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Chapter Eight
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Messenger, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Selfishness vs. the Collective Good
Youth, Memory, and the Future
Humans and Nature
Identity and Difference
Summary
Analysis
Matty hears lots of talk in Village about the coming meeting. He notices too that the newcomers are joining in on life in Village. The children play and seem healthier, and they make Matty remember how alone and isolated he felt as a child. It took him a long time to trust Village to be kind to him. One morning, Matty heads to the market with Frolic and greets one of the women who recently arrived. She gently pets Frolic as Matty assures her that Village is welcoming and talks about how Seer learned to navigate blind.
When Matty thinks back on his life before Village, it shows that he still uses his personal memories of the past to continually remind himself of why Village and its ideals are worth fighting for. Though Village's way of life can be hard to learn, Matty finds it more meaningful and more fulfilling to trust others and look out for them.
Themes
Suddenly, the woman interrupts and says she has a concern. Matty tells her she can speak to Leader, but she asks Matty about the petition to close Village. Matty assures her that since she's already here, she's a part of Village and can't be sent away. Brushing this off, she asks Matty if he's noticed her son, Vladik. Matty hasn't noticed him, but tells the woman that Vladik will adjust. The woman explains that she's not concerned for Vladik—she left her other children behind and now, she thinks she needs to leave Vladik here and go back. Matty hesitates, wondering if Forest will entangle the woman. Noting her injuries, he wonders if she was stoned. He tells her that the two of them can't vote since they don't have true names yet, but tells her how to get to the platform so she can participate in the meeting.
Matty's insistence that the woman won't be turned away from Village now shows Matty missing the point. The purpose of Village isn't just to care for those who are already there; it's also to create a safe haven for those who haven't yet come. The woman recognizes this and understands the implications of closing Village. She's aware that her children outside of Village are no less deserving of love and care than any other children—there's no reason other than selfishness why they shouldn't be accepted, just as she and Vladik were.
Themes
At the market, Matty buys bread from Jean. She tucks a flower into the paper wrapping and sighs that she's going to the meeting tomorrow with Mentor. Suddenly, she bursts out that she remembers how, after her mother died, Mentor used to tell her stories and recite poems. She and Matty reminisce about learning about literature in school, and laugh at how Mentor used to perform different voices when he read Macbeth out loud to them. He could make them cry with his passion. Jean busies herself for a moment and then says that Mentor used to love literature, and used to talk all the time about its ability to remind people how to live their lives. Now, he only talks about Stocktender's widow and of closing Village. Matty can't tell her what happened to Mentor and suddenly feels hopeless. He forgets his power.
Macbeth is, importantly, a play about a foolish and misguided struggle for power—just as Mentor's attempt to close Village is a heartless and misguided attempt to take power for himself and those who think like him. When Jean mentions that Mentor used to use literature as an example for how to live, it suggests that she took the morals of works like Macbeth to heart and understands how important it is to draw from the historical and fictionalized past in order to make the best choices possible in the present and the future.
Themes
