{"id":4553,"date":"2018-05-23T05:00:11","date_gmt":"2018-05-23T12:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4553"},"modified":"2018-05-20T08:51:10","modified_gmt":"2018-05-20T15:51:10","slug":"mark-reads-on-ordeal-ronan-chapter-1-part-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2018\/05\/mark-reads-on-ordeal-ronan-chapter-1-part-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads “On Ordeal: Ronan” – Chapter 1, Part III"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trigger Warning: For extensive talk of racism\/xenophobia (specifically anti-Blackness, anti-African sentiment)<\/b><\/p>\n

So, on the surface, this is a good thing, and I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deny this. Like I said before, bystanders can easily support the thing they might disagree with if they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say anything. I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t suggest that Ronan (or any other white\/majority person within this sort of situation) not<\/i> say anything at all if they saw shit like this going down. Part of the reason that people like Seamus thrive so much in our world is because there is no consequence to their actions. We see a manifestation of that in the end of the chapter when Ronan is the only person punished and Seamus gets off scot-free. (Well, not entirely<\/i>, since his nose is victim to Ronan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s forehead L M A O.)\u00c2\u00a0 <\/span>But it also comes from the lack of social<\/i> consequences, too. Everyone either laughs at the shitty jokes that Seamus, or they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re silent. Their silence is, in effect, complicity. It allows that line of thought to flourish and survive. (And not for every situation either, though. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to generalize too much. There are contexts where speaking up or openly rejecting bigotry can be incredibly dangerous for someone else, particularly if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re of another<\/i> minority group that could become a target.)<\/p>\n

No, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d rather address the construction of the scene instead. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m proud of Ronan for refusing to take Seamus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shit and for repeatedly standing up for others. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good behavior to model, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m only confused my Maurice<\/i>. I believe we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re meant to think that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in that spot because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only place to smoke outside of the view of the cameras. Which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 okay, I could buy that. But it felt like Maurice was around these people all the time<\/i>. Why? Why would someone who is so frequently racially abused by people continue to spend time with him?<\/p>\n

Perhaps there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to it, and then I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll admit that I was wrong in my perception of this scene. But as it stands, Maurice isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really a character. He exists entirely for Ronan to have his big moment, to be set on this path towards\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, whatever his Ordeal is about. I barely know anything about him or his story. Speaking from experience, if I can avoid gigantic racists, I generally do? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like this is in class or in some mandatory space where Maurice can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but be around these turds, but this seems entirely voluntary, and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand why he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d hang around any of them. Plus, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like Ronan chases Maurice down to see if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s okay or if he needs help. After this, Ronan only<\/i> thinks about himself and the ramifications of what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s understandable to an extent, and the narrative style means we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re real<\/i> in Ronan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s head. But I would have liked for Maurice to exist as more than a plot\/character device, you know?<\/p>\n

Otherwise, my frustration with this is purely a reaction to a situation that is meant<\/i> to frustrate me. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure that many of us have had the unfortunate experience of being picked on someone who has social \u00e2\u20ac\u0153immunity.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d More often than not, those popular people are rich. White. Straight. Cis. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re part of the majority or, if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got some sort of power that they can wield over others. They leverage that power to get away with their bullshit, fully knowing that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll never be held accountable for their actions.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this specific instance, Seamus not only has power along racial lines\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhe certainly has a disgusting combination of whiteness and nationalism swirling together inside of him\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got the protection afforded to him by his father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s posh position within the local government. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible that Seamus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Da doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually know what his son is up to, though I suspect that this line confirms that his father does<\/i> enable his son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vicious behavior:<\/p>\n

Because everybody knew that if somebody in the Council got on somebody\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bad side, their application for their new conservatory or a medical card for a sick relative might go straight down the bog. Or get lost behind some sofa at the Council offices until whoever had stood up for themselves had to go to the offices and grovel to get something that should have been theirs by right.<\/p>\n

Yeah, so fuck the lot of \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcem. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably fully aware of how terrible his son is, or at least he believes he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s justified in what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing. Thus, Mr. Flannery, the principal, does<\/i> have his hands tied. Who dares stand up to the McConaghies? And oh boy, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t THAT a terrible familiarity??? The person who instigated all of this is not punished as badly as the person who responded<\/i> to the instigation. (Well, Seamus isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t punished at all, but you get the point.) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so bogus, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the most deeply unjust, bullshit standards we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve accepted as a society. It ignores power dynamics. It ignores that it does<\/i> matter who starts this kind of nonsense, and it further supports Seamus getting away with his bigotry. My question is: How is Ronan going to stop this? Really, it should be Mr. Flannery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s job to take a more active role in this, but I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand that there are complicated politics at hand. Now Ronan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s suspended for three days, his parents are going to be pissed, and Seamus gets whatever he wants. I HATE HIM, OKAY.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/F9lCxSkUmOs<\/p>\n

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

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"