{"id":5256,"date":"2020-08-19T05:00:33","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T12:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5256"},"modified":"2020-08-10T08:41:35","modified_gmt":"2020-08-10T15:41:35","slug":"mark-reads-the-obelisk-gate-chapter-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2020\/08\/mark-reads-the-obelisk-gate-chapter-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘The Obelisk Gate’: Chapter 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eighth chapter of The Obelisk Gate<\/i>, Essun makes headway in Castrima. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read The Broken Earth<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of grief<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Even without giving too many details about the individual people in Castrima, Jemisin does a fantastic job giving the reader a sense for who makes up this comm. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more explicit about how people come to be a part of Castrima, like those that Ykka has taken because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re useful, not because they willingly joined the comm. She has the survival of this place in mind, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how choices are made. It includes how they deal with a comm made up of free orogenes. They simply cannot risk having members of Castrima who are unable to live amongst orogenes who are not part of the (now destroyed) Fulcrum. Again, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a means of survival: What if a still attacks an orogene? What if an orogene retaliates? Of course, that means that those who refuse to live with orogenes are… disposed of? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the kindest way to put that. Again, survival. How can Ykka let these stills go out into the world knowing that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an underground comm full of orogenes?<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s real fucked up, but within the context of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a logic to it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still fucked up, of course, but I can at least understand why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening this way. The world is ending, and much about that world is falling apart, but people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anti-orogeny bigotry doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t disappear with their comms. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still a part of them, as made clear by the conversation that Essun overhears. Even though the geode is kept running by orogenes\u00e2\u20ac\u201deven though most of these people probably wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be alive if it weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t for orogenes\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthey still hate them.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hmmm. Wonder where Jemisin got that idea!<\/p>\n

I also loved how much humor there was spread throughout this, though I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to detract from how dire and upsetting things are. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, I just… love the bit about all the small dramas that the council staff has to deal with? I wrote this down in the notes, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something beautifully calming about the idea that even here, in a geode community beneath the earth, people are still fundamentally people. Which means that a whole chunk of the comm feels like a Pawnee citizen montage from Parks & Recreation<\/i>. People are annoying everywhere!!!!! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so goddamn funny!!! And I get why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s comforting to Essun, too.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, I wanted to recognize just how beautifully Jemisin writes about grief here, too. Because wrapped up in this very funny moment is memory: Of the time Essun spent on Meov, of the time Essun spent in Tirimo. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only a brief touch on grief in this chapter, but it was so powerful to me. When you get to a point where months or years have passed since that trauma, memories can bubble up to the surface. They might be edged in pain, but you can recall what was good about them. Sensations. Moods. Here, Essun values \u00e2\u20ac\u0153silly pedantry\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because it means there is a chance to luxuriate in choice. They can argue about silly things instead of life-ending things. And so, while these memories are tinged with grief, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a joy to them, too. Essun is a character who, at times, feels defined by her grief, but Jemisin adds layers to that grief. As someone living out grief now? It feels… hopeful. Kind. And that shit matters a lot<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, now that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m all teared up, LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S TALK ABOUT TETTEHEE. Jemisin accomplishes two things with the scene aboveground. Some of it is worldbuilding: What is happening aboveground? What comms are nearby, and what has their fate been? The Season is only getting worse, which makes me very<\/i> worried about what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to happen in this book and the next. What if they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop it? Which… okay, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll cross that bridge when I get to it. But in the meantime, something happened here. Something horrible<\/i>. Why the fuck would a comm need to mark their territory like the one does here? The warning is horrifying: bodies impaled on stakes. So, someone knows about Castrima, and they wanted this to be… what? A display of their force? Their violent power? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like this. AT ALL.<\/p>\n

Beyond this development, though, Jemisin also delves deeper into some of the secondary characters of Castrima, like Hjarka and Cutter. Like Essun, I am deeply<\/i> interested in Cutter, an orogene who hid their ability until the Season started. So, someone who did what Essun did but for MUCH MUCH LONGER. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s… how??? How did they do that??? And what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interesting, too, is how much this manifests in Cutter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s personality:<\/p>\n

