Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Scythe, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age
Mortality and Life
Surveillance, Corruption, and Justice
Morality, Compassion, and Choices
Summary
Analysis
Scythe Faraday writes in his journal that immortality robs people of their innocence and youth. He says that every time he gleans, he mourns for who he was as a boy. He longs to one day become that boy again.
Citra carries Faraday inside and bandages his leg. He begins to wake and refuses to let her take him to a hospital—that would alert the Scythedom to the fact that he's alive, not gleaned. Half joking, he asks if Citra was so upset that he self-gleaned that she came to exact revenge. She explains that she thought he was Gerald Van Der Gans, and he says that was his childhood name. He asks again why Citra is here. Citra explains what happened since his disappearance. He explains that Curie is the only scythe who knows he's alive. A rainstorm moves through and Faraday says that Citra needs to sleep, as tomorrow they're going to study poisons—after all, Citra is still his apprentice.
This exchange reveals that Curie sent Citra to Faraday so that Citra could continue her training, in the hopes that if Curie can clear Citra's name at home, Citra will be allowed to take her final test and become a scythe. Faraday's willingness to resume Citra's training speaks to his sense of responsibility to Citra and to the Scythedom, which he certainly still feels connected to on some level and definitely doesn't want to see fall into Goddard's hands.
Themes
