To me, the most eloquent character moment in the first book is Rake going full frenzy into beating down Genevieve and portraying it in such a heroic light, like heâs singlehandedly taking down the Empire and getting justice for Quark.
As of MWS, Genevieve is the youngest cast member, even younger than Evelyn (16) and Flora (supposedly also 16, since Evelyn is said to be âa girl [Floraâs] own ageâ). Genevieve is 15, but her age is presented in a way thatâs meant to make her look old enough (âShe was young, but not as young as she looked; she was told she could pass for twelve. But she was fifteenâŚâ). Given itâs Genevieveâs POV chapter, itâs natural to attribute this to her own perspective. She feels old enough to be a part of everything happening on Dove and in the agency forces of the Empire. Old enough to be on par with her mentoress. The true scale of irrelevance of her age is better presented in SSS, and itâs the biggest issue I have with the book. But, in MWS, the scene where sheâs truly treated like an adult is where Rake breaks free. He doesnât just knock her unconscious so she doesnât prevent his escape nor alert anyone, heâs lashing onto her for ever talking about Quark, that itâs better now that the Empire took over, and that itâs people like him who give Quark a bad image.
The fact that she looks like she could be 12 works against him here. If itâs assumed that he, too, could evaluate her as old as that, the situation therefore is him willingly assaulting a girl that old. A child more than a teen.
Whatâs so peculiar, is that, up until then, Rake was rather a morally positive character who had to commit morally negative actions to stay afloat. But his assault against Genevieve isnât like him watching Alfie get whipped (and Alfie was around 19 or 18 at the time, heâs presumably 2 to 3 years older than Flora), nor even attacking a child himself because he has to, to keep his ruthless image. This time heâs violent to a child because he wants to, because her words hurt him personally.
Granted, his story with the invasion of Quark is a violent one. Seeing your motherâs head on a pole and being forced into the life of crime as the only means of survival at 13 is devastating and unquestionably traumatising. And his distaste for Imperials isnât any news. But Genevieve isnât an imperial, and that much he tells her himself. Only he does it to hurt her further, itâs an insult, an addition to his physical assault. So far, Quark has always been his soft spot, and to imagine he doesnât just spare Genevieve for sharing the roots with him, but rather gets even more violent for this reason, is surprising.
He essentially gatekeeps Quark, so much so that he deprives Genevieve, a native of Quark as well, of her right to speak of her land just because she speaks of it in a way that he doesnât appreciate. âYou may kiss Imperial feet. You may take Imperial names. But you â donât speak of Quarkâ, he says. And right after that, he says sheâll never truly be one of the imperials. He leaves her identically naked, quite a nationalistic move â either you think like âweâ (I personally) think, or youâre not a Quark-girl at all, you donât belong. And this is not the case of Genevieve confusing her own identity and Rake simply pointing it out. Genevieve speaks of herself as a Quark girl. âPeople like you â you give us all a bad name. Youâre the reason people think weâre all thievesâ. She still identifies herself as a girl from Quark. She doesnât lie to herself about being Imperial, she acknowledges sheâs someone who can simply be accepted into Imperial nation if she tries hard enough. It does say âHow hard sheâd worked to distance herself from men just like himâ right there, but âmen like himâ are not men of Quark â theyâre âbadâ men of Quark, unfitting. But still those of Quark. Genevieve never denies Rake his identity, even admits that his performance of this identity is what casts a shadow on the entire Quark. But Rake, then, repeatedly prohibits her to speak of Quark, as if it wasnât her nation to speak of.
It all continues and worsens in SSS, with addition of Fist. And where Fistâs personal conflict was choosing the Resistance over her daughter, Rakeâs, I feel, is the same but on a grander scale: itâs choosing the idea of Quark over the people of Quark. He didnât care that a young girl from Quark viewed their history in such a brainwashed manner, he only cared that it opened the wound of his national trauma and the personal trauma it inevitably led to. She wasnât someone to save, because he denied her Quark identity, and, as such, he could freely see her as a national enemy, and not a personal one. Therefore he didnât have to tolerate her offense, there was no gray to her, just permitting black. And one of Rakeâs defining characteristics is being great at making believable excuses for his inexcusable actions. Â
Overall, the fact that heâs been so easily instigated to violence against a child of his own dearly beloved land by said child simply being spiteful accordingly to her age is such an incredibly brilliant character moment.
stormborns
baratheonpilled
snowghoul
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