“Things don’t always work out the way we hope. You just have to pick yourself up and find a new direction to go in.”

This is a bit of advice given to Cia by her brother, Zeen, in the hours after the graduation ceremony and in the absence of the Tosu City officials. It may seem trite in comparison to the ordeals Cia will face throughout The Testing, but it is ultimately a message about confronting difficulty, adapting, and moving on in the best possible way.

“Most streets we pass look neat, clean, and new. Exactly what I expect from the city that serves as the center of our country’s hope for the future. But as we travel, I catch a glimpse of other streets that are dirtier and in disrepair. The people walking to and from those areas look worn out and tired. Some appear hungry. Others look as though they haven’t bathed in weeks, and I wonder why.”

Though the novel focuses primarily on The Testing and not on the larger social conditions of the Commonwealth, this is an early clue to the social inequality that has continued from the previous government. There are still “haves” and “have nots,” a fact that is reinforced when Cia meets kids from other colonies and discovers they have even less access to some of the resources Five Lakes rations.

“From school I know the greatest concentration of our population is here—in this city. At least a hundred thousand people. Until this moment I never fully understood what that number meant. Now that I do, I am overwhelmed.”

Imagine going from a colony whose residents are fewer than 1,000 to a major metropolitan area. This moment is a real paradigm shift for Cia which changes her entire understanding of the scope of humanity and of what was lost in the war.