{"id":5006,"date":"2019-07-22T05:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T12:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5006"},"modified":"2019-07-21T14:03:46","modified_gmt":"2019-07-21T21:03:46","slug":"mark-reads-unseen-academicals-part-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2019\/07\/mark-reads-unseen-academicals-part-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;Unseen Academicals&#8217;: Part 19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the nineteenth part of <i>Unseen Academicals<\/i>, the truth can be changed. 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 war, Nazism, torture<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Oh my god, THIS BOOK JUST BECAME A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BOOK. And I love that while this has been re-contextualized for me, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that there were SO MANY signs pointing to the truth. This did not come out of nowhere by any means. So there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a satisfaction that comes from watching Juliet, Trev, and Glenda grapple with the truth: What <i>is<\/i> an orc, and why does Mr. Nutt believe this is a bad thing? Why do the Furies believe this, too? As Glenda puts it:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcMister Nutt is kind and gentle and has never hurt anyone,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 said Glenda.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWho didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deserve it,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 said Trev hurriedly.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The portrait that the Furies paint for them is incompatible with the version of Nutt that they all know. And yet, even Nutt is certain that this is all the proper reaction to his epiphany. He opened the door, he read the book <i>ORC<\/i>, and he knows who he is.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>And yet, I was fascinated by his reaction to all of this. He takes it very, very seriously, but look how quickly he recovers. He basically doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say anything until the bledlow arrives, and then\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right back to the Mr. Nutt we all know. Well, he <i>does<\/i> lie, and I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s significant; he covers for Glenda and Trev, but only for a few moments. Then he utters:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI am an orc,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 said Nutt quietly.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>We ware watching him grapple with this <i>in real time<\/i>. And by saying it, by naming himself, it makes it more real for Nutt. Not anyone else, though! The butler believes there are no more orcs left; Bledlow Nobbs (no relation) is certain that Nutt can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be an orc because \u00e2\u20ac\u0153they were like these big horrible monsters that wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop fighting and were quite happy to tear off their own arm to use as a weapon.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Which are things that Mr. Nutt definitely does not do!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>So Nutt is a walking contradiction in this sense, a constant contrast between what he should be and what he is and what he aspires to be. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no wonder the poor guy is so riddled with anxiety; his identity is in <i>pieces<\/i>. Where should he be? Where does he belong? Is his journey to achieve worth meaningful or pointless? Because even though all these people recognize Mr. Nutt as the kind candle maker, as the talented and brilliant coach, what happens when he stands up and rips all those chains off?<\/p>\n<p>They run away.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A bit about running away before I get to Glenda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s big moments in the second half of this chapter. JULIET CAME BACK. Juliet did <i>not<\/i> run off because she had to tell Trev the truth. And if you want concrete, textual evidence that Glenda has grown as a character, then look at her reaction to all of this. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t chase Trev off like she did before. She tells him that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to make up his mind. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to figure out how he feels for Juliet and what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to do with her, now that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leaving. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t berate him, she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell him that he isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t good enough for Juliet, and SHE SAYS THIS:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcShe likes you, you like her and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve made a lot of silly mistakes. The two of you, sort out what you want to do. And now, if I were you I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d run, before anyone else beats you to it. And can I offer you a word of advice, Trev? Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be smart, be clever.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I also want to point out that Trev <i>and<\/i> Juliet don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t abandon Mr. Nutt either, that even though they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got limited time with one another, they prioritize helping their friend. I LOVE THESE CHARACTERS, OKAY. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so damn meaningful to see how much they care about him!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Anyway, if you watch the video for this split, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll see the moment in which I realize that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most likely an entire metaphorical analysis of Mr. Nutt that completely went over my head until this line from Glenda:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWe did terrible things.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThey,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 said Glenda. \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThey, not we, not you. And one thing I am certain of is that in war no one is going to say that the other side is made up of very nice people.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an Evil Empire. They created the orcs as <i>weapons<\/i>. There is a legacy of this Empire that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been left behind in Uberwald, and for many, many years, the ramifications of that Empire and the terrible things that have been done have been spelled out in the <i>Discworld<\/i> series. On thinking back on Uberwald and many of the surrounding nations, I am not quite sure the intent here is to draw a parallel with Germany and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s past with fascism and Nazism, or perhaps to reference the Soviet Union? I think there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s enough to identify either in the construction of this metaphor, but even if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wrong about Pratchett\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intent, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still something here. How do you deal with the guilt of what others of your kind have done? In a way, Mr. Nutt \u00e2\u20ac\u0153benefits\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from such a violent system. He was created to be as powerful as he is, even though we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen him use this ability only for good. Still, part of Mr. Nutt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s struggle has been to divorce himself\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwith varying success\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfrom this horrific legacy that was <i>forced<\/i> upon him.<\/p>\n<p>And that last part is what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really important and makes me think maybe my guess that this was about Germany isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite on the mark. When Glenda is brought to Dr. Hix to get a glimpse of an orc in action, she has a fascinating reaction to it all. Not only does she identify the man <i>whipping<\/i> the orc to get it to do what he wants, she says this:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI think it changes everything,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 said Glenda. \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcIt does if all that people talk about are the monsters and not the whips. Things that look very much like people, well, a kind of people. What can you make from people if you really try?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That distinction is <i>everything<\/i>. The orcs were bred as weapons, and they did not thoughtfully choose to be who they are. And with Mr. Nutt, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got an orc who has thoughtfully chosen practically <i>everything<\/i> in his life since he arrived in Ankh-Morpork. I daresay that there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a more thoughtful character in this book. So what can you make from this kind of person if you really try and support him?<\/p>\n<p>You can change the truth.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/kE0dmoi5gLY<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markoshiro.com\/blog\/2019\/5\/7\/the-anger-is-a-gift-trade-paperback-is-out-today\">The paperback edition of my debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now OUT!<\/a>\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 nineteenth part of Unseen Academicals, the truth can be changed. 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-5006","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\/5006","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=5006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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