{"id":5007,"date":"2019-07-24T05:00:42","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5007"},"modified":"2019-07-21T14:04:08","modified_gmt":"2019-07-21T21:04:08","slug":"mark-reads-unseen-academicals-part-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2019\/07\/mark-reads-unseen-academicals-part-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;Unseen Academicals&#8217;: Part 20"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the twentieth part of <i>Unseen Academicals<\/i>, Glenda, Trev, and Juliet go after Mr. Nutt. 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>Oh my GOD.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>And Nutt had been killed, according to Trev, and then sort of became unkilled again before going back to Unseen University and eating all the pies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>THE ANSWER WAS RIGHT THERE THE WHOLE TIME. But this split takes this epiphany even further, and through the eyes of Glenda, we see a force for compassion. Because her reaction to all of this is to <i>aggressively<\/i> attempt to understand Mr. Nutt, to accept him, to help him, and to make sure he knows that whoever he is, she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe he is inherently \u00e2\u20ac\u0153wrong.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>We get a great example of that right at the start, when Mr. Ottomy, one of the bledlows, tries to threaten that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll go to the Archchancellor about Nutt. Like, yes, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pointless because he already knows. But Glenda takes her defense a step further and flat-out threatens him if he goes through with making any sort of trouble for Mr. Nutt. I love this because her actions match her words! She puts her own body on the line to protect him. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like she hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been outspoken before, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a deliberate tone to it all now. This isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t her filter failing her or blurting out something true but a little inappropriate. She is <i>very<\/i> intentional about how she feels about Nutt, and I respect it so much.<\/p>\n<p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say the same thing can be seen in the scene where she takes the crab that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kept in the Kitchen and sets it free. Pratchett is playing with the literal and the metaphorical here. The crab bucket metaphor was employed to help us understand Glenda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s feelings toward Juliet and how she had to learn to let her friend go. And now, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s literal: the most knowledgeable crab in all of Ankh-Morpork is now free to pursue a life doing\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 whatever it is that crabs do. Hopefully not getting caught again! But the whole sequence is a reminder of where Glenda used to be and where she is now. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help how you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re made, and Glenda tried to resist that very thought. She tried to keep Juliet in the crab bucket that was the Night Kitchen; she tried to shove Trev away because he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t good enough for Juliet. And then Mr. Nutt walked into her life, and he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like anyone else she had ever met. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s someone that <i>should<\/i> have been in the crab bucket, who should have been killed years prior just for what he was. And yet, he showed that he absolutely belonged in the world. Who was she to let <i>anyone<\/i> put him back in that bucket? Mr. Nutt <i>deserved<\/i> to be where he was.<\/p>\n<p>And so, Glenda, with Juliet and Trev in two, attempt to find Mr. Nutt, who they believe has most likely tried to head back to Uberwald to return to the Lady. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still reeling from the absurdity of the horse bus negotiation scene, and I admit I found it funny because I have a thing for funny scenes that go on way longer than they should? And this went on FOR SO LONG. The other passengers got involved!!! TREV KEPT OFFERING THE LEAD PIPE! Oh my god??? Look, i also think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cool that even this far along in the series, Pratchett can still drop in scenes that are just humor and not much else. I APPRECIATE THEM.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Anyway, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talk about the reunion and the Sisters of Perpetual Velocity. Furies! They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re Furies, not harpies, which was my guess. And they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re pretty single-minded; they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re there to protect others from the danger of Nutt, and nothing can convince them otherwise. I mean, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not really convince-able, are they? I loved the contrast, though, between what the Furies said about Nutt and how quickly the <i>total strangers<\/i> in the horse bus accepted Mr. Nutt. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what so great about all this: Mr. Nutt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s behavior and demeanor reveals who he truly is, not what he was <i>created<\/i> to be. Look at how quickly these people are enamored with his candles!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Of course, Glenda isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always a glowing optimist, and she makes a good point:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It was the crab bucket at its best. Sentimental and forgiving; but get it wrong\u00e2\u20ac\u201done wrong word, one wrong liaison, one wrong thought\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand those nurturing arms could so easily end in fists. Nutt was right; at best, being an orc was to live under a threat.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another brilliant way that Pratchett demonstrates this: with the man who had nothing against dwarfs. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a weird distinction, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had people tell me to my face that they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have anything against queer people or gay people or Mexicans or whatever group they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve assumed I am a part of. Like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 do you want a cookie? A slice of cake? What does it even <i>mean<\/i> that a person \u00e2\u20ac\u0153doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have anything against (insert group here)\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? Well, often, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a way for a person to dodge accountability. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like loudly proclaiming yourself to be an ally. You wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say you were one if you were a bigot, right? Yet this very man says things that are kinda shitty about dwarfs, and dwarfs are much more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153accepted\u00e2\u20ac\u009d than orcs are in Ankh-Morpork society. So what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the solution? How can Nutt live in a world that could turn against him in a moment?<\/p>\n<p>I like what this section has to say about worth, then, because I feel like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of the answer. The philosophy that the Lady has instilled in Mr. Nutt is complicated at times, but the core of it is that Mr. Nutt wants to leave the world a little better than it was when he arrived in it. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something that resonates with me a <i>lot<\/i>, particularly since it can seem so hard to change the big things. So Mr. Nutt does the small things: like the display at the banquet. Or writing poems for Trev. Or making the perfect dribbled candles. It is worthy because, in its own small way, it makes the world better.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know where this book is going, though!!!<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/c7HQmr5s4po<\/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 twentieth part of Unseen Academicals, Glenda, Trev, and Juliet go after Mr. Nutt. 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-5007","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\/5007","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=5007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5007\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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