In the sixth part of Night Watch, Vimes does his best to blend in. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Discworld.
Trigger Warning: For police brutality and corruption.
It’s a little hard to grasp exactly what it is that Vimes is supposed to do aside from finding Carcer and… well, what then? Does he kill him, eliminating him from this time, and then he’ll be zapped back home? I suspect this is not nearly that simple, given that Carcer murdered John Keel before Keel had originally mentored a young Sam Vimes.
Thus, we get the long scene that comprises this part of Night Watch, in which Vimes inserts himself strategically into the Treacle Mine Road Watch House… to guide himself. IT’S A LOT, and I honestly didn’t expect this kind of an interaction this early into the book. Yet I’m impressed that Pratchett devotes so much time to showing us what this world is like so far into the past. It would have been easy to just say, “Well, it’s worse,†and focus more on the story. But how is it worse? Why is it so vital that John Keel play a similar role as he was supposed to?
Well, we see why Lawn exists, first of all. Which is not to suggest that there’s no need for a doctor like him in the present time! It’s just that his need shifts later, especially once the Guilds pop up in Ankh-Morpork. Without the protection and support of the guilds, many people—especially sex workers—can’t actually see a doctor like others do. And that role still exists in our world, though in different contexts based on where you are or what period of history you’re looking at. This is not grittiness for the sake of it; it’s a portrait of a world where those on the margins have to devise their own support networks.
Why do people have to do that? Our glimpse into the inner workings of the Night Watch, the Day Watch, and the Unmentionables provides part of that answer. This is a brutal system, one where watch men STEAL OATS FROM STARVING HORSES just to get an extra meal or some more money. That part was striking to me: it was like these men felt they deserved these “perks.†And it’s an unnerving parallel to a behavior we see across the world when it comes to law enforcement or agents of the state. They believe their work—no matter if it’s actually helpful or not—earns them special treatment, so much so that they often believe they’re above the very laws that they’re enforcing. It’s not a new trope, but it’s a deeply disturbing one.
And then we’ve got Samuel Vimes, pretending to be one John Keel, who revisits his past and actively remembers how disorganized, corrupt, and messy the Night Watch used to be. Prisoners are dropped off at Cable Street for “questioning,†and they simply “disappear†after they get there. That “disappearance†usually means that watch men are bribed by those who can afford to be let go, which enables a cycle lacking in accountability. And why would the watch men stop them? Every time they’re arrested, it means that they can bribe a few dollars out of them, which means more meals. More drinks. More comfort in a job that already doesn’t pay very well.
Of course, there’s a specific reason Vimes cares about this as much as he does: he’s trying to find Carcer. But in trying to achieve this goal, he re-organizes the Night Watch. Suggests others for promotion, hoping the extra responsibility will get them to improve themselves. AND THEN HE GOES ON A WALK. WITH HIMSELF. And this book is already strange as hell and it’s barely a hundred pages in, y’all. I just… oh my god, THEY’RE TALKING. And Vimes is giving Younger Vimes advice and guidance??? Which he will probably later realize was from himself? Or is his memory going to twist it back into the original John Keel? Either way, I’m guessing that what Vimes tells his younger self is, more or less, the same kind of lessons he got from Keel about how this job isn’t about bribes, exploitation, or corruption. And by gods, he gets Younger Vimes to open up about the unfairness he witnesses. In this case, it’s the meeting at the university that’s further evidence that the Night Watch isn’t doing anything genuinely helpful. They’re glorified, paid bullies.
So how will Vimes change that?
http://youtu.be/jMuKAXejcpk?a
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