Shatter Me

It has been two weeks since Adam arrived. Juliette wonders how he can still smile and worries that he will “end up like [her]. Empty” (36). As Adam sits close to her, she yearns for him to touch her, although she doesn’t let herself admit it. When she looks into Adam’s eyes, she realizes that he is the boy she used to know.

Seeing that Juliette is holding her pen and a notebook, Adam asks her if she is writing a book. He says that Reestablishment wants to destroy the English language and all the other languages as well so that they can create a new, universal language. Juliette is deeply distressed because she never thought this would happen—that The Reestablishment would ruin human culture and “the beauty of diversity” (38).

Seeing how shocked Juliette is, Adam puts his hand on her back and pulls her close to him. The tears start rolling down her face, and Adam tries to console her. Against her own will, Juliette pulls away from Adam because she is afraid of hurting him. She tells him that he cannot touch her and he tries to make her explain why she neither looks at him nor talks to him, and spends her time sitting in the corner and writing in her notebook.