The Declaration

The Declaration Questions
The Declaration- By Gemma Malley
Chapter 1 1. Anna is at Grange Hall because she is a surplus. 2. A surplus is an excess of production or supply. A surplus is more than what is needed or used. Anna is referred to as a surplus because she is not meant to be there and is more than what the people need. Anna is just part of the excess of people. 3. A Valuable Asset is someone who is an extremely useful person. A Valuable Asset is there to clean, cook and do all of the housework for a wealthy Legal. A Valuable Asset is what Anna wants to be and in her view, being a Valuable Asset is much better than being a Surplus. Anna believes that the better she is at doing her work, the wealthier a family she will go to. 4. Flowers are frowned upon by the authorities because they don’t last forever like the Legals. Also flowers serve no purpose. They take up water resources and the only thing they do is look pretty. They don’t serve a purpose to the owner or anybody in the world except that they look nice. 5. Incumbent means something that is necessary because of a duty, responsibility or obligation.

Chapter 2 1. Longevity means ‘long life’. In ‘the Declaration’ Longevity is a drug that all of the Legals take, apart from the Legals that Opted Out. Longevity is a drug that renews your blood cells and curing them. Longevity protects you from diseases such as cancer and heart disease. 2. Dr. Fern discovered that Renewal (a drug that cured cancer, heart disease and AIDS) could cure old age as well. Dr. Fern took the drugs himself to see what happened and he stopped getting older. He didn’t tell anyone at first but then he told the authorities (or Government as it was called back then) and they made it illegal to take the drugs if you didn’t have cancer or AIDS. Dr. Fern died eventually because he wasn’t allowed to take the drugs anymore. 3. The Declaration of 2065 was the first of the Declarations to be put in place. The Declaration of 2065 stated that people could have one child and any child after that would be terminated. This Declaration was replaced with the Declaration of 2080 which stated that no-one could have any children unless they Opted-Out of Longevity.
Chapter 3 1. There is a decreased use of computers and technology because there isn’t enough energy in the world to power everybody’s technology. Because of the increase in population and the high demand for power, resources have run out and people are living without technology for the time being as it is too expensive. Most technology is getting minimal use from their owners. 2. Peter tries to tell Anna about her parents and how her mother is a wonderful cook. Anna clamps her hands over her ears and tells Peter that she doesn’t want to hear anymore. Anna reacts like this because she has been brought up thinking that her parents are ‘evil’ and that they are in a prison somewhere. Anna has been brought up thinking that her parents are ‘selfish’ people who only had her to use up the worlds resources and that her being here is selfish and that she has to pay Mother Nature back for being a Surplus. When Peter tells Anna about her parents she thinks that he is lying to her and that he doesn’t Know His Place.
Chapter 4 1. Patrick was a boy who used to be at the Grange Hall. He used to cry all the time even though he was middle. When he didn’t cry he was arguing with the Instructors and telling everyone how much better he was than them and how his parents were going to find him and take him back. After a few weeks, he was taken to a detention centre. 2. Anna keeps her diary on a ledge behind the bath. Anna has to hide her diary because if Mrs Pincent found out that she had a diary she would be beaten and maybe sent to solitary because Surpluses aren’t allowed to have any possessions of any kind. 3. Peter’s purpose at Grange Hall was to find Anna and take her home to her parents and away from evil Mrs Pincent. 4. Peter said that Anna had a birthmark on her stomach that looked a bit like a butterfly, at that Anna started because she did indeed have a birthmark on her stomach that looked like a butterfly. After that Anna started to remember a memory or more like, a vague feeling that at some time in her life, she too had thought it was a butterfly.
Chapter 5 1. Grange Hall was built with lower roofs because lower roofs mean that there were lower heating requirements in the winter and because of the small amount of energy in the world, high ceilings could only be afforded by few people. 2. Grange Hall had not been changed over the years because changes were risky and new technologies used more energy. Plans had been made to change the Hall and merge it with other halls but each time a plan was submitted, nothing was ever done. Also, at the end of it all, nobody really cared much to change the hall. 3. Margaret Pincent (Mrs Pincent) had come from a wealthy family and had married but when her husband left her, her father made it clear to her that he wouldn’t offer any type of financial assistance to her or any assistance at all and they had not spoken for around 14 years. 4. Mrs Pincent’s attitude towards Surpluses is that she finds ways to break their spirits and treat them as harshly as she can. Mrs Pincent made sure that the Surpluses made up for their presence in the world and carried their guilt everywhere. 5. Opt-Outs are people who decided not to take the Longevity pills and die instead. Sheila was the daughter of two Opt-Outs and therefore Legal. However, one weekend her parents left her with her grandparents while they went on holiday and the neighbours, assuming that she was a Surplus, phoned the authorities. Because Sheila’s grandparents didn’t have a license, she was a Surplus under their care. 6. The presence of Surpluses was important to the scientists because they had young stem cells. Laboratories around the world want some young stem cells so that they can make Renewal and/or Longevity.
Chapter 6 1. Indoctrination is where someone has been taught something and they absolutely believe it one-hundred percent without a doubt. Anna has been indoctrinated because she believes one-hundred percent that her parents are evil and selfish and that she has to work to pay back Mother Nature because of her being there. She absolutely believes that she is a burden on the earth. 2. Peter allowed himself to be caught so that he could find Anna and bring her back to her parents and her home in London.
Chapter 7 1. In the evening the girl surpluses play a game called Legal-Surplus. In the game, one surplus is the ‘Legal’ and another surplus is their surplus. The Legal can ask her surplus to do anything and the more creative the Legal was in ways of humiliating and abusing her surplus, the louder the applause and cheers she got from the surpluses watching. The boy surpluses would wrestle and beat-up anyone who they thought they were better than. Mrs Pincent rarely intervened because she said that the games were doing her job for her as the girls were learning to submit themselves fully to their Legal and the boys were sorting out the weak from the strong and taking out their aggression on each other. 2. Sheila was asked to tell Tania that she hates her parents, that they are criminal scum and that they deserve to die. Sheila doesn’t say it because she believes that she is Legal and that her parents are two opt-outs.
Chapter 8 1. Peter had his head kicked in. Peter had punched Charlie and given him a big bruise on his chest because Charlie had said that most useful thing that could do with Anna is put her out of her misery. After that Charlie had kicked Peter in the head.
Chapter 9 1. Mrs Pincent dragged Peter out of bed during the night to question him about whom he was, what he was there for and about Anna’s parents. When he didn’t answer her questions, she would hit him. After that she sent him to solitary and then the next night and asked questions again and then a man got a needle out and injected Peter with a drug. 2. Peter is glad to be in solitary because the escape route is in solitary.
Chapter 10 1. The undergarments have bones in them like the olden days because even though the Legals cells get renewed and they can live forever, their body’s age with them however old they get. 2. Sheila misbehaves because she believes that she is a Legal and that she should have nice things. Sheila stole a pair of pink, silky knickers and told Anna that she should have things like it because she is a Legal. 3. Anna eavesdrops on a conversation Mrs Pincent has on the telephone to someone else about how Anna has been indoctrinated and has no mind of her own and also about eliminating Peter.
Chapter 11 1. A surpluses’ fertility is viewed in a negative manner because apparently they are no longer victims of their surplus existence but potential perpetrators and they are enemies of Mother Nature.
Chapter 12 1. Peter’s adopted. He doesn’t know who his real parents are. He was left outside a house where someone from the underground found him with a gold ring on a chain around his neck. The ring was taken from around his neck when he was caught by the catchers.

