Beta

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Beta

• Book by Rachel Cohn
• Presentation by Maya Watts

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Setting
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S Demesne

• The story takes place on the island Demesne.
• Demesne is an archipelago of islands formed after
  a huge volcanic eruption, its a utopian society
  engineered by master scientists to be perfect.
• The scientists created a waterway around the
  islands called the Io Sea, which has violet
  crests and when you swim it, it relaxes you.
• They also reengineered the air, they designed a
  system to pump premium oxygen into the
  atmosphere for better breathing
• Made to be a paradise for the richest people in
  the world

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Characters
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C Elysia

• Elysia is the main character and a major
  character, she is a Beta or a clone
• She has is supposed to have no emotions, but for
  some unknown reason experiences them from time to
  time
• She experiences the feelings of the person who
  she was cloned from when underwater (her First)
• In the beginning of the book she is sweet,
  nice, naïve, and confused about her surroundings.
• Now she is rebellious and wants to be free from
  the humans, and isnt afraid to have emotions
• She was bought by the mayors wife to replace her
  daughter, Astrid who went to college on the
  Mainland
• She has long golden hair and a fleur-de-lis
  tattoo on her temple which shows that she is a
  clone and fuchsia eyes
• She is a very dynamic character and a protagonist

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C Mother or Mrs. Bratton

• She is the wife, of the mayor of Demesne and is
  the one who bought Elysia or her mother
• She is the mother to 3 kids Astrid, Ivan, and
  Liesel
• She has chestnut hair that falls down to her
  shoulders and she is middle aged. Her voice is
  breathy and child-like
• She is very possessive of Elysia, immature and
  rich. She is a static character and a antagonist.
  

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C Xanthe

• Xanthe is also a clone she is the housekeeper of
  the Bratton home
• She looks to be 20 in human years, has pale skin,
  bobbed black hair, and angled fuchsia eyes.
• She is a dynamic character, at the beginning of
  the book she is calm and distant and keeps to
  herself, but she turns out to be a part of the
  Insurrection- or the clone rebellion and a
  Defect- which is clone who thinks they have a
  soul
• She is a protagonist and a minor character
• Xanthe and Elysia were very close, but Xanthe was
  killed because they found out she is a Defect,
  she is one of the reasons why Elysia dislikes
  humans

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C tahir

• Tahir is a clone who is secretly made, by a
  request by his parents to replace the real Tahir
  who died in a surfing accident.
• Unlike Elysia, Tahir is not a defect and has no
  emotions but after doing a local drug (raxia) he
  becomes a Defect
• Elysia falls in love with Tahir but has no
  emotions so he doesnt love her back
• Tahir has light brown skin, braids, and brown
  eyes
• He is a protagonist, a static character, and he
  is a major character

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CIvan

• Ivan is Elysias sister and Mrs. Bratton son
• He is a static character
• He is a athletic and very protect of Elysia who
  trains him to join Demesnes army
• He has blond buzzed cut hair for the military.
• At the end of the book he abuses her
• He is an antagonist and a minor character

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Plot
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PWhat is Rising Action?

• Rising Action-
• Rising actions is all the important events that
  lead up to the climax

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PRising ACTION

• Elysia is created
• Mrs. Bratton comes to the store and buys Elysia
• Elysia comes home to Mrs. Brattons house and
  meets Ivan, Liesel, the governor, and Xanthe and
  Mrs. Bratton is pleased with her
• Elysia goes swimming and feels emotions from her
  First (the person she is cloned from).
• Has dinner and figures out she has taste when
  tasting macaroni and cheese
• Trains with Ivan and sees him doing raxia which
  is a drug with his friends
• Eats chocolate and realizes it has the same
  effects as raxia
• Visits Becky the other teen Beta when Mrs.
  Bratton goes back to the store where she was
  bought and finds out she is sneaking choclate

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P rising action cont.

• Meets Tahir falls in love with him
• Learns about Defects and the Insurrection from
  Xanthe
• Tahir kisses Elysia while high on raxia has no
  effect on Elysia
• A bomb goes off suspiciously set off by Becky
• While Xanthe and Elysia are talking about the
  Insurrection Liesel walks in on them
• Liesel tells the governor and has Xanthe killed
• Xanthe pushed off a cliff
• Elysia realizes she is a Defect and wants revenge
  on the humans for killing Xanthe
• Mrs. Bratton gives Elysia to Tahirs family for
  press
• Finds out that Tahir is a clone (he has no
  emotions unlike Elysia) like her and the real
  Tahir is dead
• Elysia tells the family she is a Defect who has
  emotions and memories of her first
• They fall deeper in love and they smoke the drug
  again making Tahir a Defect like her
• Tahirs family wants to keep Elysia so one day
  Tahir can have emotions
• Tahir and Elysia plan to escape
• Elysia comes home to the Bratton family
• Ivan abuses Elysia while high
• She goes to Mrs. Bratton and she cries and then
  Mrs. Bratton finds out she is a Defect, she is
  finally fed up with the humans

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PClimax definition

• Climax-
• The turning point of when all of the action
  settles down

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PClimax

• After being fed up with the humans Elysia murders
  Ivan because out of her anger

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P Falling Action definition

• Falling Action-
• The action that happens at the end

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P Falling Action

• Liesel walks in on her when she kills him
• Tells the governor- he tries to kill her because
  this is the 1st murder on a place are perfect as
  Demesne, and thinks the Defect would ruin their
  reputation
• Elysia escapes, by jumping out the window and
  swimming away in the Io sea
• Saved by a guy from her First memories.
• Healed by him and they head to the island where
  all the Defects live.

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Conflict
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CMan vs. Self

• Elysia vs. self-
• The whole book Elysia wonders if she is normal,
  and feels ashamed that she has emotions,
  thoughts, and memories. At the end of the book,
  she realizes that is fine just the way she is,
  even if she is a Defect.

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C man vs. society

• Clones vs. Humans-
• Clones on Demesne are enslaved by humans. They
  are deprived of their emotions and supposed to
  mindless servants to them. The clones want to be
  treated like humans and have the same right and
  not have to work for them

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C Man vs. Man

• Elysia vs. Ivan
• Elysia has feelings for Tahir who is clone. But,
  Ivan has feelings for Elysia which she doesnt
  have in return. Ivan forces her to love him by
  getting threats to tell that she is a Defect and
  threating to kill her. In order to make her feel
  safe, for vengeance against the humans she kills
  him

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Theme And Resolution
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TTheme

• Be proud of who you are-
• At the beginning of the book Elysia was not proud
  of who she was in fact she scared of her emotions
  and feeling. At the end of the book she learned
  to embrace it and to be proud.
• I force myself to stop after the second bite,
  and I wash the flavor down with my strawberry
  shake. I should delete this memory, or else I
  will become greedy for more. (Cohn 63)
• Like Xanthe I am a Defect. (Cohn 136)

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RResolution

• Elysia escapes safety from the Brattons house,
  she is healed by a clone and meets the leader of
  the Insurrection who is Alexander Blackburn, who
  she knows from her First memories. When boarding
  a ship to the rave caves where the Defects live,
  she sees a girl who looks just like her, her
  First. Since her first has never died she has had
  a soul the whole time.
• The book will be a series so Elysias adventures
  will be continued.