This is true of Citra as well, who did kill a girl once. Rowan had thoughts of killing before he even considered apprenticeship-if he could kill without punishment, he would. This quote has twofold purpose, like much of Shusterman's writing: It progresses the worldbuilding, explaining why people don't attack scythes it also provides insight into Rowan's psyche. In Scythe Faraday's personal opera box, Rowan muses that he would kill (or at least injure and embarrass) the scythe if he could. It was a consequence that ensured the safety of the revered bringers of death. The punishment was the gleaning of the offender’s entire family. If he could have gotten away with it, Rowan would have pushed him over the railing-but attacks against scythes were not tolerated. By making this existence "ours," Shusterman creates automatic involvement on the part of the reader. One rhetorical device used by Shusterman here is the second-person "our," involving the reader in Citra's deduction. Her interpretation feeds directly into her quick-to-anger nature, and as a result, it can be interpreted as possibly incorrect-after all, if Scythe Faraday believed that everyone is useless, why would he go to such lengths to ensure the future of the Scythedom? She hates Scythe Faraday in this moment, as Rowan will at the end of the next chapter, which provides an opportunity for character growth as Citra pushes against this philosophy and comes (arguably) to a different conclusion about humanity's uselessness by the end.
This is one of the few instances in the book in which Citra does any interpretation, as that talent is primarily Rowan's.
In this quote, we see Citra interpret Scythe Faraday's philosophy, which she finds accurate and therefore infuriating. That’s what he was saying, and it infuriated Citra, because on a certain level, she knew he was right. In fact, in the grand scheme of things, everyone was equally useless. Which meant that no one person was more important than any other.
Nothing about our own existence to decipher. When it came to the human race, there was no more left to learn.
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