50 pages • 1 hour read
Suzanne YoungThe Program
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2013A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Pills
Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s treatment of death by suicide, depression, sexual assault, sexual exploitation, and psychological abuse and manipulation.
Young uses pills as a symbol to represent choice and, in many cases, its erasure. The Program offers Sloane different colored pills throughout her stay, which she discovers is how The Program targets the memories that they need to erase. Roger’s offer of the purple pill in exchange for sexual favors places Sloane in a dilemma because she feels desperate to save any memories from The Program. Although the purple pill hurts Sloane, it does allow her to remember a piece of her past that allows her to reconnect with James. Her decision to take the pill still isn’t a choice made with agency, though, as she only takes it due to her involuntary treatment. Once Sloane realizes the extent of The Program’s manipulation, she refuses to take the pills that Dr. Warren offers her. However, The Program takes away Sloane’s choices when she does this and forcefully injects her with the medication. Sloane realizes that the pills represent the illusion of choice in The Program: No matter what The Program says, Sloane is never in control of what is happening. At the end of the novel, Anna presents Sloane with the orange pill, which gives her a choice over her life and recovering her memories. The power of this lies in the fact that Sloane has control over what to do; it presents her with autonomy and independence. Although Sloane chooses not to remember her memories in the moment, she mourns for the person who she “can never really be again” (399). Sloane’s choice to keep the orange pill shows that she may have to give up on herself for some time, yet it gives hope that she may remember her past again.
The River
The river is a symbol of grief and loss, but it also represents the fluid nature of life. The Program promotes a life that is flat and unchanging, robbed of the variety of emotions, whereas a river is inherently shifting and unstoppable. Since the river is where Sloane spent time with Brady, James, Miller, and Lacey, she connects the river with both good and bad memories. Brady is implicatively overwhelmed by the river, or his emotional duress, as it is where he dies by suicide. However, one of Sloane’s formative memories is Brady teaching her how to swim at the river, or metaphorically how to wade through life. Although Sloane hates the memory of the day that Brady died by suicide, she feels connected to Brady at the river because of his love for swimming and because of his final words to her and James for them to “take care of each other” (75). When reaching a crisis point, she visits the river, breaking her arm in the process. This shows how the river, or the tumultuousness of emotion, is preferable to the life The Program offers despite the hardship it causes. After The Program takes her memories, Sloane does not have the privilege of remembering Brady’s last words to her, which breaks her heart. Even without the memories of the river, Sloane still feels a connection, as does James. They repeat their experience of exchanging the heart ring and falling in love. Despite the negativity associated with the river—as being open to emotions and to the changing nature of life can cause pain—it is still where Sloane is happiest and where her genuine relationship with James can develop.
Sloane’s Heart Rings
Sloane’s plastic heart rings are a symbol of how James and Sloane’s love will survive through anything. Sloane wears the purple plastic ring on her finger before The Program takes her away to remind her of James’s love. When the handlers come for Sloane, she hides the ring with the picture of Brady and James, hoping that someday she will find these items and that it will trigger her memory. While finding the items on their own does not help Sloane remember the past, the items do lead Sloane back to the realization that she and James were in love before The Program. Although she does not remember why James would give her the purple ring, she knows that it must have been important. When James gives her a pink heart ring by the river, Sloane suddenly realizes that their history is repeating itself. Much like their relationship, there are changes on the surface—the ring’s color—but it is ultimately the same. Although she does not remember that it is the exact way that James gave her the ring before she lost her memories, Sloane’s intuition tells her that she has experienced this moment with James before. This shows Sloane that, despite The Program’s efforts to keep her away from James, they were always meant to find each other again.
