In the fourth chapter of Tris’s Book, Tris bonds with Rosethorn (REALLY!!!), Briar learns of a secret, and Daja discovers one of her own.
Trigger Warning: For talking of eating issues.
I just need y’all to know that I am writing this review to the sound of a much-needed downpour here in Oakland, and it’s so goddamn wonderful. Rainfall always calms me and makes me feel serene, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit how much my limited experience with the Emelan world is contributing to that. I’m in a stunning place in my life and my professional work because literally everything I’m reading and watching is just so much fun. Even when I’m criticizing stuff in Discworld or Supernatural or Star Trek, I’m coming from the same place I was over five years ago when I started Mark Reads Twilight. I’m not in a space of hatred or distaste or contempt. I am having the time of my life, point blank. I’m being introduced to longstanding fictional worlds, and I have thousands upon thousands of people who are joining me on this journey.
And every week, I cannot wait to read more Circle of Magic. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely enjoying everything else, but this series has drawn me in so quickly and so completely that it’s not comparable to the others. There’s a sensitivity to this series that’s hard to place sometimes, and I think it’s related to the fact that the first novel was largely without a major conflict. Even with the threat of a possible pirate attack on Winding Circle, I’d say Tris’s Book is still very much of the same fabric as Sandry’s Book: this is a story about four children who are learning to love the world and themselves for the first time in their life. It’s an empowering thing to read because it’s an experience that a lot of folks (myself included) have gone through and never really had the means to talk about it. How do you navigate a world that you perceive as hating you? How do you exist day-to-day when you’re convinced the universe is out to get you?
And in the case of the four kids at Dedicate House, what do you do when you find out there are other people in the world who don’t want to stab you in the back, who don’t want to ostracize you, who don’t want to deny your right to be yourself, who don’t view you as disposable? That in and of itself is a journey, a form of conflict, and to me, it’s an innately fascinating and pleasing thing to see explored. It’s very easy for me to pick this sort of journey out of everything I’m reading, you know?
Let’s start with Tris, for example. I think that we are witnessing the very first time Tris has ever been able to be affectionate towards another living creature. I think that Tris’s experience with reject and terror has hardened her – justifiably so – to the point that the very idea of taking care of anything that isn’t herself is out of the question. Tris puts herself first because she’s had to. There’s no room in her life for the emotional and physical task of caring for another. Until right now. And it’s not lost on me that as she dedicates herself to taking care of the starling she found, she’s learning that even someone like Rosethorn has the capacity for tenderness. Tris often refers to her own fear of Rosethorn because Rosethorn is intimidating, but I bet that Tris is often intimidating to other people. Again, she’s had to be, and I actually adore her for it. (My own personal aesthetic is to appear as frightening as possible to everyone so people leave me the fuck alone, except to those who bother to get to know me and find out that all the tattoos and facial hair are a cover for my GIANT TEDDY BEAR personality. I GET YOU SO MUCH, TRIS.) But she realizes that Rosethorn might provide a different view of herself to different people:
Since coming to Discipline she had feared Rosethorn’s sharp tempter and sharper tongue. Lark and Rosethorn were good friends, and Briar loved his teacher, but Tris couldn’t begin to guess why. Was this the face of Rosethorn that Lark and Briar saw, when no one else was looking?
Tris learns that Rosetorn has a very personal attachment to starlings, since she helped raise them when she was younger, and the moment changes her perception of this woman. How else will it change her? How will her experience with the bird change her, too?
Change is a part of this story, though, since these children are experiencing a way of life they’re not used to. Briar’s busy coping with his own eating habits still, though he’s slowly learning an important lesson: he doesn’t have to hide when eating anymore. It’s a habit for him, though, since he is so used to having to treat food like a rare treat, and it’s because of this that he thoughtlessly heads to the Hub to go to his favorite niche. Briar seeks out safety at all times, and thankfully, that’s usually with Rosethorn. But it’ll take him some time to fully trust this world, you know?
AND IT DOESN’T HELP THAT SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE. Given what we know from Daja’s section, I absolutely think that this was not a student sneaking through the Hub. It has to be one of the scouts. WHY? WHAT DO THEY WANT FROM WINDING CIRCLE?
I do want to talk about Daja, though, because I think there’s a neat parallel between her and Briar. Both characters experience an almost unconscious reluctance. Briar doesn’t think about hiding to eat, but it shows that he’s not quite ready to embrace the world of the Winding Circle yet. Daja, on the other hand, spends most of the day unable to admit that she’s been seeing a mirage of a ship. It’s not that she doesn’t trust Kirel or Frostpine! She clearly adores them and respects them, but she’s still in a new environment, and I don’t think she’s quite as ready to throw herself into it, either. The azigazi is such a distinctly Trader thing for her, and talking about it with non-Trader folk has to be weird, you know? Thankfully, Frostpine is very appreciative of the fact that Daja was honest with him. And that’s good! She needs that validation to know that she truly belongs here.
The original text contains use of the word “crazy.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvXhIp9qiao
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