52 pages • 1 hour read
Patricia FordeThe List
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Desecrators
The term “desecration” means to defile or disrespect something venerable or sacred. Naming his enemies this way is a key part of Noa’s plan. To Noa and his followers, the Desecrators symbolize not simply rebellion, but sacrilege, given that Noa defines art, language, and self-expression as blasphemous. Letta “knew how Desecrator was defined: Rebel. Creator of art. Enemy of New World” (45). This definition is unequivocal in its condemnation. The term Desecrators represents The Power of Language as well as the power of Censorship and Control. Letta cannot conceive of the Desecrator as anything other than an enemy until she meets Marlo and begins to learn that she is wrong.
To Marlo and Finn, who refer to themselves as Creators, the term Desecrators represents Noa’s hypocrisy, as well as his own willingness to twist language to his own ends. Something cannot be desecrated unless something is first sacred. For Marlo and Finn, List acts as a desecration of something that is sacred to them: freedom. So, in some ways the term “desecrator” is accurate in that the rebels are trying to unmake the sacredness of list.
The Goddess
The lore of Ark is not fully developed. There are remnants and relics of older customs, but few clues as to their meaning and origin. The statue of the Goddess represents an homage to past divinity, but she is not given a name. Letta describes the statue:
The Goddess had been here forever. Since before the Melting. They said she was the last prophetess, a messenger from God, who came to warn the people that the end was near. Some people said she was the first human clone before it all went wrong, when people thought cloning was something to celebrate. They grew her in a laboratory, and her first words were that she had come from God (57).
It is unclear whether Letta—or anyone else—is supposed to worship the Goddess, pray to her, fear her, or adore her. The statue represents a former world, but no clear culture or identity. Letta tells the statue, “I’m sorry Goddess… I don’t think I can believe in you” (147). This moment represents Letta’s allegiance to Noa. She believes what he says and takes it on faith, but she cannot do so for the Goddess. The statue is also a symbol of futility. Letta mockingly thinks, “Poor Goddess! She had come to warn them, but they hadn’t listened, of course” (57). Faith was not able to prevent the Melting, and scientists also failed.
Music
Music is only one art form that appears in the novel, but it is the most frequently represented in The List. It symbolizes artistic creativity, as well as art’s power to evoke memories, emotions, and even change. When Letta hears the saxophone, her “own heart quickened at the sound. Memories came flooding back. Her mother’s scent, soft arms around her, twirling, spinning, laughing” (79). These are pleasant memories, but much later, during a different encounter, “[s]he wanted to run from the music. Run from the images it dragged from her so casually, filling her heart with a new and unfamiliar pain and a terrible yearning” (246). Music in particular seems to defy rational understanding in how it escapes language or verbal definition. Music conveys a felt experience that establishes meaning but not something that can be conveyed in, and therefore limited by, language. For Noa, it is not enough to censor language.
Marlo is not old enough to remember the world before the Melting, but he does have a useful perspective on music, and how familiarity can strip art of its potency: “Before the Melting, people heard music all the time, and they became used to it. It had no effect. It lost its power” (249). Again, Forde conveys the importance of combining artistic expression with responsibility. Thus, music also represents sacrifice. Leyla left Noa because of a conflict over music. Marlo says, “Music calls to that bit of us that is different. There are lots of words for it. Soul. Spirit. Heart. Music makes us feel like we are not alone. That is its power” (249). The fact that music can make people feel less alone is worth fighting for.
