Discussion Questions: Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien

1. When reading dystopian, the scary aspect is thinking, "Could this happen one day?" Did you ask yourself this while reading Birthmarked? Do you think a future like this is possible?  Personally? This particular future...no. Humans are lazy and in Birthmarked they weren't relying heavily on technology - well, it didn't come across that way - yes they may not have had the resources like we do now, but humans are not only lazy, but smart also so I think it would have been more plausible to have us zooming around in oxygen powered hovercars than to the old adage of "The first world war was fought with bows and arrows as will the fourth, because we will destroy everything in the third"
2. How did the puzzle aspect of the story work for you?  Did you figure out the code or was the explanation a surprise? Does this element work for you in a story or is there one you like/appreciate more? I figured it out and I really liked it, i thought it was very clever. It took me back to the days of the Plot Busters books.
3. Gaia follows in the steps of her mother as a midwife. For Gaia in the beginning its service and only later does she realize what taking the babies signifies. Can you put yourself in the mothers role, what would you do if Gaia tried to take your newborn? To be honest, I would probably seriously injure/kill her and run. Doesn't matter if its "treason" or I might have to fend for myself, I would rather be on the verge of starving than let anyone take my child.
4. Gaia feels ugly because of her scar and unable to fit in within the wall (enclave) because she wasn't perfect. Do you think finding out that her parents lied to her [about how she got the scar] was able to move the story along?? I think that Gaia feeling ugly and accusing everyone of mocking her and her scar grew extremely tiresome. The fact that her parents gave it to her and that we didn't have to spend too much time trying to figure out how she got it (because I couldn't care less and thought she really needed to get over herself) was ok, it didn't slow us down too much. I can understand why they did it, I don't understand how they managed to hurt their own child as they did though.