{"id":5056,"date":"2019-10-09T05:00:20","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T12:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5056"},"modified":"2019-10-07T13:09:07","modified_gmt":"2019-10-07T20:09:07","slug":"mark-reads-snuff-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2019\/10\/mark-reads-snuff-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;Snuff&#8217;: Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the third part of <i>Snuff<\/i>, Vimes struggles to fit in around The Hall. 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>So, the opening of the third split got me thinking about what sort of sounds I grew up with. I found the whole scene to be deeply relatable, but then I remembered that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a term for one specific thing I grew up with: The Hum. You can Google it if you want, but basically: Riverside has a low-level\/frequency \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hum\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that only some people can hear in the city, and I was definitely one of those people. It was so distinct that it took months of adjusting to it after we first moved there in 1992. And every time I leave the city for any significant time and return? The noise feels <i>louder<\/i> to me. Now, there are a ton of industrial parks and areas around the city, and there are also two active military bases relatively close, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some sort of real-world explanation for it. But other than that? I grew up on a corner lot and behind a wildlife preserve. So we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get late night traffic because we were relatively far out from any major streets, meaning that if we <i>did<\/i> hear cars, it was something that woke us up. Coyotes howling, though? Totally normal. Dogs barking? A sound for concern. Loud music? Oh, that was super, super common, especially during the summer.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Since then, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve mostly lived in large, urban environments that are incredibly noisy, so much so that when friends from more suburban locations come stay here in NYC, the noise is one of the first things they notice. How do you sleep? they ask me. But like Vimes, I adjusted. I know what the garbage trucks sound like and when they usually come; I know the local drunks and which neighbors like to get sad and play Mitski until one in the morning. (There were a few times this year where that was me LMAAAOOO.) I know which bars are going to be rowdy on Friday and Saturday nights, and which one actually has the loud night on Tuesday. So yeah, when I stay in remote places? It absolutely takes a while for me to adjust to silence. Silence is strange to me now! However, you know what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not? PILLOW FORTS IN BEDS IN HOTELS. Oh my god, I love that hotels have like EIGHT THOUSAND pillows on their beds, and you better believe I sleep in them just like Vimes does. Except I tend to run super, super warm, so I crank up the A\/C to ungodly frigid levels, and then I bundle up under all the pillows and blankets, and I AM VERY HAPPY LIKE THIS. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I just got back from Hawai\u00e2\u20ac\u2122i, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m pretty sure my body is miserable because the bed\/pillow\/duvet combo in my hotel room there was 100%. It was so perfect that I slept soundlessly and restfully EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. Ugh, I want to go back!<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, now that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve yelled about sounds, cities, and sleeping, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very particularly thing that I want to hone in on and discuss in relation to the chapter as a whole. This split sees the second time in which Vimes says that something the staff does is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153demeaning.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Before, he said this when discussing how the Ramkins would throw hot coins at the gatekeepers. Here, Vimes discovers yet another bit of cultural strangeness. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not the fattening (and delicious) breakfast in bed, or Sybil\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s request that Vimes exhibit more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153decorum,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or even all the balls (lmao) that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been invited to within less than a day of arriving. No, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what all the maids are required to do whenever a man walks throughout The Hall: turn and face the wall, make no eye contact, and do not speak to the man. It is QUITE UNDERSTANDABLY one of the most disarming and confusing things that Vimes has ever experienced. And, since the maids aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t supposed to talk, this makes the whole ordeal even more complicated, since they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even answer Vimes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s questions about what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening. And poor Hodges, who has to receive the brunt of Commander Sam Vimes! Even then, she only says a few words before escaping and <i>another<\/i> maid provides Vimes with context with some nodding and shrugging.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>When Lady Sybil explains it all and responds to Vimes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s claim that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demeaning, she says something very fascinating:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because, technically speaking, they <i>are<\/i> demeaned. They spend a lot of time serving people who are a lot more important than they are. And you are right at the top of the list, dear.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Which, unsurprisingly, infuriates Vimes! That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not how he operates\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 except then I got to thinking about how he runs the Watch, and how there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a hierarchy there on purpose. Right? Granted, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perfectly analogous to the situation here, and I want to dissect what Lady Sybil says. And I have to start with the ending:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You are mistaking value for worth, I think.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <i>really<\/i> the heart of what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s talking about. I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worth it to look at the statement with a critical eye, because can the same be said of every member of the Ramkin family? Remember, she says this as a justification for her servants and maids; so does that mean that those they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve served in the past had more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153value\u00e2\u20ac\u009d than them? What exactly did they do that warranted such a value? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know the answer to that question because I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know much about the Ramkin family. But I understand this argument in relation to Vimes. I can recognize his value to the Disc because of what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s accomplished over the years. Can the same be said of the other people this implicitly includes?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Again, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. All this said, the <i>actual<\/i> reason for the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153spinning housemaids\u00e2\u20ac\u009d felt far more nuanced. It was instituted to protect women from men who had power, who weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t reluctant to use it, and who could easily hurt others with it. Why? Because the maids \u00e2\u20ac\u0153might have been slightly too compliant in the face of people whom they had come to think of as their betters.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And once <i>that<\/i> was spelled out, I got it. Maybe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s old-fashioned, and certainly its application on Vimes is not necessary at all, but I agree with Lady Sybil. Her grandmother had good instincts and recognized the power dynamic at hand. So she arranged the structure of the housemaids\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 behavior so that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be little to no chance of this sort of quiet exploitation happening.<\/p>\n<p>I appreciate the nuance, though. It makes this book all the more fulfilling to read.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/kpKgk1u3jn4<\/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 third part of Snuff, Vimes struggles to fit in around The Hall. 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":[463,563,248],"class_list":["post-5056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-snuff","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5056","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=5056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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