Chapter 13 1. Stories and fables are there to remind the surpluses of what happens to them when they try to escape or lose their place. They are generally made up by domestics or the surpluses themselves. One story is the story of Mary and Joseph who escaped together and had their own surplus son. The son was born with two heads and it was constantly hungry, constantly demanding more and more until, eventually, unable to control its evil surplus urges, it ate its two parents, one with each head, then exploded, a victim of its own greed and its parents’ sins. 2. Surpluses need to know how to administer longevity drugs because in some households they may need to administer them. Surpluses need to be able to spot the symptoms of under- or over-dosage. They need to be able to spot when their Legal becomes tired and doesn’t want to go to work as these are some of the signs of an under-dosage. They also need to be able to tell if their Legal’s eyes are bulging and if they are feeling agitated or irritable and also be able to tell if they aren’t sleeping properly as these are some of the symptoms of an over-dose. 3. Anna tried to go to solitary by confronting the teacher with questions like ‘what if a surplus took Longevity?’ and ‘why should Legals get to take the drugs because they were there first?’ When Mr Sargent pulled Anna by her ears, Mrs Pincent walked in and suggested another punishment, instead of Anna going to solitary. Anna was then sent to the Small’s floor to clean.
Chapter 14 1. Peter wanted to do his part for the Underground Movement and also he wanted to help Anna’s parents out so he allowed himself to be caught to find Anna and bring her back to her parents. Peter also wanted a friend and Anna’s parents had said that if Anna wasn’t in Grange Hall they’d be friends.
Chapter 15 1. Anna and Peter escape through a tunnel behind a grate in the wall. 2. Mrs Pincent had planned to have Peter injected with a drug but before that the scientist/doctor could take from Peter whatever he wanted. 3. Anna and Peter will standout on the outside because of their overalls and the fact that they look and act younger than anyone else alive.
Chapter 16 1. Static age is when longevity drugs were found when you were around 50. When people are static age they had some wrinkles when longevity came out but not like the people who were 80. 2. Longevity drugs are created with frozen umbilical cords but Longevity+ was created with young stem cells. 3.
Chapter 17 1. Terrorists are trying to get the larger nations to allow them more energy than they have but the larger nations are suffering as well. 2. Because China and the U.S.A have banned air-conditioning, everyone wants to move into the cooler parts and there has been a mass migration to the cooler parts of the countries. 3. Legals don’t believe that anyone under 25 or even 60 are good people. They are treated with suspicion and contempt. Legals believe that surpluses are evil and are just there to use up their resources. 4. Julia Sharpe has one child which she had had before Longevity came around. Julia occasionally sees her daughter when energy allows it but they haven’t seen each other for a while due to her daughter being too busy and not being able to find an appropriate time to meet.
Chapter 18 1.