This is more of a meta about the series itself than Juliette alone –– one of the most important themes of the Juliette Chronicles is all the important messages that are rife in the series.
1. Self Respect / Self Growth / Independence / Personal Struggles: The entire novel is about self-discovery and finding the strength within you to overcome that toxic voice that whispers: stop, don’t fight. We all have that voice, the one that beats us down and tells us we’re not good enough, or that we don’t deserve to be happy, for whatever reason. For Juliette, it’s something she literally cannot help. She’s been taught to villanize herself, to hate something she physically could not control. She was not taught to love herself, she was not taught to be soft. She was taught to think of herself as a monster, someone that should kill themselves for the good of humanity. Thankfully –– she didn’t. Thankfully, she found it in her to overcome all the trauma that has hammered that belief into her. Juliette found her voice and set herself free. It’s a beautiful message that can inspire so many of us.
2. Political Warfare: This relates to all the greed in the world. It has to do with all the corrupt people that are in charge of it. Shatter Me, now that I’ve reread it when I’m older reads as a total commentary about cultures being stripped of their heritage, societies being taken advantage of, and the environment suffering at a cost of political greed.
3. Right vs. Wrong / Other Philsophical Debates on Morality: What defines a good action? Are there ways to determine that? What made Juliette killing Anderson right? Where do you draw the line? The book gave me a complex. Is Juliette a good person because her right is in the right place? What defines a heart in the right place? Because if you think about it, all fanatics think they’re in the right. 4. Familia Abuse & The Blood vs Water Debacle: The series is very clearly in support of family being the friendships you make –– not necessarily the people who raise you. Juliette, Adam and Aaron were all abused terribly, and all of them have pulled away from their families ––– the idea that we must forgive our parents no matter what is shattered in the series. It doesn’t normalize abuse, but rather condemns it.
