{"id":4883,"date":"2019-02-15T05:00:48","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4883"},"modified":"2019-02-10T17:16:36","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T01:16:36","slug":"mark-reads-wintersmith-chapter-13-part-ii-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2019\/02\/mark-reads-wintersmith-chapter-13-part-ii-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;Wintersmith&#8217;: Chapter 13, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the second half of the thirteenth and final chapter of <i>Wintersmith<\/i>, Roland and Tiffany do something very human. 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 (particularly child abuse), trauma<\/b><\/p>\n<p>We really have had a great run recently with the <i>Discworld <\/i>books, haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t we? Like, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d love to have more to criticize, necessarily, because it can be a rewarding thing to do. But Pratchett keeps knocking it out of the park, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so satisfied with where these two plots ended up, especially since Roland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s came as such a huge surprise. LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S DISCUSS.<\/p>\n<p><b>Roland<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exactly a surprise that Roland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story has resonated with me so strongly. Roland was mistreated horribly by his aunts, and he developed coping mechanisms to deal with that treatment. So yeah, I absolutely love that one of those mechanisms\u00e2\u20ac\u201dRoland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fantasy of sword fighting that he acted out in a mirror\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbecomes the very thing that he uses to fight back against the bogles. Because while this stuff might be a fantasy, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a real weapon. Roland <i>survived<\/i> his aunts, straight up. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what he did! He found ingenious and increasingly creative methods of shutting them out of his life, and so it is the perfect metaphor that <i>Wintersmith<\/i> ends like this. Roland faces a seemingly endless wave of creatures who suck the life out of you, one memory at a time. And the people around him\u00e2\u20ac\u201din this case, the Feegles, and at home, literally EVERYONE ELSE in the court\u00e2\u20ac\u201dtell him that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best to run away, to ignore these creatures for now and deal with them another time.<\/p>\n<p>Roland refuses.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>He turned to the not-Tiffany and said: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be afraid.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Then he held out his left hand and whispered, under his breath: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I remember\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 a sword\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Roland transforms. Belief is <i>everything<\/i> in the <i>Discworld<\/i> series, and he manages to find a means to believe that he held in his hands the same sword that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d used and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153killed a thousand enemies with\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 in the mirror.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He closes his eyes, he believes, and he swings. And swings. And swings. He believes in saving the Summer Lady, he believes in saving Tiffany, he believes in saving those trapped in the Underworld, and goddamn it, Roland believes in saving <i>himself<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s truly one of the most cathartic passages I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve read in the <i>Discworld<\/i> books, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so happy that this got to be a part of <i>Wintersmith<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll tell ye whut,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Rob Anybody soothingly. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If ye are guid boy an\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rescue the lady, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll bring ye doon here another time, wi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 some sandwiches so\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s we can make a day o\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Bless. I LOVE IT SO MUCH.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tiffany<\/b><\/p>\n<p>How do you defeat the Wintersmith on his own turf?<\/p>\n<p>Well, Tiffany does it by bringing him back to hers.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>He constructed the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153perfect\u00e2\u20ac\u009d world for her, though it was, of course, based on a flawed perception of what humans found perfect. It was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153perfect\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to the Wintersmith because it was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153correct.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Everything was in the perfect place, was the perfect shape, was the perfect size. Yet over the course of this book, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen how far <i>everyone<\/i> falls from perfection. Humans cannot be perfect because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a value that really exists for us on a personal level because of subjectivity. I think Levain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chocolate chip cookies are perfect, but I have a close friend who despises them because they believe that cookies should be crisp and flat, not gooey and thick. (They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re wrong, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a separate essay.)<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>So that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what Tiffany challenges. The Wintersmith tried to become a perfect man, a perfect human, and he followed all the directions as literally as possible, meaning that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perfect, right? Except that there were three ingredients he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ever find:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The last three lines are: \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcStrength enough to build a home, Time enough to hold a child, Love enough to break a heart.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The world goes from frost to fire, and balance is restored. And my reading of this was that Tiffany didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just literally melt the world: she used a human element that the Wintersmith could not grasp against him. She kisses the Wintersmith, and I think she broke his heart. Well, inasmuch as she <i>could<\/i> do that. But as sad as she might be about how hard the Wintersmith <i>tried<\/i> to be a human, balance had to be restored. And she found that balance by denying the Wintersmith, by tricking him into admitting that he <i>is<\/i> Winter, that he can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really be anything else, and then it all comes crashing down.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Water is often used to represent a cleanse, and so I love the imagery of Tiffany laying on a slab of ice while the melting ice and snow rushes by her, summer returning to the world. it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a moment of beautiful calm before Tiffany and the Summer Lady have their face-to-face. And what a scene THAT is, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! The two surprise one another, too! Tiffany is shocked that the Summer Lady found her entertaining; the Summer Lady is shocked that Tiffany doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t <i>want<\/i> anything from a goddess. This was about Tiffany making this right, and that means, as Granny stated, that she had to see this through to the end. And I love that this is about her mistake\u00e2\u20ac\u201djoining in on the Dance\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand rectifying it even when she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to. In the end, she accepted that this was her fault, and she fixed it.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>She fixed it, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The second half of the chapter closes up all the loose ends left behind, and it left me with an immense feeling of satisfaction. I was glad that Tiffany visited Nanny, and that Nanny laughed at what Tiffany had done. (Since she basically used Nanny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s advice to kiss him and leave him!) Then, Tiffany visits Annagramma, who has become her own witch, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absolutely the most remarkable transformation in the whole book. Annagramma! Running her own steading! And doing so well that Tiffany actually finds someone who <i>loves<\/i> what Annagramma does!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>But I found myself most surprised by Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s frank talk with Granny about what Granny had \u00e2\u20ac\u0153planned\u00e2\u20ac\u009d during this book. I expected to reach the end of that paragraph and get to a line that was like, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And Tiffany said none of this, and instead said\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But nope! She confronts her directly and gets\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 nothing. Which <i>isn&#8217;t<\/i> surprising at all. However, I think this moment ties in really well with another one in this chapter. Tiffany wonders about who she would have been without this experience, and while it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a brief moment, I find it integral to understanding <i>Wintersmith<\/i>. Without that mistake, Tiffany would not have gotten this look at Granny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s methodology; she wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have learned about sex and romance from Nanny; she would not have repaired her relationship with Annagramma and helped Annagramma become a good witch; and she wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have gotten closer with Roland either. Even at the end, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a scene where Granny and Tiffany talk about how to take away pain, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Granny would have told her the truth if she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Tiffany was ready. Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actions in this book <i>proved<\/i> that she was ready.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no longer the Fool. She gets to play her own part in this unfolding story.<\/p>\n<p>Onwards, friends, we go into <i>Making Money<\/i>, which starts on Monday!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/Znkju0ga4xQ<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markoshiro.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/19\/the-anger-is-a-gift-paperback-edition-is-out-may-7-2019\">The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now up for pre-order!<\/a> It comes out on May 7, 2019.\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 second half of the thirteenth and final chapter of Wintersmith, Roland and Tiffany do something very human. 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":[451],"tags":[463,248,556],"class_list":["post-4883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett","tag-wintersmith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4883","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=4883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4883\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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