Everything

I’m listening to the Bartimaeus audio books at work this week, and it’s incredibly scary listening to them and comparing them to current politics. I’ve loved this book series my whole life, and known the messages it sends, but today they hit home harder than I can ever remember.

If you want a book that talks about authoritarian regimes, read Bartimaeus

If you want a book that talks about slavery, read Bartimaeus

If you want a book about systemic oppression, read Bartimaeus

If you want a book with a strong female character fighting in a resistance movement against the government, read bartimaeus

If you want a book that shows a white boy coming to terms with his privilege, and his own crimes within society, WITHOUT LETTING HIM OFF THE HOOK, Read Bartimaeus  (it doesn’t make excuses for him, it’s him making excuses and by end of book three he’s like “oh shit i’m a jerk”)

If you want a book with an agender main character, read bartimaeus (although pronouns are he/him, bart clearly states that man or women doesn’t matter. he shape shifts)

If you want a book that confronts and points out slur usage, read Bartimaeus (the word Demon is a slur for spirits, and considered very insulting. Bart consistently points this out to Nathaniel and asks him to stop saying it)

If you want a swash-buckling djinn who is sarcastic/rude to his white boy ™ master, read Bartimaeus.

I can see the logic…but…what if it didn’t happen? 

What if…Martha convinced him not to do it or he didn’t think it was necessary or something and Nathanial never went through that terrifying experience? And therefore…didn’t have the same paranoia/fear of djinn. He’s a smart little tyke, so if he didn’t have the fear holding him back…what if he summoned a djinn early? Like before the Lovelace incident when he wasn’t full of anger and after revenge. Let’s say, Underwood didn’t have enough books to sate his curiosity. He wanted to know more about magicians and djinn? Master is being difficult, so whats the next best option for a kid who doesn’t have the same fear of djinn as canon Nathaniel? 

Slytherin values ambition, traditionalism, cunning and resourcefulness. What two things does Bartimaeus despise above all else, holding them as pinnacles of the magicians who bound and enslaved him for five thousand years? Ambition and tradition! Ambition especially - when Faquarl offers him a place amongst the new pantheon of djinn, with the power to rule over the humans as they had once ruled over spirits, Bartimaeus is absolutely disgusted and refuses outright. Resourcefulness I’ll grant you, but cunning requires a certain forethought and planning that our boy don’t got, my dudes.

Now, Hufflepuff values loyalty, patience, and fair play. Bartimaeus is easily the most loyal character in the entire series - as soon as Ptolemy and Kitty show him they care for him and for spirits by entering the Other Place, that boy is IMMEDIATELY ride-or-die, literally stating he would be tortured to death if Kitty asked him to do so. He’s five thousand years old, and waiting comes easily for him (he waits two full YEARS in book three before confronting Nathaniel about the way he’s being treated). And, unlike magicians in general and Nathaniel towards the end of the series, Bartimaeus refuses to be underhanded - despite having no reason NOT to, he never reveals Nathaniel’s true name to anyone. Because it wouldn’t be fair. It doesn’t even cross his mind.

I’m listening to the Bartimaeus audio books at work this week, and it’s incredibly scary listening to them and comparing them to current politics. I’ve loved this book series my whole life, and known the messages it sends, but today they hit home harder than I can ever remember.

If you want a book that talks about authoritarian regimes, read Bartimaeus

If you want a book that talks about slavery, read Bartimaeus

If you want a book about systemic oppression, read Bartimaeus

If you want a book with a strong female character fighting in a resistance movement against the government, read bartimaeus

If you want a book that shows a white boy coming to terms with his privilege, and his own crimes within society, WITHOUT LETTING HIM OFF THE HOOK, Read Bartimaeus  (it doesn’t make excuses for him, it’s him making excuses and by end of book three he’s like “oh shit i’m a jerk”)

If you want a book with an agender main character, read bartimaeus (although pronouns are he/him, bart clearly states that man or women doesn’t matter. he shape shifts)

If you want a book that confronts and points out slur usage, read Bartimaeus (the word Demon is a slur for spirits, and considered very insulting. Bart consistently points this out to Nathaniel and asks him to stop saying it)

If you want a swash-buckling djinn who is sarcastic/rude to his white boy ™ master, read Bartimaeus.

Nathanael: My name? Why? What are you planning?

cashier: ...

