{"id":4641,"date":"2018-08-10T05:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-08-10T12:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4641"},"modified":"2018-08-05T04:19:07","modified_gmt":"2018-08-05T11:19:07","slug":"mark-reads-a-hat-full-of-sky-chapter-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2018\/08\/mark-reads-a-hat-full-of-sky-chapter-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;A Hat Full of Sky&#8217;: Chapter 5"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the fifth chapter of <i>A Hat Full of Sky<\/i>, Tiffany meets some other witches her age, and to say it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go well is a goddamn understatement. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read <i>Discworld<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><b>Trigger Warning: For discussion of abuse, bullying<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Oh my god, OH MY GOD THIS CHAPTER WAS A LOT????? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know where to start because I want to YELL about the twist at the end of it, but I should go through this chronologically because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 holy shit, this was all set up deliberately so that Tiffany would get to <i>that<\/i> point, and I want to track that. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s believably raw and vulnerable by the chapter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s end. Why is that? Well, because Tiffany Aching just experienced Annagramma Hawkin.<\/p>\n<p>What the hell do I even <i>say<\/i> about this character? To any of us who have ever been abused and bullied, Annagramma is terrifyingly real, so real that I immediately thought of like five names (first and last, motherfuckers, because you better believe I committed the names of my bullies to memory) of people who, in some way or another, behaved just like her. (For what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth, four of them are dudes. I mostly got bullied by other men.) Right from the start, I could tell I was going to have a hard time liking her, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not exactly a groundbreaking interpretation. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s SO BAD. So, so, so bad!!! She is condescending:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, we all had to start somewhere.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>She is insulting:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dimity Hubbub, that is <i>literally<\/i> the most stupid thing anyone has ever done anywhere in the whole world, ever.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arrogant:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I intend to leave next year,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Annagramma. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Apparently, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m doing <i>extremely<\/i> well.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>She is cruel (and wrong because IT WAS A GREAT PUN, I HAD NOT HEARD IT YET):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Anyone can do that pun, Lucy Warbeck,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Annagramma, without looking around. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not funny, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not clever.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And she is one of the worst teachers\/leaders imaginable. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lead by example because she spends too much time insulting everyone and putting them down to even show them the right thing to do. (And nevermind about any of this being <i>right<\/i>; I highly suspect Annagramma can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually <i>do<\/i> anything? I noticed that she does not ever seem to exhibit any real powers, and I wonder if all the rudeness is a cover for the fact that she has no skills.) She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t explain anything; she just assumes everyone should already know what she knows. And even if she <i>did<\/i> tell these girls stuff a literal million times, I am not surprised that they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t remember what Annagramma said. How can you when a person is so mean and vicious that every word out of their mouth makes you feel both nervous and unworthy? Desperate for their approval and unable to perform? Annagramma thrives off this, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only time we have <i>ever<\/i> seen Tiffany so completely speechless and frightened like this. She wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even this shocked by THE QUEEN OF THE FAIRIES, who had ACTUAL TERRIFYING POWERS THAT COULD HAVE KILLED TIFFANY.<\/p>\n<p>So why <i>this<\/i>? Why is this the thing that turns Tiffany inside out? Up until this point, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Tiffany has ever interacted with someone who is <i>this<\/i> kind of cruel. (I mean, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not exactly a startling thought. On page 105, she literally says she isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153used to people like Annagramma.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) Oh, the Queen was cruel, certainly, but she was older and a fantastical being. I feel like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <i>easier<\/i> to believe in evil coming from someone like that. But Annagramma is just another young girl, like Tiffany, who possesses a mean streak that seems almost impossible because she is <i>that<\/i> dedicated to. I thought it was important that Tiffany did <i>not<\/i> demonstrate the clear magic she <i>can<\/i> do to Annagramma. Wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t splitting herself have definitively shut Annagramma up? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <i>real<\/i> magic in any way you slice it, and yet, Tiffany never once even thinks of doing it. I have two possible reasons why I think that happened. One: it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very private thing that Tiffany does, and perhaps she would <i>never<\/i> consider it in the company of others. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty damn believable. But I also wonder if what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening is that Tiffany begins to <i>believe<\/i> the terrible things that Annagramma says about her.