flat had no privacy. She missed their old, spacious flat with the windows full of stars. She still didn’t understand why they’d had to downgrade just because her father had made the unusual and mortifying decision to sever his marriage contract and move out.”

This passage comes in a flashback as a pregnant Glass is trying to hide her morning sickness from her mother. The moment offers additional context to The Struggle Between Oppression and Freedom by revealing the patriarchal control aboard the colony. Glass and her mom are offered less privilege after Glass’s father leaves, and it is clear that women are considered lower-class citizens. However, because Glass was raised with inherent social privileges, she does possess the strength of mind to question the inequalities that she witnesses in the broken society around her.

“The concept of burying the dead had initially struck him as repulsive, but there hadn’t seemed to be any alternative. The thought of burning the bodies was even worse. But although the normal practice of releasing corpses into space was certainly tidier, there was something reassuring about gathering the dead together. Even in death, they’d never be alone.”

Wells has this thought while dealing with the bodies of those who perished either in the transport crash or as a result of it. For Wells, who was born in space, the idea of burying the dead seems foreign. His discomfort highlights the idea that the Earth itself is a viscerally different place that does not conform to the neat, tidy standards of life on the colony. Yet while Wells is used to the idea of sending the dead into space, he also fears the idea of drifting alone in the emptiness forever, and his tentative acceptance of the idea of burial thus appeals to his desire to have others around him, even in death.

“For a moment, she looked down at the bracelet on her wrist and wondered if, somewhere up in the sky, someone was monitoring her own heart rate. Dr. Lahiri, perhaps, or another of the Colony’s top doctors, reading the hundred’s vital signs like the day’s news. Surely they had seen that five people had died already…She wondered if they’d chalk the deaths up to radiation poisoning and rethink their colonization efforts, or if they’d be smart enough to realize they’d been killed because of the rough landing.”

As Clarke cares for her ailing friend, she analyzes the recent past in a way that reveals her pragmatic nature and medical training, for she systematically connects facts to arrive at logical conclusions—something she hopes the scientists on the colony are also doing. However, taken in conjunction the story’s other narrative threads, Clarke’s thoughts also highlight the limitations of Clarke’s perspective, as she has no idea that the oxygen lock is failing. She therefore operates under the assumption that the colony is paying “the 100” very little mind, and she does not realize that the need for the colonists to come to Earth is close at hand. Her lack of knowledge also imbues the novel with a sense of dramatic irony.

“Luke fell silent, and Glass couldn’t help glancing back at him. He was staring at her, his eyes full of hurt. He had always worried that he wasn’t good enough for Glass—that he was keeping her from a better life on Phoenix. And now here she was, using the same fears she had once dismissed to turn Luke against her.”

These lines come from the flashback in which Glass pushes Luke away to shield him from being implicated in her illegal pregnancy. Essentially, Glass uses The Power Inherent in Privilege to her advantage by attacking Luke’s fear about the class difference between them. Though she does so to protect him, she nonetheless causes great emotional harm by wielding her privilege as a weapon. Later, when she gives his roommate’s name as the father of her baby, she once again uses her privilege to save Luke by sacrificing someone else in his place. Taken together, these uses of privilege show how much power Glass has as a resident of Phoenix, and how little she considers the effects of her actions in these early stages.

“As she watched Thalia’s labored breathing, Clarke felt a surge of white-hot fury. She refused to sit here and just wait for her friend to die. Hadn’t humans cured illnesses for millennia before the discovery of penicillin? There had to be something in the woods that fought infection. She tried to remember what little she’d learned about plants in Biology of Earth class. Who knew if those plants were even around anymore—everything seemed to have evolved strangely after the Cataclysm.”

These lines show Clarke’s ingenuity and her indominable spirit. Though her friend’s outlook seems bleak, Clarke refuses to give up when there are still options to try, even if she has no idea how to make those options viable. Her frustration mirrors Bellamy’s earlier thoughts about missing information in Earth books, and she also laments that her knowledge of natural healing methods on Earth is so incomplete.

“Then something did start to fall. Drops of liquid were cascading down his skin, dripping off his hair, and quickly seeping into his clothes. Rain, Bellamy realized, real rain. He tilted his face up toward the sky, and for a moment, his wonder drowned out all the rest—his anger at Graham and Wells and Clarke, his concern for his sister, the screams of the idiot kids who didn’t know that rain was harmless.”

Bellamy’s amazement at such an everyday occurrence once again highlights the former colony residents’ disconnection from their home planet. Yet just as with the sunrise, he takes a practical approach to rain despite his amazement. Additionally, his ability to let the rain drown out his troubles shows that he is finally beginning to embrace the strange new environment that surrounds him. Yet despite his inner growth, his dismissive observation that the other kids are “idiots” shows that he still has some growth yet to do.

“‘It’s scary, but it’s exhilarating, too. It’s so…enormous out there. I know that sounds kind of stupid.’ He paused, but Glass shook her head. They both knew about enclosed spaces, how you could feel trapped in them, even one as vast as the ship.”

Luke makes this comment to Glass after he returns from fixing something in space. Glass’s anxiety over his safety foreshadows the fact that the oxygen system will soon fail and the council will choose to sacrifice Walden’s population so that Phoenix residents may live a while longer. Luke’s ignorance of these undercurrents shows that the council deliberately deceives the populace about the realities of their circumstances. Additionally, Luke’s comment that space feels vast and exhilarating suggests that he sees the colony as both a home and a trap.