Cutter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s much harder to read than Hjarka, too, you notice now. Hjarka is a woman who has never been able to hide the breadth and vigor of what she is, so she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t bother to try. Cutter is a man who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spent his life concealing the strength of mountains behind a veneer of meekness. Now you know what that looks like from the outside.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fascinating, too, to see how both of these characters perceive Essun, too. Hjarka is far more challenging towards her, for example, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s obvious why Ykka trusts her so much. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite practical, and she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pull any punches. Like when she openly challenges Essun on being able to use her orogeny without killing other people. And then Essun shows off for them, which I found INCREDIBLY amusing, for the record. I did not, however, see where this was going and how Hjarka basically trapped Essun into being a teacher for the other orogenes? IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO CRAFTY. Was that her intention the whole time???? I mean, she basically goaded Essun into this position by saying that insulting bit about orogenes.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Which leads us to the final part of this chapter. The idea isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily terrible: Essun will help train the other orogenes who live in Castrima. Alabaster, despite being a ten-ringer, certainly can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do it for multiple reasons. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dying, for one, and as we see during his argument with Essun, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a shitty teacher. Which we knew!!! That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a surprise at all<\/i>. Let me just vaguely gesture at THE ENTIRETY OF THEIR INTERACTIONS IN THE FIFTH SEASON<\/i>. He was frustrating. He was vague. He was demanding. He \u00e2\u20ac\u0153taught\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by doing things\u00e2\u20ac\u201doften without asking if Essun was okay with it!!!\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand hoped she would just figure it out on her own. Like, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking of him using that obelisk for the first time, or him utilizing her powers to save himself. He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually teach her much of anything; she had to figure out a lot of it on her own. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a value in that, sure; things that one figures out alone often stick really well.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ignore this context as I read over Alabaster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s argument with Essun about teaching orogenes. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a raging asshole, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly part of his rapport with Essun, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure the pain of his slow, agonizing death by transforming to stone plays a part in that. At the same time, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m right there with Essun: Alabaster doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get to talk to her like she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a child. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t right before, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s certainly<\/i> not all right in the present time. And look what happens when she just up and leaves! (Or at least tries to.) That jolt he sends through Castrima is basically a temper tantrum, okay? And he continues to insult her and assume she isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t knowledgeable or competent, that she is just an insufferable student, and then… oh lord.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Because you won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell me anything! You expect me to listen to you, but you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t share, you just demand and proclaim and, and\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not a child! Evil Earth, I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even speak to a child this way!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

(There is a traitor part of you that whispers, Except you did. You spoke to Nassun like this<\/i>. And the loyal part of you snaps back, Because she wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have understood. She wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have been safe if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been gentler, slower. it was for her own good, and<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s for your own rusting good,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Alabaster grates.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Stunning. STUNNING. This moment is so layered and painful and cutting. Because we know from Nassun\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chapters that this is<\/i> true, that Essun was not kind to her daughter as she struggled to teach her orogeny in secret. And then, the very line she uses to justify how she spoke to her daughter is the one Alabaster uses on her. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s come full circle, and the understanding is complete. He does care about her. he does care about the world. His technique is the same one she used for nearly a decade with Nassun, and in this moment, the two let down their guard. They stop fighting. They see one another more as equals, at least in the sense that each one deserves to be treated with respect and a softness. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean ignoring the truth or pulling punches, but to be kind<\/i> where kindness can happen.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That transformation is so damn affectionate, too. I love that Essun takes up the place that Antimony was in, holding up Alabaster with a hand to his back. It reminded me of the affection we saw in The Fifth Season<\/i> as these two people grew closer. And then he finally just tells her the truth about what happened after Meov.<\/p>\n

WHICH I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T GET BECAUSE THE CHAPTER ENDS AND THIS IS CRUEL AND I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M SO MAD. Ugh!!!! I need to know!!! Unfair!!!! I really hope this next chapter is another Essun one, because this is UNBEARABLE!<\/p>\n

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