Top Highlights

• Celia calls Matt “mi vida” (“my life” in Spanish) because, as the reader will see throughout the novel, protecting and caring for Matt will give her life a purpose.
• Matt’s keen observation of his surroundings shows his characteristic intelligence. Matt suffers in isolation because he can see other children doing joyful activities and is beginning to sense he is different from them, when he only wishes to fit in.
• He plays with his stuffed animals and watches TV, but is overwhelmingly sad that neither is real.
• MacGregor is a rival political figure in the novel, so his inclusion in the children’s book shows how this society teaches children to align with the government from an early age.
• Matt shows his humanity through his desire for human interaction. However, his fear of such contact also shows his isolation living out in the cottage with Celia.

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