January Finale: Article 5 (2012) - Kristen Simmons

Hi there!

Welcome to our January Finale for Kristen Simmons' 2012 novel Article 5.

Content Warning: Murder, Revocation of Civil Rights, Kidnapping, Mention of Suicide, Gun Violence, Body Disposal, and Attempted Sexual Assault.

Overall

This second half was more enjoyable than the first. It was heavier on the love-story portion of the plot, but that's what most YA novels were like in 2012 - Dystopia + Love Story = YA Novel in the mid twenty-teens. Definitely for teens and twenty-somethings, but still relevant altogether despite the love story. Just talking about the lore and world-building, with the internal war, we are seeing a lot of parallels in the IRL USA here in 2025 & 2026. Don't forget that the first country that the Nazi's invaded was their own. It was an infection that came from the inside and spread across the world - this book was an easy-to-digest exploration of that world.

The FBR & Moral Statutes & The Resistance

The question arises about "ethical resistance" in our exploration of this topic. On one hand, yes, absolutely. Be peaceful about it. In fear of violent retaliation from the government? If the government is going to harm us and treat us as if we're armed and dangerous, and violate our constitutional rights, maybe we need to beg the question - if no changes are coming from ethical resistance and morals have been thrown out the window, why should we be ethical about our resistance at all? They're not respecting our rights, so why should we take the supposed moral high ground?

In this book, we can also ask the question - do we TRUST The Resistance? Well, this depends on whether the movement that is happening is performative or genuine. Because most of these rebellions are underground - and scattered - there are less performative aspects to The Resistance. Because some things are getting done in the right direction, but more in secret, it appears more genuine.

Ember and Chase

Ember's definition of resistance changes throughout the second half, when Ember wakes up in the Knoxville jail, and she immediately thinks about how she can escape. This is TOTALLY different from how she was not really resisting in the Reform school in the first half. In Knoxville, she sees that she needs to leave and begins plotting no matter what. In less than two days, she learns as much information as possible and escaped as quickly as possible.

Chase is hard to trust, mostly because he kind of went along with how things were going in the Moral Militia, but he also didn't WANT to be part of the MM. Ember may have had a hard time with Chase because she assumed that he didn't want to be with her (she never heard from him), but even then, moving forward, Chase hid a lot of things from Ember (we find out in this second half). So can he be trusted? Did he "drink the Kool-Aid," per se? Ember even commented on this, "I'm starting to think like Chase, now." Maybe in the second book, we'll see more development here. He was redeemed because he doubled down on supporting The Resistance. Knowing that Chase was a good guy from the beginning, in hindsight, means he didn't need to be redeemed, up until he admitted he had been lying to her. Chase's going to Knoxville to save her a second time was what made him more redeemable. If Chase had admitted to her that Ember's mother had been murdered right off the bat, their relationship would have been way better. The relationship dynamic would have been different, but using lack of communication as a plot device is hard to invest in. He could have told her, and we still would have had a story to read.

Hope, in the second half of Article 5, seems more naive and less of a focus for Ember. Her only hope was to see her Mom, and once Ember learns that she had died, all hope is lost. Ember's only "hope" in the second half has to be that she could help others and give information to The Resistance. She even asks, "Is this how I want to honor my mom?" when debating whether to shoot Tucker or not. Hope is knowing the possibility of something better. Too many things had happened to Ember that had dispelled hope of anything improving.

IRL Politics

There are young people today who think the way that Tucker thinks. Despite the rallies and the walk-outs and other protests, there are still young adults who have red-pilled themselves and think in a distorted way about humanity. On the other side of the conversation, we are going to break the pattern, and the protests are still going on - regardless of how many fascists walk the streets.

Sometimes these distorted thinkers are raised a certain way and have those troubling beliefs affirmed by the media or the government. This is Tucker. His incredibly low self-esteem allows him to believe in this cause because he's so miserable and insignificant that he can't even believe in himself. These are the ICE agents killing people in the streets. These are the people without mercy and compassion, not to mention a lack of basic human decency and fundamental comprehension of what is valuable in this world.

Read against the machine!

Ceraya & Brieanna