79 pages • 2 hours read
Pittacus LoreI Am Number Four
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
The Connection Between Memory and Identity
Memory is an important theme in the novel, particularly in relation to Four’s identity. In the beginning of the novel, it is clear that Four is struggling to form an identity on Earth because he and Henri have been on the run for so many years. He has changed names and locations 21 times, and he has never been anywhere long enough to make friends or develop any romantic relationships. Even though he has to keep his true identity as an alien from the planet Lorien a secret, he doesn’t have a strong connection to his Lorien origins either. He was only five years old when he left Lorien, too young to remember much of his home planet.
It isn’t until Four experiences visions of the final battle between the Lorics and the Mogadorians that he begins to understand the history of his people. Before he witnessed “the blood, the tears, the dead” of that fateful battle, “the events were just part of another story, not all that different from many [he had] read in books” (86). His choice of words, such as “story” and “books” shows that he is so distant from Lorien, so detached from his identity as a Loric, that the history of his people almost sounds like a work of fiction, a bedtime story. It isn’t until he starts to develop his Legacies and fully become immersed in his visions of the past that he forms a more stable identity as an alien from the planet of Lorien. After he watches the battle, he says, “It’s a part of who I am” (87). Four’s learning more about the history of Lorien, as well as catching glimpses of his family, like his father and his grandparents, cements the theme in the novel that memory is an important aspect in building one’s identity.
Finding Hope When All Seems Lost
One of the novel’s recurring themes is the role that hope plays in the face of even the most insurmountable of obstacles. In Chapter 11, Four wonders aloud to Henri what hope they could have at defeating the Mogadorians when the Lorics were defeated so easily before. Henri responds, “Don’t give up hope just yet. It’s the last thing to go. When you have lost hope, you have lost everything. And when you think all is lost, when all is dire and bleak, there is always hope” (124). This sentiment that there is always hope, even when all seems lost, is repeated throughout the novel. Four quotes the same speech to Henri in Chapter 30 at the battle at Paradise High School when they are outnumbered by the Mogadorians. Henri smiles and echoes it back to him, and Four responds with confidence, “Exactly.” The repetition of this inspirational speech about hope represents the novel’s theme that triumph can be found even when it seems impossible.
It is significant that Four repeats the same saying about hope to Henri, who says it to him earlier in the novel. Throughout the novel, Four expresses concern and even doubt that they will be able to defeat the Mogadorians, especially after seeing the mass destruction on the day of the final battle when the Mogadorians invaded and conquered Lorien. Henri, who has lived long enough to remember what life was like before and after the invasion, still believes in the future of their home planet; this is perhaps because he is more intimately connected to the past and therefore has more incentive to fight for it, as opposed to Four, who was so young when they left. By the end of the novel, Four is the one telling Henri to have hope in the future of Lorien, showing that their journey together has come full circle. Henri spends most of the novel stressing the importance of Four’s duties as a member of the Garde, while Four is more concerned about remaining in Paradise so he can live his life. Just before Henri’s death, Four has finally come to understand the weight of his responsibility as a Garde member. He is the one to remind Henri they must have hope that they will make it out alive. Although Henri’s role as Four’s keeper comes to an end when Henri dies, Four’s echo of Henri’s words suggests that even though Henri could not teach Four everything he knew, he instilled within him perhaps the most important message of all: to have hope.
The Triumph of Good Over Evil
One of the most common themes in literature, especially in the fantasy and science fiction genres, is the triumph of good over evil. This is perhaps one of the most fundamental themes of I Am Number Four as the novel is shaped around the major conflict between the Lorics and the Mogadorians. As early as the Prologue, the Lorics are depicted as the heroes, while the Mogadorians are clearly the villains. The Mogadorians are described as having “deep, wide, emotionless black eyes” and “a nasty, mocking laugh” (4), whereas the boy who is later revealed as Number Three is a mere child who has witnessed the gruesome death of someone clearly close to him, later revealed as his Cêpan. The language in relation to the boy has heroic connotations, such as when he bravely attempts—and succeeds—“a near impossible leap” across a ravine (3). The narrator says, “Going back, or going down, or trying to fight them means certain death. He has one shot” (3). Even when the Mogadorian captures him, the boy looks him dead in the eyes and tells him that one day, the Mogadorians will be destroyed. The Prologue establishes a common theme of good versus evil, hero versus villain.
Interestingly, although the Lorics and the Mogadorians are of two distinct alien races, only the Lorics look like humans, while the Mogadorians look like beasts. The author’s choice to have Four, Henri, and the other Lorics look exactly like humans on Earth makes sense for the plot of the novel since Four and Henri and the other Cêpans and Garde members have to blend in. However, there is possibly another reason for having the Lorics look like humans. Readers will naturally associate Four and the Lorics with something safe and familiar, even though they are aliens, whereas readers will instinctively find the Mogadorians fearsome and villainous since they are portrayed as grotesque.
