{"id":5021,"date":"2019-08-16T05:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-08-16T12:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5021"},"modified":"2019-08-12T16:17:52","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T23:17:52","slug":"mark-reads-i-shall-wear-midnight-chapter-4-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2019\/08\/mark-reads-i-shall-wear-midnight-chapter-4-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;I Shall Wear Midnight&#8217;: Chapter 4, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the first half of the fourth chapter of <i>I Shall Wear Midnight,<\/i>Tiffany does a difficult job, and someone or some<i>thing<\/i> starts following her. 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 suicide, death of a child, abuse.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Okay, can I put forth the theory that whatever is coming to the Chalk is clearly real, real bad? Because this book honestly feels so much darker than I anticipated, and again, I wonder if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just an inkling of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to come. This is a tumultuous time in Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, for sure, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just at the age when a whole lot of us experience upheaval. I wonder, then, if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what Pratchett was trying to communicate through this by having both an external and internal plot dealing with a kind of chaos. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a theory I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m ready to commit to, as I still know so little about the shape of this story, but I do like working through these thoughts out in my reviews.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Anyway, there are basically two threads unfolding in this chapter: the WEIRD THINGS and the ramifications of the Petty tragedy. Tiffany is deal with the latter when the former happens: an old woman in all black is watching Tiffany outside the mound, and then, after disappearing, a hare BURSTS INTO FLAMES and runs off into the brush. Hi, <i>what<\/i>? I had this weird theory that maybe it was Tiffany, too, since Tiffany later notes that she felt like she was the only one around, but I have literally no other evidence to support this theory. So\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Granny Weatherwax? But why wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t she just identify herself to Tiffany? Is she just keeping an out on her? Like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 it would make sense from a thematic standpoint if Granny was concerned about Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dedication to the job, especially after the scenes we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten with Jeannie. But why hide?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>UGH I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW. But now I have to talk about the immensely disturbing sequence at the Petty home. First of all: A YARD OF STINGING NETTLES. Oh my god, the metaphor could not be more <i>direct<\/i>, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. But then, Pratchett takes it to a real fucked up place, and again: I want to avoid re-traumatizing people, so I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be super detailed here. But\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 uh, the placement of the nettles around the body? Who did that? I feel like the answer is pretty obvious, assuming that Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interpretation of events is correct and not her father\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. I think Mr. Petty did this himself, out of some horrible sense of guilt. He set up that candle, too, fully aware that it would probably catch the barn on fire, and then he nearly died on that beam. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until later\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat line that reads \u00e2\u20ac\u0153for the sake of a handful of nettles\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat I was able to piece this together. He felt <i>something<\/i> about what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d done, and he tried to die.<\/p>\n<p>But he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, and despite that Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s darker thoughts encouraged her to let him just die, she saves him. (With Rob Anybody\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s help, that is.) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an example of yet another messy thing that she takes upon herself to do. And lord, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s real disturbing, too, one of the more horrifying things I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve read in all of the <i>Discworld <\/i>books. As much as I hated this character, I wanted to hear what he had to say for himself. Why <i>did<\/i> he come back? Was Tiffany correct in recognizing that there was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153something inside the wretched hulk\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153had still managed to be good\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? However, he said nothing, and Tiffany couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t waste any more time. She had to take care of Amber\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s child, and so she gives the child a respectable burial in the same clearing where she once buried Mrs. Snapperly.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I feel pretty confident that this wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mentioned in past books and that Pratchett didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get around to the story until now. Her tale is, without a doubt, one of the saddest things in any <i>Discworld<\/i> book, both because of the loneliness she experienced after the Chalk turned on her (for a terribly misguided reason!!!) and because this mirrors how often old women were targeted during witch hunts. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so very real and immensely sad, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why this line is so crucial:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6but she had vowed that every summer the brilliance in the wood would remind people that there had been an old lady they had hounded to death, and she had been buried there. Tiffany did not quite know why she thought that was important, but she was certain to the center of her soul that it was.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I mean, just in terms of the specific context in the Chalk, this is important. Mrs. Snapperly wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even a witch, and yet, the Chalk\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s utter rejection of witches led to her death. Tiffany exists in an important role within her society\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s changing values, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done so much to change their minds about who witches are and what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re supposed to do. But that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exonerate what people did, and this clearing acts as a haunting reminder. I love that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the sight of something beautiful that will hopefully force people to think of one of the ugliest parts of their past. It is <i>absolutely<\/i> an important thing.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The text then loops back on another subplot that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been bubbling along throughout <i>I Shall Wear Midnight<\/i>, though, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one that I joked about on video as being too relatable. I have been largely quiet about what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been going on in my personal life because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have much privacy and I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t felt like processing things publicly. I will say that I was surprised at how much Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s struggle with loneliness and sanity resonated with me. I want to liken it to the same sort of experience I had with <i>Moving Pictures<\/i>, since I know it surprised others how much I related to that book. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all know how much I love finding unintended reasons to connect to a story, and I know Pratchett isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really writing from a space of heartbreak and a breakup. But hi, hello, why is this yelling so loud at me:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If you kept yourself busy, you wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have <i>time<\/i> to go nuts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 if only that were true? Because from the other side of this: DEFINITELY NOT THE CASE. And so I see something in Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s story that feels deeply recognizable to me. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s someone who is aware that she feels negatively about her job at times, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also lonely. And yet, she mistakes busy-ness as a means of coping with these feelings, and that is not sustainable! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just not! But it also doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help that recent events keep making it so hard for her to deal with them. Also, who does she even have in her life to talk about these sort of things?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I say that being fully aware that she <i>is<\/i> communicating with her dad far more than usual, but even that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come close to what she needs. Her conversation with him towards the end of this split is fraught because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re both approaching the Petty family tragedy from such different directions. He has his own thoughts on what happened and even believes that Mr. Petty did not try to kill himself, but was strung up by the mob. And there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s two parts of this that feel significant. One, it establishes how differently Tiffany sees the world as a witch, and it means that for the most part, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll probably continue to see this friction. (Though I do want to note that he makes a brilliant point when he tells her that she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fix everything by herself, and I suspect that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to come up again.)<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Secondly\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand this is in conjunction with the scene featuring Jeannie, too\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit also speaks to the immensely messy realities of abuse. Jeannie, for example, can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand why Amber\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do more to stop Mr. Petty, and really, as simple as Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reply is, it speaks volumes. Humans are complicated, and humans who are <i>abused<\/i>? Look, from experience, I know that we can do things that seem utterly incomprehensible to outsiders. So it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interesting to me that Tiffany is defensive of one victim of abuse with Jeannie, but then when her father talks about Mrs. Petty taking her husband back, Tiffany can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to understand that, even though the two issues are certainly related. I hope that this continues to be discussed with nuance within the book, as I appreciated this as a survivor; the text seems willing to be empathetic as much as possible instead of roundly condemning those who are victims, even when behaviors are strange or confusing.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Anyway: Tiffany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about to see the Baron, and I bet Roland will make an appearance. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gonna be AWKWARD.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/wdmGE6NCx0o<\/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 first half of the fourth chapter of I Shall Wear Midnight,Tiffany does a difficult job, and someone or something starts following her. 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":[562,463,248],"class_list":["post-5021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-i-shall-wear-midnight","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021","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=5021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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