Hayleigh Butcher
Mrs. Thomasen
English 12
November 22nd 2019

                                                    Red Rising
In a colour-coded society Darrow is the lowest of low. Born a Red, the miners of the society, he works hard only to find that his kind are slaves, their only purpose to serve the higher colours, especially the Golds. Red Rising, written by Pierce Brown, takes place in another world where Earth is no longer in the picture. Through love, war and rebellion, Darrow thrives to the top to fight for his wife’s dream. In Red Rising, Darrow’s identity changes after watching his wife, Eo, be killed. He becomes angry, wanting to avenge her death, stopping at nothing to do it. He becomes the enemy, a Gold, yet he experiences a new conflict: he finds that the people that killed her might not all be bad.

Conflict has the ability to influence a person’s identity, and in Darrow’s case the death of his wife changed him. Eo had a dream for all the colours to live in peace and be treated equally. A dream that the Reds would rise which only started when she was killed. At first Darrow didn’t understand this, he was filled with anger and pointed it towards the Golds, “I want to break [the ArchGovernor]. After all that has happened” (378). Darrow feels the urge to take down the ArchGovernor, who is the most powerful Gold. Darrow holds the ArchGovernor responsible for Eo’s death and makes a vow to end him. Darrow bases the ArchGovernor’s actions and believes that is how all Golds are: cruel and seemingly all powerful. When Eo first died, Darrow felt anger which then passed to sadness. He felt as though life wasn’t worth living unless Eo was there to spend it with him. Through all the emotions he felt, Darrow realizes that he is the only one who can continue Eo’s dream. He takes the anger he feels about the Golds and their privileges, using it as motivation.

Another way Darrow goes through change is when he physically transforms from a Red to Gold. To make Eo’s dream work, Darrow has to become a Gold to get on the inside. This means that he literally has to change. He is painfully reconstructed to match what a beautiful Gold should look like, “My skin is soft and rich. My bones are stronger … I am no longer human. Physically I’ve become something much more” (93). Darrow goes through the process of changing himself so he can fit in with the Golds expectations. He gets rid of everything that makes him, him. Because he is living for Eo’s dream, he has to do everything he can to make it possible, even if that means changing himself in the process. He becomes more powerful. Eventually he adapts to the way his new body works and is able to use it for the better. He uses his new strength to fight in the Institute, making sure to win it for Eo and her dream.

Lastly, Darrow is put into the Institute, the school for Golds. He goes in with the expectation that they are all killers; just like the ArchGovernor. That they are all responsible for the death of Eo. Slowly but surely he builds relationships with the other students. Some of which become his friends in the process. There is trust that is built between him and a fellow student, whom he calls Mustang. They become allies and through Darrow’s time spent with her, he often wonders how it is going to feel when he has to destroy the Golds. Red Rising is the first of three making it unclear whether Darrow will complete Eo’s dream or whether he will give it up to be with his new friends. Either way, it will be painful: betray his kind or betray his new allies. Darrow comes to realize that not all Golds are bad. In fact, one saved his life and the others looked up to Darrow as a leader. Furthermore, Darrow became a leader to almost everyone. He was called “the Reaper”. He showed great leadership, and with the help of Mustang, he learned to care for his army. He went from being a LoRed working in the mines, to a Golden leader winning the game. Being in the institute made Darrow learn that not all Golds are the same. Yes, there were times when he was betrayed or thought things wouldn’t work out, but Darrow did not stop at anything because he knew he had to continue it for Eo.

In conclusion, Darrow goes through many stages in how he was influenced after the death of Eo. He became a little colder but used the fire in him to burn towards the end. He was crafted into Gold, which made him stronger. He used his intelligence and strength to make it to the Institute, coming to the realization that not all Golds are evil. He became angry, transformed and had a change of heart, all to follow his love’s dream. Darrow’s identity changed is so many ways: his emotions, from anger to determination, physically, from Red to Gold, and finally his heart, feeling the possibility that some Golds struggle too.

Work Cited
Brown, Pierce. Red Rising. Del Rey Trade Paperback, 2014.