Thread by @chronicleflask

Right! The #Discworld #TerryPratchett books without the character of Death are Wee Free Men & Snuff.

Not books you'd normally put together: published 8 years apart, one for younger readers, & one... very much not.

But they have more in common than you might think...

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This is my copy of Wee Free Men. My Nan got it signed. You can tell, because she gave my full name. She was German by birth, didn't suffer fools & had an aptitude for arithmetic. Until Alzheimer's did its nasty little thing. She died in 2015. It was the year for it, it seems.
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And that all seems rather apt, doesn't it? Because Wee Free Men is, in part, a story of a girl and her grandmother. So perhaps it's not surprising that I have a fondness for this book.

It's also a story about thinking beyond, about seeing through, and...
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... about how "them as can do, has to do for them as can't. And someone has to speak up for them as has no voices."

I could talk all day about first thoughts & third thoughts, Miss Tick's philosophy, dreams, dromes, oh, & the #GoodOmens link, but this 👆🏻 is the important bit.
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It's threaded through the novel. We see flashbacks of Granny Aching doing just this throughout her life. It is, of course, something of a Discworld witch philosophy. Not that Granny was a witch, exactly. Well. She could do sheep magic. She could brew special sheep liniment.
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But that's another thing: never judge on appearance.

Granny Aching doesn't look like a witch, but might've been. The old woman who looked like a witch, definitely wasn't. Tiffany doesn't look like a hero, but is. The toad... wasn't always a toad.
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And the Nac Mac Feegle look like grubby, thieving blue ruffians and ok, they ARE, but they're also brave & fiercely loyal.

Judge people by their actions. Always.
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Which brings me to Snuff.

This book features Commander Sir Samuel Vimes, Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. But, unlike most of the Watch books, it's largely set in the countryside - as Vimes & Lady Sybil visit Crundells, otherwise known as Ramkin Hall, for a "holiday"
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Naturally, because it's Sam Vimes, this is no quiet, uneventful trip, and he soon plunges headlong into a dark plot involving smuggling, kidnapping, slavery and brutal, bloody murder.
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Goblins feature heavily in this story: a race of beings that are, at the start, largely written off as vermin: "stinking, cannibalistic vicious, untrustworthy bastards." They live underground, dress in rags and, reputably, willingly eat their own babies.
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Early on, Lord Vetinari quotes one person who has investigated goblins and tells us: "goblins live on the edge, often because they have been driven there. When nothing else can survive, they do ... [they] understand the dreadful algebra of necessity, which has no mercy."
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Here we are again: the goblins are SO much more than their stereotype. They make beautiful objects, play music, turn out to have an aptitude for operating the clacks. They demonstrate loyalty, bravery and love.
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Once again, everyone is more than they appear. The thuggish blacksmith isn't such a thug. The children's author isn't just a woman who writes about poo & earwax. Vimes' manservant, Willikins—playing a significant role—is polished on the outside, utterly ruthless underneath.

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And the monstrous goblins are remarkably human.

While a lot of the humans are remarkably monstrous.

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The goblins have no rights through most of this book. As Vetinari explains, making slaves of goblins is not illegal under the law as it stands. Thanks to Vimes, & his wife Lady Sybil, though, that's going to change.

"someone has to speak up for them as has no voices."

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Here's the thing: humans evolved to be storytellers. We tell stories to teach, & we learn by absorbing stories.

And I suggest that these two stories, with their themes of looking beyond, & standing up for those without privilege, might just be the stories we need right now.

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One last quote:

"Where there are little crimes, large crimes are not far behind."

END

@threadreaderapp unroll please