{"id":4971,"date":"2019-06-14T05:00:34","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T12:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4971"},"modified":"2019-06-09T12:35:01","modified_gmt":"2019-06-09T19:35:01","slug":"mark-reads-unseen-academicals-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2019\/06\/mark-reads-unseen-academicals-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Unseen Academicals’: Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the third part of Unseen Academicals<\/i>, Ponder convinces the wizards, and Mr. Nutt struggles to fit in. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of bigotry, racism, antisemitism.<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh, this is so complicated ALREADY, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so excited to see where this is gonna go.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Convincing the Wizards<\/b><\/p>\n

You know, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so damn simple, but I love that the ONE THING that convinces the wizards that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to have to play football is a reduced budget for good. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s literally it. And while that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a joke that plays on a longstanding trope within the portrayal of the wizards\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re like more chaotic hobbits\u00e2\u20ac\u201dPratchett hints at something that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing will play a larger role later on.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ponder Stibbons does everything, first of all. He seems like the only wizard aside from Ridcully who is willing to do things? Even then, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s active in an entirely different way than Ridcully, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the point I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m building to. Ponder points out later in this section that he more or less has TWELVE positions at UU, which is entirely absurd. Granted, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because he took over as the Master of The Traditions that it was discovered that they could have lost their access to the fund that the Bigger family provided. But is it fair<\/i> that he has to do so much? No, not particularly, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a small source of conflict here.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because of this that we learn that the Dean spoke to Ponder and tried to bring him to Brazeneck. (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still under the assumption that the Dean went there; even re-reading this now, that feels like what Pratchett wanted me to get from the text.) Why? Well, Brazeneck have offered Ponder an actual staff<\/i>. Those twelve jobs? Well, it would probably be just one\u00e2\u20ac\u201das the Bursar\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand Ponder could actually delegate some of his responsibilities.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m worried that this conflict is going to spill over into the football match. Look, Ridcully does not want to lose. At all<\/i>. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entirely in-line with his character, and it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter how talentless the other wizards are. But I see this as something that will also become a point of pride for Ridcully. He lost the Dean; is he really willing to lose a match against anyone<\/i> at this point? And if he becomes obsessed with this, how the hell will he train the wizards to actually win?<\/p>\n

Mr. Nutt<\/b><\/p>\n

I can see how much of this comes from the right place, and indeed, there is so much in Mr. Nutt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story that resonates with me. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to that in a second, but wanted to open by discussing this part:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI assure you, I bath regularly,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 he protested.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcBut you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re grey!\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, some people are black and some people are white,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 said Nutt, almost in tears.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually a very sad moment for this character, and I feel like I understand what the intent was here. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got grey as the middle ground for black and white, so there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost a pun here. And there IS a real racial microaggression within this, one I have been the victim of more times than I can count. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been told I look dirty or that I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t showered before by BIGOTS, which is real funny to me because I am an obsessive shower-er. (Is that a word? It is now.) And so much of what Glenda says to Mr. Nutt involves vocalizing stereotypes to Nutt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face, too, so I feel like that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a demonstration of how this sort of prejudice unfolds.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
The problem is that I would really, really<\/i> recommend that you not tell a person of color any sort of phrase or compliment that involves fictional skin colors. I think this still falls into the problem of a text having metaphorical representations for racism without including any of us in the story itself. (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d also say that, intentional or not, it could be triggering to read that line about goblins having horns, as that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a pervasive antisemitic trope, and there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t representation of that group here, either.) Like, yes, some people are Black! But\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 where are<\/i> they in the Discworld<\/i> books? Why haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t we seen a single one in ages?<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to suggest that much of what happens here is without merit or truth. As I said, I found a lot of this to resonate with me and my experiences, and Pratchett is showing it from both sides. We spend a decent amount of time with Glenda and see things through her eyes, both in how she views Nutt and how she is protective of Juliet. And I truly like seeing this; she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a new character, sure, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m intrigued thus far about what role she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s playing in this book. Is she here to protect the younger kids? How much of an influence is she going to have on Nutt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life? Because even if she isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t saying nice things about him, she does<\/i> give him an entire pie to eat, so there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s at least evidence that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s willing to be charitable. But how far does that charity extend? Does Nutt enjoy the pity, or will he find it condescending?<\/p>\n
Of course, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still not addressing another detail, one that does give some context to what Glenda says regarding Nutt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s horns. What kind of goblin is Nutt<\/i>? See, I just assumed that they all looked the same in this fictional world. I mean, I had no reason to think otherwise; there have been so few mentions of goblins throughout the series. But there has<\/i> to be a reason for this line:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcOnly the grown-up ones, miss.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Well, that was true, for some goblins.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Okay, but why not others? Is<\/i> Nutt a different kind of goblin? And if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case, how will that affect his story? How much will it re-contextualized what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already<\/i> read? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know! I know that Pratchett doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t put in random details just for the hell of it, so I feel like there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something significant in this. There is something about him, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what it is! Who is the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ladyship\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? Why did the Ladyship teach Nutt how to act?\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Also: I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m interested to see how the relationship between Trevor and Juliet develops. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not gonna listen to Glenda at all<\/i>, are they??? They clearly are attracted to one another on some level, soooooo. When is that<\/i> gonna happen?<\/p>\n
https:\/\/youtu.be\/zKKX6XiF998<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now OUT!<\/a>\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":"
In the third part of Unseen Academicals, Ponder convinces the wizards, and Mr. Nutt struggles to fit in. 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":[463,248,561],"class_list":["post-4971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett","tag-unseen-academicals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4971","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=4971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4971\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}