Fan-Lit: Review of Ark by Veronica Roth

Review of Ark by Veronica Roth

If you missed my post about the collection of short stories that Amazon put out called Forward, here's the link http://bit.ly/2nh9OeH

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Forward is six short stories, each by a different author. Previously I had only read the short story "Randomize" by Andy Weir. Still, I've decided to read the other five, starting with Veronica Roth's "Ark". When I say read, I technically mean that I listened to it because this collection is available for free on Amazon Kindle. I haven't read anything by Veronica Roth, someday I might get around to the "Divergent" series.

Read the "Forward" Collection here

"Ark" is a story about a young woman who lives in a future where the Earth will be destroyed by an incoming asteroid that scientists have known about for years. The people of Earth have constructed two space ships to take people, animals, and plants to another planet. The main character, Samantha, works for the ark in horticulture to catalog, record, and store specialty plants for preservation. Samantha has lost both of her parents and doesn't really have friends. The only people communicates with are her co-workers in her department. She meets a strange man that knows a lot about planets and has lost his wife. The two enjoy each other's company, mostly talking about plants. The man is going to stay behind after the ships leave Earth. Eventually, Samantha admits that she has made arrangements with her boat to stay behind, claiming she wants to witness the end of the world. Because there is nothing she has to live for, doesn't want to spend her life on the ship. The story also states that whoever stays on the ship will not live long enough to see the new world. The voyage is for a younger generation to colonize a new planet.

The day before the ships are scheduled to launch, Samantha and her co workers are done cataloging plants when Sam challenges each of them to identify one more plant. Samantha finds an orchid but cannot find its exact species. She asks her co-worker to verify the plant, and neither of them can make an accurate match with what they have known on file. Samantha has identified a new species of orchid. She shows it to the old man, excited for the discovery, and then it's implied that she takes the plant with her on the ship, giving up her original plan of staying behind. Because she has found something to live for.

Throughout the story, the orchid flower is used as a symbol. The old man talks about how a rare orchid was his wife's favorite flower and is now his favorite flower. Samantha and the old man have a discussion about what it means to favor something over another. Samantha claims that if you love everything equally, then it is the same as not loving anything. She reasons that our favorites show us what we as people truly value. However, it is not until the end, when she discovers the new species of orchid, that she finds value in life and chooses to live on the ship. The orchid represents love, beauty, and fertility. These three values represent the ideals of saving the human race and hopes of starting a new life on a new planet. Before discovering the new plant, Samantha had no prospects for love and fertility; she had never envisioned a life of marriage and children. This is why she wanted to stay behind and watch Earth be destroyed. The idea of discovering a new species and the orchid itself gives Samantha hope for her future.

This is a good story that tells the emotional journey of Samantha dealing with the death of her parents and the future that she wants for herself. The ending is beautiful, and the characters are all well written. Actress Evan Rachel Wood narrates the story from the show Westworld, and she does a good job capturing the bleakness that Samantha sees in the world. I highly recommend checking out this story as well as the entire Forward collection.