Rebellion

Specifically, the novel explores the teenage instinct to rebel against his or her parents and authority figures. However, the world of the Guardians is one of far more responsibility than the average teenager, and as a result, the consequences of defying the Keepers are far more severe. Cal is a rebel with a cause, because she truly believes that many of the rules the Keepers enforce are wrong. She fears for the future of her pack, primarily because she is unable to protect any of them from whatever the Keepers might wish of them. Shay is similarly rebellious, but his defiance of authority comes from curiousity instead of a desire to protect anyone, at least at first. As time goes on, and he learns more about the way that the Keepers control the Guardians, he insists that Cal do more to free herself from their control, equating her...