(Attempting to avoid any spoilers from after chapter 2)
The second paragraph in chapter 2 talks about Jael. Jael is the main character and the book is written in the first person through Jael's eyes (with the exception of chapter 1).
Jael is at a crossroads when the book starts. She is facing an internal and highly confusing struggle between what she knows in her heart is right and what her society is telling her is right.
For good people, I think this is a quite common struggle. It is a struggle I have faced myself, repeatedly. Don't we all often see things in society that are wrong and not comment about them? I know that it happens to me.
This conditioning starts young. Think of the young child who actually asks a smart question, questioning the way the adult world works or better yet the way the adult world harms people. What happens when the child does that? The child is told to be quiet so as not to offend anyone. Eventually, the child is conditioned to restrict their voice and taught not to trust their own voice; or even more so taught not to fight for social or other justice.
The next paragraph mentions that Jael and her sister Jade have designer genes. This will become important later and I'll talk more about this later.
In the next paragraph, Jael mentions her mother and father. She says her parents love the country "The Republic of Ekalfwons". There is so much that could be said about this. Let's start with acceptable loyalties in the United States (and many other countries) have to be meaningless and do nothing to right any wrong that might in any tiny way inconvenience those with power.
Now if you didn't already notice try reversing the letters of the word Ekalfwons. What do you get? Snowflake. Why Snowflake? Well it is short for special snowflake. It is a reference to a society that is mainly run and where the rules are dictated by people who only care about their own child (aka their own little special snowflake). A society where no other child matters and where those in the society see nothing wrong with harming someone else's child if it will give their own child some slight advantage. Here's an example in our society: a soccer mom driving an SUV recklessly to get a kid to soccer practice on time, carelessly putting others at risk for something that has no positive impact on making the world a better place. It happens every day and this is why I fear that we may be becoming Ekalfwons. Ekalfwons by the way is a concept of a society based on things that are already happening today. Multiply the selfishness some show in the United States (or other countries) by a few generations and you have Ekalfwons.
Other posts about Bubble Burst:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2: First Paragraph
Sales release
Why is Jael a 23 year old kid?
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