The Power And Corruption In Cecelia Ahern's Flawed

Labels manifest how people are viewed by themselves and society. There are always two sides to a story, positive and negative. Labels are constructive because they can give one an impression of belonging to a group or community. They make it easier to categorize people based on characteristics. Contrastingly, labels can convey false expectations which can encourage stereotypes. How the pros and cons combat each other is exemplified through Celestine’s point of view in Cecelia Ahern’s Flawed. Through the use of power and corruption in the Flawed society, people in authority have the ability to give people labels that can ostracize them from society similar to criminals and people who are labeled canceled in the real world.

The effect

In the Flawed society people that are labeled Flawed are outcasted from everyone else. Simply put they are seen as lesser then. When Celestine is kidnapped by Logan, Gavin, Natasha, and Colleen she is taken to a shed where they essentially embarrass her and find out she has a sixth brand. Logan has strong beliefs about the flawed, he says, “Shut up, Gav, she’s Flawed. She’s scum…Gavin, don’t offend me. She’s flawed scum I wouldn’t touch her with a barge pole.” (Pages 219-221, Ahern) There are multiple instances where he mentions that Celestine is trash and is nothing in comparison to the rest of them. By reason of being labeled Flawed, Celestine’s interactions with people are distinct. Assumptions are already made about her. Logan, who barely knows Celestine and has not interacted much with her at all before inviting her to his “party” has already come to a conclusion about her as a person because of her title. A scenario like this can appear in the real world with

What a person has worked hard for goes to nothing just because of maybe something they said being misinterpreted. Cancel Culture can lead to a person’s entire career and what they have worked for going down the drain. It can make someone feel like they are being silenced by the media. Cancel Culture can also affect the mental state of an individual, making the perception of themselves. They can become too self-aware to the point where they begin to overthink and overanalyze. In Celestine’s case, she went from being a confident person to a shell of her former self. She is ashamed of what she has “become.” After Celestine has been branded and has returned home, she states, “I stand naked in front of my mirror, my dressings removed. I hate what I see…They have taken away ownership of myself… I will never look at myself again. I will never let anyone see my naked body.” (Page 145, Ahern). Celestine has come to the belief that she has become disgusting. Feelings like this are true and strong in the world we live in. Nowadays it is hard to shake a label with social media. In the Tales From the Teenage Cancel Culture by Sanam Yar and Jonah Engel Bromwich it is said, “Alex thinks of it as a permanent label. Now they will forever be thought of as that action, not for the person they are, she said.” (Page 4) Again, labels can categorize a person for who they might not