Good Versus Evil

The idea of "good versus evil" has some gray areas in this story and Matthias himself struggles with these almost continually. An important aspect of this theme is seen when Matthias first arrives at Population Police headquarters. He wants to know why Nina, Lee, Trey, and the others working for the rebel cause haven't taken some action by this time. Matthias is so caught up in the need to do something that he suggests Nina poison the food she's dishing out in the dining hall and that one of the others could cut the brake lines in a car. When Nina points out this would be indiscriminate killing, Matthias rethinks his thought process. Matthias grew up with a religious man named Samuel who taught Matthias that killing is wrong. Because of this, Matthias runs back into a warehouse that's about to be blown up in an...