(not my art)
Hello and welcome back to The Extravagant! I recently finished the information writing unit in class, where we had to read a book and write a companion book about it. I chose Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, the second book of the Lunar Chronicles series. I quickly became obsessed with it, as you may be able to tell. I got way into it, and therefore prompted a note on the rubric saying that out of the four of the five classes that my writing teacher graded so far, mine was the best. (Yes, I'm only saying this to flex.)
So, me being me, decided to share my work with the world (or at least whoever reads my blog, anyways). It consists of 5 short entries, plus an introduction and conclusion. Wix says it will be a ten minute read. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE LUNAR CHRONICLES AHEAD. You have been warned. Only read if you have finished the series or will never read it (in that case, what the heck you should totally read it).
Introduction
In this companion book, you will read about Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. The roles of Wolf and Ran in the story are very interesting, as they might not be exactly as they seem at first glance. Next, you will read about the Blackburn family, and their impact on the characters and plot. Levana and Cinder are compared using their names and devices of concealment. Lastly, the reactions of the characters when Cinder revealed herself to be Princess Selene will be discussed.
Chapter 1: The Roles of Wolf and Ran
The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer is an example of a fractured or twisted fairytale. It uses classic stories like Cinderella. Scarlet is based off of Little Red Riding Hood, and most characters have one or more roles from the classic fairytale.
For instance, take Scarlet herself. She is the equivalent of Little Red Riding Hood, shown by her red hair and red hoodie that she always wears. She embarks on the same quest that Little Red did: to find her grandmother. Except in this version, her grandmother has been kidnapped. She isn’t just trying to deliver her food, she’s trying to rescue her from her kidnappers.
Characters like Cinder, Cress, and Winter’s roles are very prominent. Other characters’ roles show themselves at a later point in the story, like Jacin, Thorne, and Levana. Everybody has an obvious role, except for two people: Wolf and Ran.
Wolf and Ran are brothers. Both of them were turned into wolf hybrids for an army. Their pack was sent to Earth to stay undercover. A few members of their pack were sent on a mission to find and capture Michelle Benoit. Wolf separated from the pack and began a life as a street fighter, before he met Scarlet and decided to help her find Michelle. Wolf said that he and Ran “never got along” (Meyer 218).
With a name like Wolf, the readers automatically assume that he is the wolf. Even his real name is Ze’ev, which means wolf. He isn’t to be trusted. Scarlet has the same reaction, but still accepts his offer to help.
Ran is only introduced when Scarlet and Wolf are on the train to Paris, when the train is passing through a forest. He asks her where she’s going, orders her a drink, and does what the typical wolf would do. Wolf was introduced in the beginning, and actually helps her. Ran is the one that impersonates and kills Michelle Benoit, solidifying his part.
Chapter 2: Dysfunctional Families
As most readers already know, the Lunar royal family, the Blackburns, are seriously messed up. It all started with two bad parents that made messed up kids, who made messed up kids, who made even more messed up kids, and so on and so forth. Truly a vicious cycle. ‘Tragic past’ can be an excuse for everything they do. But why, and how? And why will Selene and Winter be different?
To answer that question, we have to go back in time, to the first Blackburns we know. Marrok and Jannali Blackburn, parents of Levana and Channary. We didn’t see much of them as they were quickly murdered, so they couldn’t have been great rulers. Levana and Channary didn’t seem to miss them all too much, and were very neutral to their murders.
Next in line is Channary Blackburn. She forced Levana into a fire when she was young, and was cruel, sadistic, and manipulative. She didn’t take her role as queen seriously, wanting to be known as “the queen that laughs the most.” Channary has a child, Selene, our very own Cinder. She seems to genuinely care about her, but she contracts a lung disease and dies shortly after her birth, so we wouldn’t know. It’s interesting that the villain of Levana’s story is Channary. When Cinder realizes it was her own mother that mutilated the queen, she almost feels betrayed. But her fondness for Selene seems to be her only redeeming quality, if any.
Levana may be one of the worst. She took all of the bad qualities of her family, and none of the good. She attempted to kill three-year-old Selene to become queen instead of queen regent. Her lingering jealousy of her husband’s late first wife followed her, until she forced Winter to cut herself to ruin her beauty.
So why will Cinder and Winter be any different? Cinder didn’t know her mother or Levana. She only carries one memory of her life before Earth, which was the fire she was burned in. She’d been told by so many people that all Lunars are bad, which left no room for kindness for them. In fact, she had a very biased view on Lunars, which is why she never bothered to learn about her parents. Though Adri and Pearl weren’t the best family members, their impact on her could be undone. If she was raised on Luna, she would’ve been a very different person.
What about Winter? She was raised in a toxic environment like the rest of them, and Levana’s punishments were harsh. However, her father, Evret Hayle, was kind and loving. Winter carried his love, as well as the stories of her mother, long after he died. People think of her as a soft and delicate girl, but she is more resilient than she lets on. She refused to use her Lunar gift, even though the choice hurt her. Her resilience and tolerance got her through her tough years. Like the original Snow White, she was sweet but strong enough to stay kind.
Chapter 3: Veils and Gloves
Veils and gloves are almost always present in The Lunar Chronicles. Levana’s infamous veil and Cinder’s leather gloves are their armor, their protection. It’s one of the few ways that they are similar; their lies.
When Princess Levana was six years old, her older sister Channary forced her to walk in a fire. Why? To play a joke. The left side of her face was left mutilated as a result, with burns marking her for life. She was offered surgery, so she could look the way she used to but she refused. Instead, she perfected her glamour to show everyone that she is beautiful, but after a mental breakdown, she resorted to covering her face with a veil.
