Metaphors In Shatter Me

In the novel Shatter Me, Mafi uses metaphors to illustrate that actions and words have the power to shape identity. This novel follows the protagonist Juliette Ferrars as she navigates her way to her true identity through the good and bad words and actions of others. Juliette is a seventeen-year-old girl with the ability to kill others by touch. Throughout the novel, others present Juliette as worthless, unloveable, and a weapon to society. Later, she learns her worth and can see she is not awful.
At the novel’s beginning, Juliette describes herself as worthless and unlovable as everyone around her treats her that way. Including her parents, they have sent her to an asylum as they no longer care for their supposedly insane daughter. Juliette,

Warner is the antagonist of Juliette. He is a man of power and takes Juliette to a building of extreme order. She realizes Warner is in charge there, and this building is called Sector forty-five. It is a sector of the Reestablishment, which is the government of this country. They are at war and have locked everyone in complexes where they follow a strict schedule day after day. Warner takes Juliette into a dark room and explains that he will use Juliette as a weapon. Juliette glares up at Warner and can see, “His crooked smile is calculated evil”(47). Juliette can see that even though he is being kind, it is a cover for the evil in him. She understands that as much as Warner says he is helping her, it is only for his benefit because all Warner sees in her is a weapon. This leads Juliette to believe that this is all she will ever be to others. Later, Warner develops a need for Juliette. He begins entering her room unannounced and forces her to wear revealing clothing. Juliette assumes this is part of his plan. She knows “[Her] body is a carnivorous flower, a poisonous houseplant, a loaded gun with a million triggers and he is more than ready to fire”(117). Juliette uses these objects to describe just how dangerous her body is. Aswell Warner is depriving her of clothes as he wants to get to the weapon, her body. The weapon being her body shows why Juliette

This boy's name is Adam. He is a boy Juliette went to school with, the only “friend” Juliette ever had. Though they did not talk, Juliette knew he cared. Now Adam is the soldier guarding her in Sector forty-five. Juliette begins to believe he is betraying her. Luckily, once they are alone, he explains how he heard about her mission and immediately got involved with sector forty-five to save her. More importantly, he is the only person who has the ability to touch Juliette. Now obsessing over Adam and looking up at him, she notices a tattoo of a bird on his shoulder exactly like the one she dreams about. It is a white bird with a gold crown atop its head. Juliette says “‘You’re my bird, you’re my bird and you’re going to help me fly away”(169). Juliette is thankful for Adam. Him helping her fly away is her realizing that with him she will get away to freedom. He helps her see that someone cares and that she is loveable and worth more than others tell her. After this conversation, Juliette and Adam escape out a window and go to a safe haven. On the way, Juliette says that [She is] the bird and [she is] flying away”(302). Juliette feels happy about herself now and can see she is worth more than she is told. “Flying away” represents her escape of the awful people that made her hate her identity; she is now able to find her true