Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Power, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Power and Violence
Corruption
Gender Reversals and Sexism
Stories, History, and Perspective
Religion and Manipulation
Revolution and Social Change
Summary
Analysis
At the NorthStar camp, Jocelyn has often been made fun of because of her problems with her power. The other girls also made fun of her for going out with Ryan, even after she had broken up with him. One night, she and three other girls are on watch at the camp when they find three masked men carrying baseball bats, trying to cut off power to their generator. They scramble and fight the men, until they have one of them on his knees.
Jocelyn’s story arc emphasizes the trappings of power. The fact that Jocelyn should be able to cause violence, but often cannot or does not want to, makes her feel abnormal. Thus, the expectations of power and gender, combined with Jocelyn’s frequent inability to fulfill those expectations, leave her ostracized. Through her story, Alderman makes it clear that even being part of a powerful group does not guarantee individuals’ success, since power often comes with such rigid and even immoral expectations.
Themes
Two other girls jolt the man—who is really a teenager—and ask who sent him. They tell Jocelyn to “show him [they] mean business.” When she hesitates, they make fun of her for being weak. She thinks about what a normal girl would do, and she gives him a jolt in the head to teach him a lesson. But she’s emotional, and she can feel as the jolt leaves her body that it’s too much. His scalp “crisps under her hand.” His brain is cooked. He is dead.
Jocelyn’s inadvertent but extremely cruel violence is a prime example of the corrosive force of power. Even though she doesn’t want to kill this boy, the other girls are egging her on and pressuring her to hurt him. Thus, even those who try to resist power end up being corrupted by it anyway.
Themes
Two of the camp leaders arrive and see the scene, shocked. Jocelyn pulls her hand from the boy’s head. One of the leaders, Esther, searches the body and finds a gun. She tells Jocelyn clearly that Jocelyn must have seen that the boy was reaching for the gun and used proportionate force to stop him. She wraps the boy’s fingers around the gun. The girls look at each other and agree that that’s what happened.
This scene has echoes of Mrs. Montgomery-Taylor’s staging of her husband’s death in Allie’s first chapter. Jocelyn has killed this boy, but she also is in control of how the story is told. This in itself becomes a kind of power, because Jocelyn is regarded as a hero rather than facing any kind of punishment for her excessive force and murder of this boy.
Themes
The more Jocelyn tells the story, the easier it gets. She does an interview with Kristen and Matt, the young, attractive new anchor who has replaced Tom. Matt says it’s great to know that they have young women like Jocelyn ready to defend the country. Kristen calls Jocelyn a hero.
The storyline of the news anchors takes another turn: Tom’s replacement with a young, attractive man who reports on the light pieces highlights the sexism of the original dynamics between Tom and Kristen and shows that now they’ve been reversed.
Themes
Get the entire The Power LitChart as a printable PDF.
Neil includes images of two statues: a statue of the “Priestess Queen,” depicting a woman in a proud pose. She is standing on a base made from “Cataclysm Era technology” that is marked with a “Bitten Fruit” motif. The second image depicts the statue, “Serving Boy,” which shows the bust of a man decorated with broken glass from a “Bitten Fruit” artifact.
Alderman writes in the book’s Acknowledgements that these two statues are based on real artifacts and are actually called “Priest King” and “Dancing Girl,” highlighting the importance of perspective and bias in shaping stories and history. Also the “Bitten Fruit” motif—a reference to the Apple corporate logo—again hints at the fact that the present day is actually a long time ago for Neil and Naomi, and that the tale is likely counting down to this “Cataclysm.”
Themes
