- Title: Perfect Match
- Author: Jodi Picoult
- Text type: Novel
Perfect Match is a novel about a Mother named Nina frost, trying to solve who molested her son Nathaniel. This novel was one that was extremely relevant in today’s society. Through reading this novel, I felt a lot of sympathy for Nathaniel Frost. He was put through so many traumatic experiences that no 5 year old should ever have to go through, or deserves to be put through. Nathaneal was molested by Father Gwynne, this in itself is traumatic enough for a 5-year-old child. But to go with this he went mute because he was so traumatized from the experience. He also had to go through the trauma of watching his mum get arrested. This again, made him go mute. Although I have not been through anything similar to what Nathaniel has been through, I am able to empathise with him throughout the novel, as I understand the feeling of being overwhelmed by so many different emotions. Justice is shown and revealed in many different ways throughout this novel. The first thing that made me realise the theme of justice in the book, is Nina Frost’s job. Nina Frost is a prosecutor who prosecutes child molesters. This revealed the theme of justice to me as she sentences men and women to prison after they have traumatized, scarred and hurt young children. The point in the novel when justice really began to be revealed as the main theme of the book, was when Nina was in court as a parent to her 5-year-old son Nathaniel, and she shot Father Glenn. Father Glenn was on trial for the molestation of Nathaniel. This showed justice to me because this man was supposedly taking advantage of young children, as he knew they wouldn’t tell due to the trauma he caused them. Through Nina killing him, she was able to feel at peace knowing that she, or any other parent did not have to live in fear of their child being molested anymore. I feel as though this is justice, as no parent should have to constantly fear for their child’s safety. Nina was not only getting justice for herself as she didn’t deserve to live in fear, but Father Glen was also getting justice to clear his moral compass and put him back into moral rightness. The shooting allowed for Nathaniel to get justice because he was going to have to testify against Father Glenn, and Nina didn’t want to put him through any more trauma. It was revealed that Father Glenn wasn’t the molester, and Father Gwynne was. Gwynne and Glenn got mixed up because of Nathaniel’s lisp when he told the police officer. Justice became a prominent theme again as Nina was now going on trial for the murder of Father Glenn. This showed the theme of justice to me, as Nina had killed someone so she was now going to be punished for it. Although what she did was a crime of passion and it was to protect her son, she got it wrong. This opened my eyes to the fact that Ninas idea of criminal justice, is far different to many other people’s. She felt the only way to get justice was to kill him, before finding out all of the facts and evidence. Most other people would want to hear all of the facts and see all of the evidence, then watch the offender be locked away. The sentence that Nina got was 20 years in prison that was suspended, but she had to be on probation for that time. I feel as though this is justice for Father Glenn and Nina. Nina is able to clear her moral compass by accepting the sentence and owning her actions. Father Glenn is getting justice as he was an innocent man, and now his killer was being held accountable it. I feel as though if someone is being held accountable, this is a form of justice, as the person has to accept their actions and live with the guilt for the rest of their life. “And I think, not for the first time, what is immoral is not always wrong.” Through the judge saying this, it shows the theme of justice, as sometimes things that go against morals are not always wrong. Nina is the perfect example of this. Her killing Father Glenn, although it was immoral was not wrong, as she truly believed that he had abused and violated her child. This is also showing there is a conflict between legal and natural justice. It’s illegal to murder someone, however she brought him to natural justice for truly believing he was abusing her son. The point in this novel which showed me that the world has a way of working justice out was during Nina’s trial for Father Glenn’s murder. Both Father Gwynne and his cat suddenly died from a heart attack, everybody was shocked but pleased as many felt like death was the only feasible punishment. But what anyone didn’t know was that Nina’s husband Caleb put antifreeze into Father Gwynne’s hot chocolate which induced a heart attack. This showed me that the circumstances of justice are not always the same, and with assistance from people the world has its own way of making each action taken to have an equal and opposite reaction. The quote “Justice is eternal.” Captures the idea that justice is forever, and doesn’t change with time as its a fundamental underlying principle of humanity. This novel has shown me, that parents really will do anything to protect their children even if that means putting their life aside. It has also made me understand more thoroughly the effects traumatic experiences can have on young children, which means it’s always important to check in on them.