How It All Goes Down
- A nurse leads Lena to a room where she has to change into a see-through plastic gown. And we think those paper butt-bearing gowns we've got in our modern hospitals are awkward.
- She steps into the evaluation room, where blindingly bright lights shine on her.
- The evaluation board starts asking her questions. But this evaluation is less like a police interrogation and more like an online dating questionnaire: "Talk to us about the things you like to do. Your interests, hobbies, favorite subject" (4.32).
- Lena launches into her prepared speech about how normal and boring she is, but then she makes a mistake: she lists Romeo and Juliet as her favorite book. You can practically hear the record needle scratching.
- Things get worse when she say the color gray is her favorite because it reminds her of the pale color of the sky right before the sunrise.
- This is all a little too lovey-dovey for the evaluation board. We wouldn't be surprised if they just shot Lena on the spot. But the ground starts rumbling before they can respond to her romantic musings.
- A herd of cows—yes, you read that right—rushes through the evaluation room. Lena hides behind a table. She's safe there, and can see that a message is written on the cows' behinds: "NOT CURE, DEATH" (4.61).
- Lena thinks it's a protest staged by the Invalids, "the people who live in the Wilds" (4.62).
- Nonetheless, she's relieved that they interrupted her awful evaluation.
- Right before Lena gets cleared out of the room, she notices a boy with beautiful amber eyes on the observation deck above her.
- He winks at her. She swoons.