<\/p>\n<p>I suggest that because from experience, this is exactly how I responded to both my bullies and my abusers. (Who often were both those things. FUNNY HOW THEY GO SO OFTEN HAND-IN-HAND.) Now, I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t claim that Tiffany is dealing with this as I would, but I also know that this is a common reaction. I used to get flustered\u00e2\u20ac\u201dlike Tiffany does, when she mistakenly says that the magic she is good at is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Soft Nellies,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d WHICH I CONSIDER MAGIC ANYWAY BECAUSE <i>HAVE YOU HAD CHEESE<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhen I was being bullied. Truthfully, I do have trouble processing information or speaking once my anxiety is triggered, and I go into this weird overload mode where I sputter and can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to form words, and I wish I knew what that was? Or if there was a word for it? It feels like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some form of overstimulation because words and sounds suddenly seem <i>impossible<\/i> and <i>indecipherable<\/i> while it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening. Anyway, after becoming flustered, Tiffany then becomes \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sullen and upset\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as she watches Annagramma berate the others and order them around. Then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that whole section where she grossly criticizes Petulia for saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153um,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and LORD, IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S A LOT TO HANDLE. From there Annagramma projects. A <i>lot<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perhaps one of the clearest examples of projection that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen in a book, as literally <i>everything<\/i> Annagramma says about Mistress Weatherwax is <i>actually<\/i> what she does:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all frightened of her! She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a bully! That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all she does, bully people and mess up their heads!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Yeah, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <i>you<\/i>, Annagramma. 100% you. And it is one of many reasons why this young girl gets under Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s skin. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I mean about Tiffany <i>believing<\/i> what Annagramma says. Yes, Tiffany is bright and a quick learner, and her Second and Third thoughts keep her on her toes. But this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t about how smart someone is. Here is someone Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s age who has crafted a near cult of personality around herself, and who uses emotional manipulation and abusive language to keep everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s self esteem so low that they cling to her in order to fight for validation. When Tiffany finally gets home after all this, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s haunted by the laughter of the group, and I was reminded of how much I cared about peer pressure when I was Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s age. Eleven and twelve were AWFUL years for me for a ton of reasons I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t detail here, but that is absolutely when it became clear to me that if I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t belong to the right group, I was a loser. I believed it so wholly and fully, and it tormented me for <i>years<\/i>. And I was a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153gifted\u00e2\u20ac\u009d kid! I was a straight A student who had near perfect results on almost everything I did. Yet it <i>still<\/i> got to me. So, I empathize with Tiffany, with the doubt she feels about whether or not the hat that Mistress Weatherwax gave her was still on her head. I was actually convinced that she had been so humiliated that it would no longer be there, that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d lost the ability to believe in it in the first place.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Yeah. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not what happens.<\/p>\n<p>She gets sad. <i>Really<\/i> sad. She feels left out. She deeply and truly misses home, which broke my heart. She doubts everything that Miss Level is teaching her, and it looked to me that she really was buying the notion that there was <i>real<\/i> magic and that Miss Level wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t doing it. And then, she decides to make one final go of it, to split from herself to see if that is still there, and oh lord.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>And there she was, and so was the hat, as clear as it had ever been.<\/p>\n<p>And the image of Tiffany below, a young girl in a green dress, opened its eyes and smiled at her and said:<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153<i>We see you. Now we are you<\/i>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Just like that, all that foreshadowing for the hiver comes true. And even though I was trying, I still missed that Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s splitting ability was a clue, the means by which the hiver could enter her body. Oh my god, that time she did it when she first met Miss Level??? IT TRIED TO STEAL HER BODY THEN.<\/p>\n<p>But\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 what the fuck does this <i>mean<\/i>? How can Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s consciousness exist <i>outside<\/i> of her body? Will her body deteriorate as Professor Bustle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s did, or was that only because there were <i>two<\/i> consciousnesses in one body? WHY DID Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL DO THIS TO ME.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/vlR4ZkHPX_8<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>My YA contemporary debut, <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/AngerIsAGift\">ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now out in the world!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><strong>If you&#8217;d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, <a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/ey636\">sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the fifth chapter of A Hat Full of Sky, Tiffany meets some other witches her age, and to say it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go well is a goddamn understatement. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld.\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":[1],"tags":[551,463,248],"class_list":["post-4641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-a-hat-full-of-sky","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4641","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=4641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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