For the purpose of this chapter, Levana will be compared to her modern day equivalent; the clown. People find clowns scary for many reasons, but a big factor is their face paint. It makes it hard to read emotions, and sends mixed signals. People cannot see her face when she wears a veil, and she doesn’t need to bother with her glamour. The lack of emotion, plus the power she holds, results in a very intimidating persona. She uses her veil to hide her emotions, her intentions, and her past.
Cinder’s left side was also damaged in a fire, similar to Levana. Her face was relatively untouched, but she has a metal hand, metal leg, in addition to bones, eyes, parts of her brain, and even her heart being synthetic. Cyborgs are discriminated against and hated, so she wears her leather gloves to cover her hand when she is working. She has struggled with her self esteem, always thinking that she is lesser than. This led to her desire to prove herself to others, and immense guilt for those around her. She used her gloves as a way to protect herself.
Both of them start out as liars to protect themselves and fit into people’s expectations. The only difference is that Cinder took her gloves off, and Levana did not. She found her people, her friends that didn’t care if she was a cyborg or not. She realized her value and her worth, as Cinder and Selene. Even when she was powerful enough to glamour her hand into looking like a real one, she didn’t (Meyer 452).
Levana did not come to this same revelation. All her life, she was surrounded by people who didn’t really love her. She turned cruel and manipulative because of this, driving more people away. She would never be able to take off her veil of her own will.
The readers knew that the biggest thing that could change how people thought of Levana was showing them her true face. Because it wouldn’t be her face that repulsed them the most, it would be the fact that she lied to them all. So when Cinder did show them her face, she had already lost.
Chapter 4: Symbolism of Names
All of the Blackburns have moon related names. Jannali, Channary, Levana, and Selene all refer to the moon in some way. It’s the one aspect that ties them all together, since the constant use of their glamour makes them all appear different. Naturally, Cinder would want to use the name she used for five years of her life, as well as not using her glamour to distance herself from her family. But it could go deeper than that.
Levana, as stated earlier, means moon or white. She constantly wears white and her palace in Artemisia is completely white. This makes the readers and characters associate the color, or lack thereof, with evil and danger. This “reverse color symbolism” (when white is bad and black is good) is used in many other books, including The Hunger Games.
On the other hand, cinder usually varies from black to grey. Naming her Cinder could just be a play on Cinderella, but perhaps it means more. Cinder is the opposite of Levana, even though they share the same last name. This means so much more considering Cinder is constantly compared to Levana. In Stars Above, it was revealed that Michelle Benoit was the one who named her. She said it was a hint to her past of burning and flames, but still proud. And that is the perfect way to describe her.
Winter is definitely a variation on Snow White, but it still works in the context of the story. Winter was known to be the most beautiful girl on Luna, and is compared to her namesake, snow. Snow and the moon are both based on the color white, but winter refers to the Earthen seasons while Levana refers to the white of the moon. This symbolizes her royal title and ties with the Blackburns, but shows that she is different from the rest.
Scarlet is one of the only color names that isn’t black, white, or grey. Her red hair and signature red hoodie add to her name. She is bold and passionate, traits that are related to the color red. Probably one of the most well defined characters of the series, her actions are predictable to the reader. For example, at the end of Scarlet when they escape on the Rampion, she yelled at Cinder for not being able to save her grandmother (Meyer 428). It was unfair of her to do that, but she made her beliefs clear and the readers could have predicted it. Scarlet always sticks out, but that’s in her name. Without her honest quality, Scarlet would have been a much more boring character.
Chapter 5: Reactions
Towards the end of the book, Cinder reveals to the crew that she is Princess Selene. This takes almost everyone by surprise.
Scarlet, of course, already knew that from her grandmother. It was easy to predict that she would take out her anger on Cinder because that’s just who she is. The only family she had left was now dead, and she had a right to be upset. She also has a tendency to take her anger out on the wrong people. “Scarlet was suddenly dizzy from the anger, the rush of blood, the exhaustion. The only response she could form was a baffled “Oh.” (Meyer 430). This moment makes her feelings about Cinder go full circle, from defending her in the tavern weeks ago, to resenting her, to feeling sympathetic. In the beginning, she tells the men that “She’s only sixteen” (referring to Cinder). She feels a bit protective of her, even though they had never met. This puts things in perspective, and they get along better once the anger is taken away.
Thorne wasn’t betrayed, per se, just bewildered. He definitely treats her with more respect in the following books, while still keeping the same dynamic. When she first jumped into his prison cell, he saw her as another misfortunate convict, just like him. He didn’t even bat an eye when she listed all the reasons she ended up there in the first place. As their journey progressed, he saw her as a cyborg girl, a crazy mechanic, a traitorous Lunar, and lastly Princess Selene herself. However he never gave the notion that he would turn her in, and in a week he became one of the closest human friends Cinder had ever had.
When Cinder announced that she was the lost princess, Wolf offered himself up for her to practice on. This is very brave of him, considering the pain and memories it would bring him. He would officially be considered a traitor of Luna, and endangering himself more if they were caught. But he is just as strong willed as Scarlet, and he would rather endure the pain to train Cinder than come to Luna and lose.
Conclusion
The characters in The Lunar Chronicles are unique and diverse, so much so that it is easy to predict what they would do in any given situation. The depth of symbolism, embedded so deeply in the story, adds to characters and relationships. All in all, the characters and their backstories together form an artfully crafted story.
And that's it! If you have any writing projects you're really proud of, post the link and I would happy to read it. We can be a community of writers that show off. If you want more fandom-related content, leave a like! I hope you have a great rest of the day and see you next week!
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