{"id":4232,"date":"2017-06-22T05:00:39","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T12:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4232"},"modified":"2017-06-18T11:21:04","modified_gmt":"2017-06-18T18:21:04","slug":"mark-reads-the-truth-part-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2017\/06\/mark-reads-the-truth-part-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Truth’: Part 14"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fourteenth part of The Truth<\/i>, William and Sacharissa debate the importance of The Times<\/i>, while Pin and Tulip panic. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Oh, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much going on, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discuss!<\/p>\n

Vimes<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still cool to see Vimes through other characters because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, in this particular instance, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much more intimidating<\/i>. I see him as a lovable, squishy grump, but to William, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a much different air about him. Knowing how Vimes works, however, allowed me to understand the subtext of the conversation he had with William.<\/p>\n

In short? Vimes very subtly told William to use his skills to push forward the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153truth\u00e2\u20ac\u009d about Vetinari. They know the facts in the case don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t add up, but the Watch is stuck. I can even see how The Truth<\/i> might have worked as a Watch book, but Pratchett was clever to put this investigation and scandal into the hands of all these new characters. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a much richer story because of it!<\/p>\n

The Nature of Truth<\/b><\/p>\n

Which is made abundantly clear from the stunning scene we get after Vimes leaves the Times\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/i>s office. Sacharissa asks the important question to kick things off: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What are we going to do now?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not any easy thing to answer, either. There are men threatening the life and well-being of the paper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s employees. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a competing paper that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aiming to put The Times<\/i> out of business. But of all the things that haunt William, one rises above the rest:<\/p>\n

What he hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expected was that it wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make any difference<\/i>. The paper came out, and it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I think most of us who have ever done \u00e2\u20ac\u0153important\u00e2\u20ac\u009d work have struggled with this same existential futility. William believed in the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153truth,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d so much so that he outright states it later on. He thought that by reporting what had might have actually <\/i>happened with Vetinari, the people of Ankh-Morpork would flock to his paper out of an appreciation for honesty and integrity.<\/p>\n

That is pretty much the opposite of what happened. Even if the general public had reacted in anger and hatred, I think William would have at least felt somewhat important and necessary, as if the work he was doing was worth any<\/i> reaction being directed towards him. But the silence and disinterest\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much worse. So much more cutting<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Yet Pratchett doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave it at that. I still would have found this compelling if it was just an examination of William\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s disappointment. But Sacharissa, who did not have a similar upbringing as William, points out that William has a different idea of what matters in life, what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important, and what one should fight for. Why?<\/p>\n

Because he could choose<\/i>.<\/p>\n

That statement from Sacharissa \u00e2\u20ac\u201c specifically in response to William saying that he made his own living \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is a powerful moment in the text, a way for her to make it clear that even if circumstances have been dire, and even if William had to struggle a great deal, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a luxury inherent in many of the choices he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a real<\/i> hard thing for some people to accept, and that includes yours truly. I am privileged in some ways, too, and when I was younger, it was not easy to accept that. With the intersecting marginalized identities that made up who I am as a person, combined with a number of unfortunate things I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve lived through, I balked at the notion that I could have anything like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153privilege.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Of course, I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand the rich complexity of the world, and I assumed that having privilege meant that nothing you did mattered or that any struggles or conflicts I had were pointless. Which is an absurd line of thinking, but hey: we all<\/i> have a lot to unlearn about the world.<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why William reacts the way he does. Initially, he is flabbergasted at the notion that he had a choice that others did not. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have money anymore! But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the key there: anymore<\/i>. William grew up in wealth, and thus, he had the opportunity to choose<\/i> to work for his own living. He could have been miserable while maintaining a relationship with his father, which would have kept him in access to wealth. He chose his own happiness and dreams. This reminded me of the situations that led to me having to drop out of school and put my own pursuit for happiness on hold for years<\/i>. I would have loved to been able to afford to stay in school, to pursue writing as a career, but with an imminent eviction hanging over me, I had more pressing concerns. I lost my housing then, and I was homeless for a second time in my life, and trust me: choice and freedom has a much different meaning in that context.<\/p>\n

But let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s get back to that idea of purpose. William still has a noble idea of what should matter, even if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something that matters only to him. This experience has gotten him to think about the future, the long run, the distant part of time that may not matter right this second, but should<\/i> matter right this second because of where things might lead. It is a difficult thing to fight for what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right, but William sees the current situation was something that is definitively Wrong, and if he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do something to stop it, then what if this gets worse<\/i>? What if the new Patrician ushers in some horrible new age of brutality?<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that William is going to take that gentle, unspoken nudge from Vimes seriously.<\/p>\n

A Way Out<\/b><\/p>\n

So, shit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gotta be bad if Tulip and Pin are ready to bail, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be content just talking about that except WHAT IS THE THING OR THINGS THAT ARE FOLLOWING MR. PIN??? Otto\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s use of the dark light flash illuminated something <\/i>that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been following Mr. Pin around, and it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mentioned before. (Or perhaps it was, but I simply didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t notice it.) Dark spirits? Something else? Is this why he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such an awful person?<\/p>\n

Anyway, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Mr. Slant is going to let them out of this affair. It would provide too many loose ends, and the New Firm is definitely<\/i> going to want to protect themselves. But these two are pretty volatile, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 how exactly do you control them when Mr. Tulip could crush them all in a few minutes?<\/p>\n

This is so good, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I NEED MORE.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/youtu.be\/PZxgsytyVBg?a<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– Please visit my new site for all announcements<\/a>. If you’d rather not have to rely on checking a website regularly, sign up for my newsletter instead<\/a>! This will cover all news for Mark Reads, Mark Watches, and my fiction releases. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"