Words: 358
The Ward, the marvelous novel by Jordan Franken, tells the intense story of the struggle of a girl called Rene to save her society from certain death. The book takes place after a period called the Washout (a time of mass flooding) where a society now exists on the runes of an old city. The city is suffering from a plague that they call the HUBS virus and a shortage of fresh water.
In the book as Rene is searching for a new source of fresh water she finds a spring with the ability to cure illness and heal injuries. Once she understands how it works, she attempts to rediscover it to help cure the HUBS virus but someone has moved the spring. This is a classic example of man vs. society. Later in the book, she discovers that an ancient society has protected the spring for hundreds of years. They are called the T??ATA.
The T??ATA say, “The spring s sacred; it is much more than a cure but used to the wrong end it is a curse. ” (Franken 307). The T??ATA are afraid that if they make the spring available to the public that they will become immortal and begin fighting over it. After Rene is able to steal enough water from the spring she is able to make a cure for the HUBS virus and distributes it to the sick houses, she discovers that she is a pawn of Governor Voss. Governor Voss is having trouble controlling society because of the panic from the
HUBS virus spreading. He is able to make it look as though he was able to make the Cure, distribute it to the sick and take all the credit after he makes Rene a criminal. This is an example of man vs. man. The Ward has many conflicts in the story. Rene has to overcome many external and internal ones. She makes choices to benefit the greater good of the society. She never chose to make things easier for herself, even on many of her dangerous undertakings.