The Program is a fictional book set in a dystopian world where teens are incredibly susceptible to depression and are very high-risk for committing suicide, this causes their society’s government to go to extreme measures to prevent the premature death of an entire generation. Young uses the narrator of this book to stress the importance of freedom of speech and voicing your opinions. Suzanne Young was born in New York before moving to Arizona where she got a degree in creative writing, with her degree she published her first book of The Program and has since completed the series as a trilogy. I chose to read this book because it deals with a contemporary issue that our society is currently facing, suicide, as well as showing a strong example …show more content…
The book also lets the reader know the current situation of their society, where suicide is an epidemic. Due to this, teens are very closely monitored and have to censor themselves around others to avoid being put in “The Program” where all of their memories will be erased and replaced with happier ones. Sloane and James have to be particularly careful not to express any kind of negative emotions towards anything, since Sloane’s brother and James’ friend committed suicide the year previous. James starts becoming increasingly depressed and doing harmful acts, but can’t tell anyone besides Sloane unless he wants to have his current life erased. Despite trying to keep it to himself, James gets taken into The Program. Miller becomes paranoid that he will be taken in next, and kills himself rather than having his memories erased. This leaves Sloane alone and under the watchful eyes of her parents and teachers. Despite knowing that The Program will erase James’ memories, Sloane desperately hopes that somehow he will remember her. James returns from The Program with no recollection of his past life, including Sloane. This makes her parents extremely worrisome and Sloane is forcefully taken from her home and put into The