Structure RL5

The structure of the book was completely portrayed around the moments of awe. There would be a paragraph leading up to the "climax" the one sentence climax would usually be a story changer and would hold its own paragraph. The end of chapters were always shocking regardless of the information whether it be bad or good or neither.

For example, in the end of a chapter in the first section "I know this room. White walls. White floors. Black desks. This is the Testing room from my father's nightmares." (Pg. 78)

In the middle sections (2 & 3) the structure is similar to this but there isn't always the greatest amount of interesting information. However in one part of the second section at the end of a chapter, there is a sentence that is structured to shock and awe. "I open my mouth to call out - to tell him not to touch the metal box.
But he already has. A moment later a nail imbeds itself in Malachi's eye, and he drops to the floor like a stone." (Pg. 111)

In the fourth section as Cia was getting closer to finishing the structure was made to speed up and make the reader anxious to read ahead and find out the outcome.

"Zeen's Transit Communicator is strapped with wire to the handle bars.
Seven miles left.
Six.
Five." (Pg. 285)
*later on down the page*
"Tomas starts to lose his balance, and I sit back down. I re-attach the rope and keep pedaling.
One mile." (Pg. 285)

So overall, the structure of the book was designed around speed of whats going on, and also around the important details, usually described at the end of the chapters.

Diction and Tone RL4

The tone of the Testing changes pretty frequently throughout the story. In the first section of the book the author portrays an exuberant tone about Cia. She has a feeling of being able to do something with herself, she even writes

"This is real. I won't have to work with tractors. I have been chosen for The Testing. I did it." (Pg. 21)

However later that night her father takes her on a walk and tells her about the dreams he has had since he was tested. The mood suddenly shifts over to dark and scary as he tells her his suspicions on what the Testing is like. Even further in that section in the first exam of the four tests the author portrays a horrifying tone as Cia realizes her fathers dreams could be a reality.



"I know this room. White walls. White floors. Black desks. This is the Testing room from my father's nightmares." (Pg. 78)


So even in the first section the tone changes several times. Further in the fourth section, the author portrays a very sad tone about finding a girl who was deseased with a cross bow quarrel in her back. Her and her friend Thomas bury her in a crack in the earth.

"I cannot leave this girl here to pecked away piece by piece. While she is beyond caring, I am not. She has family. Friends. People who love her somewhere - who think she is safely enconced in Tosu City showing off her skills in math and science. Those people might never know her fate, but their love for her and hers for them demand respect. This is what my mother and father taught me. It's the Five Lakes way of life." (Pg. 187 & 188)

Character Development RL3

The 3 main characters were Cia Vale, Tomas Endress, and Will. Cia and Thomas came from 5 lakes colony and fell in love half way through the final examination, and Will showed up and at first he was good but in the final examination he ended up almost killing Tomas and he turned bad. Tomas started as a cool confident young man and developed in the first section. The second and third sections he slowly turns more into what the Testing officials want him to be, a monster. By the fourth and final exam he allegedly killed an innocent girl from the same colony him and Cia came from. Out of all the characters Cia changes the least. Being a girl she surprisingly handles the emotions that are thrown at her the best. Despite in the first two sections her room-mate committing suicide, and watching her friend die, she keeps her head on straight and despite her nightmares she pushes it out of her head.

These characters are important because it talks about them a lot. Tomas is described indirectly by the main character Cia as "Not that Tomas isn't used to being looked at. Most girls in our class would spend the entire school day watching him instead of the blackboard." (Pg. 49)

We see Tomas' intelligence in the first section again when Cia observes "Now that Malachi and Zandri are filling the silence, Tomas sits back and only adds the occasional comment. He too is observing - weighing their laughter and their silences." (Pg. 48)

Will and his twin were described by Cia like "I can't help but like them as they tease they should be allowed to take the test together. They point out that everyone says they share the same brain." (Pg. 86)

She later goes on to describe just Will like this "My voice is remarkably steady considering the rage churning in my veins. I finger the trigger of my gun, trying to channel that anger into killing a boy I thought was my friend." (Pg. 280)

Theme RL2

Malencia Vale is the main character of the dystopian novel "The Testing". She lives in her home in 5 lakes colony with her 3 brothers and mother and father. Her father had been tested in the past but he remembers nothing from it due to the memory wipe they do to the testing canidates following to the final examination. Cia has just graduated and she wasn't picked for The Testing, until a meeting held by the magistrate lets her and 3 other graduates from the colony know, they will be Tested. Specifically Cia writes "a wave of excitement washes over me", however, she is yet to know what waits for her in Tosu City where she will be tested. The Testing is split up into four parts. Over the course of the next couple weeks she see's the Testing take place and see's the wrong answers that are penalized with death. She soon realizes that she regrets wanting so badly to have a chance at the university if it meant seeing the death of her friends. The final exam is the hardest as she is dropped off outside of the city and is forced to fight for her life as she attempts to make it back to Tosu City. Her friend from 5 lakes named Thomas finds her and they fall in love over the course of the final test. They eventually find their way back and they lose their memory but not before Cia records all the happenings of the Testing in her brothers transmit communicator. After they are accepted into the university Cia is about to go to bed but she presses a button on the communicator and listens to herself describe what she went through over the course of the last month.




 This is the theme "sometimes you want something you don't need" that the author, Charbonneau, wants us to see. The text shows this when it reads "Only, I no longer need to imagine. The twitching stops. His muscles go slack as his chest stops its rise and fall. Malachi is dead." (Pg. 113) She wanted to be tested so bad but it already resulted in one of her friends deaths and she regrets wanting to go.