{"id":5285,"date":"2020-10-05T05:00:32","date_gmt":"2020-10-05T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5285"},"modified":"2020-09-30T08:57:51","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T15:57:51","slug":"mark-reads-the-stone-sky-chapter-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2020\/10\/mark-reads-the-stone-sky-chapter-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Stone Sky’: Chapter 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the third chapter of The Stone Sky<\/i>, Essun is taught a painful lesson. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Broken Earth<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For extended discussion of trauma<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wild how much this chapter has made me reflect on Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s past. I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s far that this caused me to ask why Essun is the way she is. I also don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a difficult question to answer. After what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been through in her life\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfrom traumas both personal and generational, systemic and emotional\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit makes sense that she would find it immensely difficult to consider community as a viable option for survival. No, every time she might<\/i> have, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been burned. Look at what happened to her when she was Damaya, when she was cast out of the home she used to know. Then, as she grew up in the shadow of the Fulcrum, she was never truly allowed to become friends with anyone. Which was by design! By the time she was a full-time agent with the Fulcrum, she still had no close friends, no one she could rely on, depend on, lean on… none of that.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That also adds some context to the events of Meov, too. How could she ever truly feel comfortable there? She had no real experience living amongst a a community that genuinely cared about the fate of others. Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entire life could easily be summarized as one of survival independence. The only person she could depend on was herself. Right? And so, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s further that analysis and look at her behavior in Castrima. At the very least, she has some<\/i> friends. I would count Hoa as one. Probably Tonkee, though I do agree with Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assessment that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s less loyalty at work here and more curiosity. Lerner is growing closer, sure, but what does that attachment actually mean?<\/p>\n

Yet she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think of any<\/i> of these people during the events at the end of The Obelisk Gate<\/i>. No, as she has historically done, she thought about her own survival. Well, to an extent. I do believe her when she says that she was<\/i> trying to save the people of Castrima-under. But this goes beyond what Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intent was. Her intent was to save Castrima, yet Ykka (OUR CASUAL BI QUEEN, HELL YES) makes an important point to her about what it means to be part of a community.<\/p>\n

Prior to that, though, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an important conversation about Nassun that I want to talk about before I delve into Ykka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s point. I am glad that we got confirmation that Essun sensed more than just the existence of her daughter. Now that Essun knows that Nassun was utilizing an obelisk\u00e2\u20ac\u201dso well that she was able to resist the Obelisk Gate!\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat makes this story a billion times more interesting. This is not simply a case of a reunion, though that is<\/i> important to Essun. Tonkee makes a good point here:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So what are you going to do, then, snatch her out of a comm where she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s safe and has enough to eat and can still see the sky, and drag her north to a comm sitting on the Rifting, where the shakes will be constant and the next gas vent might kill everyone?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She looks hard at you. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Do you want to help her? Or just have her with you again? Those two things aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the same.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wow, that stung<\/i> to read, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not even about me!!! Granted, we, as the readers, know more about this situation than Essun does. We know how Nassun truly feels about her mother, and we also know where she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going. But this is still uncomfortable to read because Essun has a huge decision laid out before her. If she really loves Nassun, is it actually more harmful to go get her? Look, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s put aside the whole Jija thing, since that is a moot point now. (H E L P) What is Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intent here? To be reunited with her surviving daughter is absolutely a reason enough to seek her out. But then what? And what of the task that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been set before Essun, to bring the Moon back? Does she ignore that to seek out Nassun? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing!!!\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, I also don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to worry about this right now, as Jemisin guides Essun into a different direction. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a more primary concern: Ykka hates Essun. Well, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how Essun perceives Ykka\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anger, and so Essun assumes that the destruction of Castrima\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s geode home is what has enraged her. So, Essun has an immediate thing she needs to take care of: repair her damaged relationship with Ykka.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And lord, I was not ready for where Ykka was going to take this. Oh, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I love it when an author is willing to let their protagonist be utterly wrong. Be misguided. BE MESSY AND CONFUSED AND FLAWED. Because again, after everything that Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been through, I do<\/i> understand her. I sympathize with her, too! Still, Ykka does not have this shared experience with Essun; she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t grow up with the same sort of trauma that Essun did. (Which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t to say she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t experience any.) So, in the shadow of the stone forest (which utterly terrifies me, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, and I am so frightened of what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to find inside it), Ykka makes a point: Essun makes decisions that center herself.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a survival mechanism. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Ykka disputes that! But Ykka has other<\/i> survival mechanisms at her disposal, and one of them? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s community. She uses the Rennanis prisoners as an example of that. Essun would have killed them all, as she killed everyone else in Rennanis and froze the stone eaters in crystals. She eliminated the threat, right? And while that does provide safety, look how Ykka interprets a similar issue. She doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t murder all<\/i> of the Rennanese captives, but rather, she takes out the one who is most vocal about not assimilating into the community. Even their previous leader, Danel, makes it very clear that she knows what is necessary now: survival as a group.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about surviving, adapting. Forget all that crap you heard back in Rennanis about Sanzeds and mongrels; that was just propaganda to unite the comm. Things are different now. \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcNecessity is the only law.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And necessity has granted Danel and the other prisoners someone who will feed them, take care of them, and give them something to contribute to the whole. Phauld, on the other hand, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe in ANY of this and sought to instigate the other prisoners against Castrima.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So Ykka kills him, and then she frees the others.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Lots of ways to be safe. Yeah, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now a bigger chance I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get shanked in the night. More safety for the comm, though. And the stronger the comm is, the better the chance we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll all get to Rennanis alive.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a calculated move, yes, but Ykka believes in the whole. She believes a group that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s united and given a purpose is always<\/i> better than one highly motivated individual.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I play a longer game than just making it to the next day, Essie. Maybe you ought to try it for a change.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God, it puts Meov in a whole new light, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? I mean, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not surprising; we always knew that Essun had an immensely hard time fitting in there. She perpetually felt like the odd one out. But it goes beyond that. Again, I was stung by the words on the page, even though this wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t about me. Look what Ykka says when Essun tries to say she couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t possibly think like a headwoman:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m both,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ykka says. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A headwoman, and a rogga. I choose to be<\/i> both, and more.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d She steps past you, and throws her next words at you over her shoulder, as if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re meaningless. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think about any of us while you were using those obelisks, did you? You thought about destroying your enemies. You thought about surviving\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut you couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get beyond that. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been so pissed at you, Essie. Months in my comm, and still all you are<\/i> is \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcjust a rogga.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That makes me wonder: Is Essun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arc going to be an acceptance of this? Or will she break this cycle of thought? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kept her alive up to this point, but will she come to see survival and living as different things?<\/p>\n

NOTES<\/b><\/p>\n