Reading Response 2: Matched

I’ve just started reading Matched and it’s about this girl named Cassia who lives in a futuristic government called the Society where everything you do it has already been decided for you. Every girl in the Society is Matched at the age of seventeen and on that day, they attend their Match Banquet, where they’ll feast and awaits for their Match. Cassia, the main character, has just been Matched with her best friend Xander. After the Banquet, Cassia has been given a silver box with a micro card that contains the background information of her Match. When Cassia plays the micro card, she discovers that the face of her Match is not Xander’s, so now she faces confusion between the two Matches

Here is a passage from the novel indicating Cassia’s insecurity:

“We always knew he would be Matched with another girl in another City, another Province. But he’s not. He’s Matched with me. I keep my finger locked in his as we walk toward the game center. Maybe, if I don’t’ let go, it will prove that we are meant to be Matched. That the other face on the screen means nothing; that it was simply a momentary malfunction of the micro card.”

I definitely think there’s a connection between this novel and The Hunger Games. Both novels are set in a futuristic type government where officials of the government control their citizens. The Society in Matched controls their citizens by deciding everything for them even not allowing them to make their own decision on who they should love. The Hunger Games, in contrast, also control their citizens by their annual Hunger Games to prevent any rebellion against the government of Panem.