In the eighth part of Unseen Academicals<\/i>, Glenda and Trev confront Nutt about his truth, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the truth they get. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of trauma\/PTSD<\/b><\/p>\n
Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, this was ASTONISHING. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m amazed by this direction because Pratchett is spending so much time digging into these characters, and I expected that most of the book would focus on the wizards and the football match. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still the framing of the narrative, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s given the most space in the book. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so totally into these four characters, who are all distinct, complicated, and intriguing, and this split adds even more to my understanding of them.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s start with Glenda, who I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m learning is perhaps the most observant character in the group. Multiple times, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s noticed details the others haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. (Or, in the case of the sandwich ingredients that Igor made for Nutt, things I<\/i> did not pick up on either!) But she has<\/i> to be that way, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t she? She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s running an entire kitchen in a place where food is everything<\/i> to those who are being fed. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even imagine how busy she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been all these years, especially since prior to Unseen Academicals<\/i>, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d only experienced the university through those who either attended the school or taught at it. Is that perhaps a motivation for the title of this book? Because Glenda, Juliet, Nutt, and Trev are all \u00e2\u20ac\u0153unseen\u00e2\u20ac\u009d members of Unseen University, and they contribute in material ways to the running of the place. In the context of Glenda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role, that requires an attention to detail from her. So it makes perfect sense that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s able to pick up on subtler elements that pass others by. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only one thus far who noticed that the wizards were taking notes at the football game!\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Once Nutt finally wakes up, though, this story veers in an entirely new direction. I feel like I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so close to understanding Nutt, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wondering if all the stereotypes that are assumed of him aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stereotypes at all. It sounds very much like whatever Lady Margolotta did for Nutt was to genuinely<\/i> help him survive in Ankh-Morpork because his previous life was violent and uncaring. Was he prone to bouts of violence and rage before<\/i> Pastor Oats found him??? What I do know is that Nutt takes in information like a sponge, except he retains it all. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s terrible at knowing when and how to tactfully express that information, sure, but look at what happens when he rather expertly determines why Trev has had so much antagonism towards his dead father. Is Nutt wrong? Oh, no, I believe he nailed it all right on the head: Trev resents his father for being mortal, for being just like everyone else in the end, for burning so bright that he still hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been extinguished even after his death. And Nutt doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say any of this out of cruelty, either. He is doing as the Ladyship instructed him to: He is offering what he thinks is kindness. He is showing that he is helpful, that he is worthy. Which again brings me back to his origin: What or who made Nutt feel unworthy in the first place? Why did he not value these things before?<\/p>\n And why the hell does he crave pies<\/i>? Is that a goblin thing, too? I genuinely have no clue how that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a clue, but I know it is one! So is this, and lord, it feels like the biggest one:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThere are many things I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. There is a door.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWhat?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcA door in my head. Some things are behind the door and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know them. But that is all right, Ladyship says.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Reading that back just now, I wonder if this is either something the Ladyship put there through training or if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one way that Nutt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind dealt with the trauma he experienced those seven years chained to an anvil. What if this is how he copes? He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s buried those memories behind that door, and it would mean that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being entirely truthful here, that he is giving Glenda honest answers. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also what I think is happening here:<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcYes. It was wonderful. The noise, the crowds, the chanting, oh the chanting. It becomes a second blood! The unison! To not be alone! To be not just one but one and all, of one mind and purpose!\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6excuse me.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I think that perhaps the tiniest<\/i> memory\u00e2\u20ac\u201dmaybe just an instinct or a feeling\u00e2\u20ac\u201dslipped out from behind that door. What it reveals about Nutt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s past, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, but I feel like understanding this would shed so much light on what Mr. Nutt went through. As for what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going through now? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just as interesting! Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, he likes POETRY. Poetry!!! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious what exactly ignites a fire in Nutt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brain here. Is he thrilled by the act of creating poetry? Of thinking about love? Is this a reference to the door in his mind? I like the first idea the most, that maybe this<\/i> is something else that Nutt is good at that has nothing to do with his past.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking of the past: the vase!!! So, was that the wizards in the opening scene, stealing the vase so that it could be publicized? Or Vetinari, maybe? Because the vase allows the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153rules\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of football to be changed and regulated, right? As far as I can tell, the version of football played in the streets is just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 chaos? Right? And if Vetinari wants to bring the game under the purview of the city, this is how to do it, right? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now an ancient tradition! But how are they going to enforce these \u00e2\u20ac\u0153original\u00e2\u20ac\u009d rules on a bunch of people who most likely have no interest in doing anything different than they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re already doing?<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wSvZsdCEC7s<\/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 eighth part of Unseen Academicals, Glenda and Trev confront Nutt about his truth, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the truth they get. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld.<\/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-4981","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\/4981","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=4981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4981\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}