In the second half of the tenth chapter of Games Wizards Play, the Cull happens. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Young Wizards.Â
Trigger Warning: For discussion of anxiety and abuse.
This whole chapter was a thrill to read, but in particular, the second half of chapter ten does some really cool shit. Namely, Duane writes this so that a victory is not purely a victory. What does it mean for these characters that they’ve made it to the next round? It’s not all joy and celebration, is it?
Dairine
I do think it’s an important question to ask, and I appreciated that Duane did so in a direct manner within the text: Why is it Penn is so unlikable? We should want the mentees of our main characters to succeed. That seems like an obvious statement! Yet over the course of this book, Penn has repeatedly mistreated Nita in varying ways. And it’s real hard to like someone who is so openly hostile and belittling of someone else. Plus, we don’t really get the sense that he’s trying to change. Oh, his approach might change, and his interactions with Nita in the second half of this chapter are painfully awkward. Like Kit says, it’s as if the guy has a bizarre superpower, which allows him to say one terrible thing after another.
So, I’m not bothered by Dairine disliking Penn in the slightest. She’s protective of her sister, and Penn doesn’t show signs of improving. I might feel differently if she disliked Penn solely because he approached wizardry differently than others, but I don’t think that’s the case.
Signing
A brief comment on this: I’m glad that we’re finally seeing how wizards use wizardry in combination with signing. It’s a neat little detail that expands the world of Young Wizardry to be genuinely more inclusive. NOW: GIVE ME MORE WIZARDS SIGNING.
Queues
I did want to talk more about this exchange:
“I’m not absolutely sure, but if you asked the setup staff, I bet they’d tell you that some of these kids were lined up waiting to get in before dawn.â€
“Wonder what the people who live around here made of that…â€
First of all: New Yorkers don’t give a FUCK. There is so much weirdness in this city that you truly have to go above and beyond to catch their attention. Despite living in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, I’ve had to adjust my expectations and my attention since I’ve moved here. I have seen some WILD shit in the past six and a half months, and a lot of it was on or near subways. And I also attended New York Comic-Con last summer, and it’s like… barely weirder than a “normal†day in NYC.
That might be unsurprising, but I also had a visceral reaction to this exchange because I HAVE BEEN THAT PERSON WHO LINES UP RIDICULOUSLY EARLY FOR THINGS. I actually first started doing it over twenty years ago, back when you had to go to Ticketmaster locations in person in order to get concert tickets. Sometimes, they were attached to music stores; occasionally, you could find them in department stores, too. (I have vivid memories of being in one—possibly Macy’s?—while waiting for tickets to see Depeche Mode. I could be misremembering that.) But for certain larger shows in venues where it was easy to get pushed to the back of the space, I have showed up super early—OVERNIGHT, EVEN—to try and get a spot on or near the barricade/stage. It’s like… a weird right of passage? I did it a lot for AFI, and there’s even video evidence of me in line super early for a Bad Religion show that became part of their DVD. Back before it became an oversaturated-mess-of-a-series, I waited in line for a LONG time to attend the very first screening of Paranormal Activity, months before it was released. (Our ending was different, for the record.) I haven’t done it much these days, aside from that vacation I took to see AFI a year ago, but I DEEPLY RELATE TO THIS.
Of course, there’s the whole reason for Mark Reads existing in the first place that’s been unacknowledged. If it weren’t for all the Twilight fans who camped out for Comic-Con in 2009, I wouldn’t have been pushed towards starting Mark Reads Twilight. So, bless them for that!
Success
The big thread of tension in this chapter, though, is the imminent announcement of the Cull, which I was hoping wouldn’t get pushed to the next chapter. I DON’T KNOW THAT I COULD HAVE HANDLED THAT. There’s the expected anxiety around that. Will Penn or Mehrnaz make it through? Or will the mentors have to deal with disappointment? Bitterness? Anger?
Duane complicates matters, though, giving us a much richer tapestry to work from. First of all: Nita isn’t even sure she wants her mentee to win. The victory will only go to Penn’s head, right? He’ll only get worse. I don’t think that’s an inaccurate expectation of him, y’all, and his reaction here hints that she may be right. However, as is the case with everything in Games Wizards Play, it’s more complicated than appearances. We still don’t know why Penn panicked when he saw that sun in the test universe, and I highly, highly doubt that this is a red herring. If Penn is overcompensating for something going on in his personal life, it might explain his behavior. It wouldn’t excuse it, mind you, but it would give us a place to start understanding him.
With Mehrnaz, though, there’s little ambiguity here, even if Dairine is flabbergasted by her reaction to making the cut. I’m convinced that Mehrnaz’s mother’s behavior has played a huge part in her anxiety and fear issues. “Winning†this first round doesn’t mean that all is well for her, and y’all, I DEEPLY, DEEPLY RELATE TO THIS. In high school, my mother became more controlling than she ever was. She had a particular tactic she would use: she would pressure me to get involved in extracurricular activities at school. She stressed the importance of having these listed on my transcript or my college applications, since she could not afford to pay for any of my college education. However, as soon as she saw the outward evidence of my success, she would pull me out of said activity or program, convinced that I was being “used†by my teachers to make themselves look better.
Now, I don’t think that’s what is happening here with Mehrnaz, but I do recognize her response to making the cut. Sometimes, victory is complicated, and I suspect that she is terrified of the immense pressure her mother will exert on her. How much more criticism will she face from her mother? How much more intense will it get?
If you can’t tell, by the way, I LOVE THIS BOOK A GREAT DEAL, THIS IS ALL SO WONDERFUL.
https://youtu.be/Q_eQrgIWKqs
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