“Back on the Colony, I never thought I was hurting anyone. Stealing just seemed like a way to get what I deserved. I figured everyone deserved to be able to fall asleep at night. To wake up without feeling that your nightmares had left scars inside your head.”

Octavia makes this comment after her theft of the medication is discovered. These lines indicate that The Power Inherent in Privilege is not restricted to those who have tangible social benefits. In this case, Octavia believes that her very lack of privilege in the past now entitles her to take what she needs for herself, regardless of the consequences to others. When she Octavia’s observes that people deserve to have their basic needs met, her comment underscores the unpleasant reality that many colonists have been neglected by the council’s interpretation of the Gaia Doctrine, which has unfairly favored the residents of Phoenix

“It should have been one of the most magical nights of Glass’s life. The entire population of Phoenix had flocked to the observation deck in their finery, and the elegantly dressed crowd buzzed with excitement. All around her, people were talking and laughing as they strode toward the enormous windows, clutching glasses of sparkling root wine.”

This passage comes during the comet-watching party on Phoenix and is used to suggest that privilege allows people to ignore the hardships of others. The residents of Phoenix are concerned only with attending the party. They are unaware of the failing oxygen lock and do not know or care that people on Walden and Arcadia are limited to watching the comet from dingy hallways rather than from an extravagant viewing deck. Glass’s disdain for the Phoenix party shows just how much she has grown from her formerly pampered self. She is no longer willing to engage in the elitist activities of Phoenix when she knows that Luke and others in Walden are denied such luxuries.

“Staring up at the stars, he tried to imagine what was happening on the ship. It was strange to think of life going on as usual hundreds of kilometers away—the Waldenites and Arcadians toiling away while the Phoenicians complimented one another’s outfits on the observation deck and ignored the stars. That was the only thing he’d miss about the Colony—the view.”

This passage from Bellamy’s perspective also comes during the comet-watching party, showing the event from a Waldenite’s perspective. Bellamy’s appreciation for the beauty of the natural world and the universe as a whole are on full display as he gazes at the stars and waits for the comet to appear. By contrast, the arrogant people of Phoenix ignore the beauty of the stars because, to them, it is a sight they have seen a thousand times.

“‘There was no way you’d make it,’ Wells stammered. ‘I just—I couldn’t let you go. You would’ve been killed.’

‘So you let Thalia die instead. Because you get to decide who lives and who dies.’”

Here, Wells has prevented Clarke from saving her friend from the burning infirmary tent. This is the moment when Clarke definitively decides that she can never choose Wells as a romantic partner. Although Wells loves her, Clarke finally understands that his love is more like an obsession and that he is willing to protect her at the expense of others’ lives. Wells’s stammering response indicates that he sees nothing wrong in his actions. His inability to think past Clarke’s well-being clashes with her own desire to protect others, and it is clear that the two of them are ultimately incompatible.

“‘The Council is going to let them all die?’

Sonja stepped forward and squeezed Glass’s arm. ‘They had to do something, or else no one would survive,’ she was saying, but Glass barely registered her words. ‘It’s the only way to protect the Colony.’”

This exchange between Glass and her mother comes after Walden and Phoenix are separated. With Glass’s new awareness of class-based inequalities, she is horrified by just how far the council is willing to go to save Phoenix, and her reaction makes her mother’s lack of understanding even more stark. Glass’s mother believes what the council has told her—that sacrificing Walden and Arcadia is the price that must be paid so that a remnant of humanity can survive. She gives no thought to why Phoenix’s people are considered more deserving of life than others because she too has been conditioned to believe that Phoenix is somehow more important due to its elevated social status. In truth, this social status is arbitrary, and this scene therefore exemplifies both The Power Inherent in Privilege and The Struggle Between Oppression and Freedom.

“‘The Gaia Doctrine is harsh enough as it is. We have to hold on to whatever shred of freedom we have left.’

‘So you’re saying that even if Clarke is innocent, it’d be worth it to let her die in order to keep democracy alive?’”

This debate between Wells and his father comes in a flashback scene. At this point in the past, Wells feels guilty for the indirect part he played in the sentencing of Clarke’s parents. Now that he is faced with Clarke’s pending trial, he struggles to accept the systemic injustices of the Gaia Doctrine as a governing body of rules. Although he does not explicitly state it, Wells believes that he and, by extension, those he cares about are above the doctrine, and his attitude illustrates The Power Inherent in Privilege. This moment also shows that the council is not a monolithic entity bent on oppressing the colony. The responsibility for people’s lives weighs heavily on Wells’s father, who truly does believe in the wisdom of the Gaia Doctrine even when the rules result in harsh consequences.

“Glass groaned as she brought her knees up to her chest. The sheets on her cot were twisted and damp with sweat. She was desperate for a drink, but it’d be hours before they brought her dinner tray and her evening water allotment. She thought longingly of all the years she’d spent blissfully unaware that water was rationed elsewhere on the Colony.”

These lines come during a flashback in which Glass is still imprisoned. This moment shows the first time she truly becomes aware of her past privilege on Phoenix. Having the comforts of her life stripped away is difficult because she is used to her basic needs being instantly met. When she didn’t understand that others were suffering, she was not bothered by it. Now, her awareness of the truth will galvanize her own inner transformation.