I Am Number Four // Critical Thinking Question RR (final draft)

Critical Thinking Question: Who has "power" in your text? How does that power get shown?

Being that I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore is about a young man with superpowers, you would think that he would have "power" in the text. But in fact, it doesn't seem that John does. John Smith, a sophomore in high school, looks to be your typical teenager. When really, he's an alien from the planet Lorien who fled to Earth when Lorien was destroyed. In the story, Mark James, the school’s football team captain, constantly shoves him around. One reason for this being that John's the new kid in school, and also because him and Sarah (Mark's ex-girlfriend) have grown closer. And the thing is, John can't fight back because he knows that his powers will end up showing, and he'll blow his cover. With this, the author puts an ironic twist on who beholds power in the text, showing that power is not always given to the right hands.

John may have real, literal power, but there are many downsides to them that make him powerless. As I have mentioned before, he can't show any sign of his power. He must always protect his true identity. But doing so does not always give him desirable effects. For example, the book reads "My left palm is bright red, my right is still glowing ... The bell rings and in an instant I'm up and out of the room, rushing past the other students ... 'What's up, tough guy?' I stumble a few steps, look back. Mark is sanding there, smiling ... 'Not so tough without any teachers around, are you?' ... I turn around and start rushing away..." (Lore, 36-37). In this scene, John's powers begin to reveal themselves, so John hurriedly runs away from his class and from Mark. This makes him seem cowardly, and powerless. Also, since he'd run away from Mark's rude remarks, it made him seem afraid of Mark, giving him a greater power over John. The irony here is that when John is in the midst of gaining his literal power, it makes him seem powerless, and gives Mark the opportunity to seize power over him.

In the book, it is obvious that Mark uses his power to its full extent, especially with adults. An example of this is shown on page 67. It is just after him and John are pulled into the principal's office because Mark threw a meatball at John during lunch. Here, Mark kisses up to the principal, pleading, "Come on, Mr. Harris, I have the interview with the Gazette tomorrow, and the [football] game on Friday. I don't have time to worry about crap like this. I'm being accused of something I didn't do.” He uses all of his good achievements and well being on the principal to get out of the situation, because he knows that the principal favorites him. This “favoritism” contributes to Mark’s already massive power. Mark uses this to his advantage, and eventually the principal agrees that Mark wasn't the one who threw the meatball and let's him go. As for John, he is given the lower power and holds the blame for the incident, even when he didn’t do anything wrong. Again, this illustrates the point that power is a misread and also misused object. And once more, Mark has the greater control/power in the text.

I Am Number Four makes me realize that power is not distributed in such a fair way. Some may have more power than others, even though they aren't truly greater than them and know how to use their power correctly. Power can also turn a person sour, and make them think better of themselves. Mark depicts this by starting up a fight but leaving the blame on some one else's shoulders. It is shown that those with power can get away with anything, even when it is unjust.