In the eighth part of\u00c2\u00a0Pyramids<\/i>, Teppic realizes that he can no longer idly obey\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 himself. Technically. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For talk of homophobia<\/b><\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s become apparent to me that this book was designed to infuriate. CLEARLY, PRATCHETT TRAVELED THROUGH TIME TO OBSERVE MY LIFE. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve long had a problem with authority figures in general, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m uncomfortable with someone having power over me. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because my life has been full of people\u00c2\u00a0misusing<\/i> that power. So as I read this section, I was just\u00c2\u00a0done\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>with Dios. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sympathize with him, I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel bad about whatever fate awaits him, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thrilled to see that Teppic is starting to challenge his authority.<\/p>\n
But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more than that, of course, and while there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot here that I related to because of my own past with organized religion, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll echo what I said at the end of my video reading of this: Pratchett\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parody of religion is\u00c2\u00a0vicious<\/i> here. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no denying it anymore. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00c2\u00a0a part of the text and you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t divorce it from the story! A lot of that is attached to Dios\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s need to maintain tradition (WHY WHY WHY\u00c2\u00a0WHY<\/i>) and how it reveals the horrible hypocrisies of this nation.<\/p>\n
Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s start with the court scenes, because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a blatant example of all of this. Teppic is, frankly, nothing more than a figurehead, meant to represent power and prestige and justice. But his voice means\u00c2\u00a0nothing<\/i> at all because Dios ignores it while condescending down to Teppic. When Teppic tries to administer justice, Dios immediately contradicts him and\u00c2\u00a0THE WHOLE SYSTEM ACCEPTS IT<\/i>. And seriously, that aspect of this is so rewarding to read because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so realistic. In terms of a religious power, everyone is complicit in maintaining. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to say that those on the bottom of the social ladder are as responsible as those on top. Pratchett also makes this clear, since Dios is obviously the ringleader and the primary person who holds this all together. At the same time, we witness how individual \u00e2\u20ac\u0153believers\u00e2\u20ac\u009d uphold the entire system.<\/p>\n
And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all flawed to begin with, and Dios knows it. He is not deluded by belief; he is not genuinely convinced of his faith, except when it guarantees his power.\u00c2\u00a0Then<\/i> he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certain. So it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear to me that when Teppic contradicts him, he knows that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bullshitting to Teppic in order to maintain the whole thing. He knows that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in control; he knows his judgments have nothing to do with justice; he knows that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got the horrible weight of history on his side.<\/p>\n
That juxtaposition between reality and belief is part of Pratchett\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parody. We know for certain that Teppic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s judgment in the case of the cattle is about the most fair conclusion to come to, and we know that Dios\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision benefits the temple. (Mostly. I actually did like the distinction made between what the temple gained and what Rhumusphut gained, since he now believes he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gained a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153greater stature in the Netherworld.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He is fine with injustice because it still benefits him.) I think this dynamic is even more glaring in the case of the tenant and land owner, where Teppic sides\u00c2\u00a0against<\/i> legal right because he knows it is morally wrong for a rich, greedy owner to further marginalize a lesser tenant. (I WAS SO PROUD OF TEPPIC.) And then Dios forces BOTH PARTIES TO PAY MONEY:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is there any point in me being here?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he demanded in an overheated whisper.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Please be calm, sire. If you were not here, how would the people know that justice had been done?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO GLARING. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s literally telling Teppic that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not but a cog in this massive machine, and that his sole role is to just sit there and validate Dios\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decisions by\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, sitting there. So when Ptraci is brought before Teppic and the sheer absurdity of the wrong done to her is undeniable to him, he just sort of gives up. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let her go,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is all he says, a message as plain as day, and this is how Dios \u00e2\u20ac\u0153interprets\u00e2\u20ac\u009d it:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Tomorrow at dawn you will be cast to the crocodiles of the river. Great is the wisdom of the king!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much at work here? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hypocrisy and disingenuous interpretation. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fascinating subtext I could read into this concerning godly authority. LOOK, I USED TO BE A CATHOLIC, INTERPRETATION OF GOD\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S WILL AND GOD\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S WORD IS EVERYTHING TO US. So I like this idea that if we accept that Teppic is God, Dios is the one willfully misinterpreting Teppic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153goodness\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for his own end. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy for me to see this within the text because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 shit, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Dios is the priests in church I knew who would lie about gayness. Dios is my parents, who built a fear in God in me that caused me to hate myself. Dios is my godfather and his family, who used their interpretation of God to put me on the street. (In the name of love, of course.)<\/p>\n So yes, I utterly adore that Teppic, using the very skills he learned at the assassin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s guild at the beginning of this book, disobeys his own judgment and tries to rescue Ptraci. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s through this that Pratchett shows us the damage done by Dios and those who came before him. When Ptraci is offered the chance to escape, she can barely fathom the idea. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even more the case for the unnamed man who is locked up next to Ptraci. He willingly reported himself for swearing, despite that he could have kept it to himself. And when Teppic tries to free him? HE CALLS THE GUARDS ALL ON HIS OWN. Of course, then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s this exchange, which I think highlights how screwed up this whole society is:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to die,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said quietly.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t blame you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You mustn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say that! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wrong not to want to die!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Within the context of Djelibeybi, this shows us how the promise of an afterlife is\u00c2\u00a0everything<\/i> to these people. Their lives are but inconvenient tests for their eternity post-death, so it makes no sense to want to stay alive. But I also come from a history of Christian denominations that also mirror this sort of belief, so while I know this very well could not be Pratchett\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intent, I also see a parody of\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i> line of thought.\u00c2\u00a0I was raised to believe that every little action of mine would determine whether or not I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d spend an eternity in heaven or hell.\u00c2\u00a0There were, of course, unforgivable sins, ones that would guarantee where I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d end up.<\/p>\n Guess which one was the most frequently mentioned. Guess<\/i>.<\/p>\n So I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m intrigued to see what will become of Ptraci. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a character who exists in a space where she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clearly ready to start questioning her place in society, but she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still scared of the ramifications of it. Interesting enough, she\u00c2\u00a0doesn<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> question her role as a handmaiden, and I want to learn more about them within this culture. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very unapologetic about sex, though this is all filtered through Teppic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s awkwardness. (This is a common motif with Pratchett, though, since the sexuality of women is almost\u00c2\u00a0always<\/i> seen through the eyes of men. And few of these men are upfront about their own sexuality, instead choosing to view it like a teenager who suddenly saw a naked body in a health class in high school. Why is that? Why is this so frequent in Pratchett\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work?) Regardless, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s alive, and she knows that she wants to\u00c2\u00a0stay<\/i> alive. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certain that Teppic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s father did not want to be buried in a pyramid, and she is the only person Teppic has interacted with who sees\u00c2\u00a0some of the flaws in this culture.<\/p>\n It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a start. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m worried about Dios, though, as Pratchett seems to hint that Dios is aware that\u00c2\u00a0something<\/i> happened overnight. Perhaps he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t suspect that Teppic left the palace, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m uneasy. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m uneasy when I think about Dios because I know he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hiding something huge from us and from Teppic, and I am a little frightened to find out what it is.<\/p>\n The original text contains use of the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mad.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=IkChY89f-jY<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a> I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans! In the eighth part of\u00c2\u00a0Pyramids, Teppic realizes that he can no longer idly obey\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 himself. Technically. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[463,484,248],"class_list":["post-3063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-pyramids","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3063\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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