Bartimaeus: Step aside, stockfish.

cashier: Okay so what's the name?

bartimaeus: except for ptolemy

bartimaeus: and kitty

Like, this book series is amazing. First of all it stars a sarcastic djinn and his misadventures with a young boy wizard who isn’t painted as this perfect kind hero. Nathaniel isn’t a sugar coated chosen one. He’s a flawed boy who makes selfish choices and who ultimately has to learn how to overcome his own selfish ambition. His talent gets him into more trouble than not, and it’s refreshing to see this change in YA lit.

Secondly, the books are totally about class revolution as the trilogy centers around magicians being the top elite 1% as they use their magic to control the populace and wage wars with other nations (America included). As the stories unfold we learn to question who are and who are not the actual heroes of the trilogy as we learn more about the government and the resistance fighting back.

Thirdly, the books are set in this unique alternate history where a lot of our real world events happened, but things have been drastically affected by magic. For instance, the American Revolution never properly took place as the British had demons and magic to fight the rebellion. Additionally, the Native Americans had their own magic and summons, so colonists were never able to get further than the East coast, so most of what we hear about America in the trilogy is about guerilla warfare being fought in the Appalachian mountains.

Fourthly, the books address that adults and guardians aren’t necessarily good. It flips the trope of the wise magician mentor trope on its head, and it presents a pretty frustrating, if not more realistic, representation of power struggles between the government and the people, masters and apprentices, parental figures and wards, and magicians and demons.

Fifthly, and most importantly, Bartimaeus’ footnotes and quips are legendary. Bartimaeus may be a djinn bound to serve whoever summons him, but he does not give in or fawn over his masters. He has more salt than a winter road, and he is eager to season everything with it.

“To the Glistening Eastern Sea, I give you Queen Lucy the Valiant.”

I think it would be true to say that the core motivation in this scene is that Peter is trying to reclaim what it means to be King, much like was said in the film. However, “He bumped me and tried to make me apologize,” is… nothing like High King Peter at all. Peter wouldn’t hit someone for simply being rude to him - in fact, in a situation like this, I doubt Peter would make the first hit at all.

But what if there was another boy - smaller, younger, weaker - getting picked on by a group of bullies? Maybe Peter would consider walking past, Susan’s words echoing in his head: you’re not a king here, these aren’t our people. But that’s not Peter.

So he steps in, and tells the bullies to stop. They snicker. “Move along, this isn’t your business.” Peter tells them again, aware his voice isn’t as commanding as it once was. Again, the bullies laugh. “What are you going to do? Make us?” Peter stands firmly between them and their victim.

They hit him first. He’s just one boy, they think, not any bigger or stronger than we are. Besides, he got in our way. Who does he think he is? We’ll teach him a lesson.

Peter thinks, at least it’s me instead of him.

When Susan sees this, she’s frustrated. How many times has she told Peter, (and the rest of them, too,) that this is foolish? They’re in this world, now. They’re not kings and queens any longer.

When Lucy sees, she understands. If they cannot take care of their people, they will take care of these instead. But Lucy is small, and has no dagger, and she knows she won’t be much help to Peter now. Still, she wishes.

And lastly, when Edmund sees, he doesn’t need to understand. All he needs is to have his brother’s back. He trusts Peter’s reasoning, and the fight is unfair. There’s no judgments to be made, only action to be taken.

But because I am extremely biased towards the film, it being one of my all time favourites, I would like to offer this opinion:

Peter says that the boys tried to make him apologise, but we don’t know how they made him do this. It could have been violent; they could have grabbed his clothes, pushed him against the wall of the subway. But Peter is far too proud, too desperate to act/be treated like an adult, to say anything like ‘Well, he hit him me first!’

And perhaps this influenced his later choice to attack Miraz’ castle. He states that the Narnia should strike the Telmarines before they have the chance to attack the How. Perhaps he knows that bullies will try to hit first, that they are never expecting the victim to be the first to turn to violence.

This was an attempt to explain that scene in a context where Peter actually acted like Peter. In this alternate context, which is far more canon compliant, Peter wouldn’t have made the same mistakes are the raid, either. (The raid itself wasn’t purely stupid. Sure, he could have respected Caspian more in that decision, but his reasoning was sound. It was his behaviour during the raid that was too proud and inconsiderate and foolish to be an accurate representation of King Peter the Magnificent.) 

In the end, I just don’t think Peter would care about standing up for himself to a bunch of childish bullies. And in the context of the movie, I shouldn’t like that scene. But the reason I made this post in the first place is because I DID think there was a right way for that scene to exist, and it had little to do with Peter, and nothing to do with pride. In my eyes, it would always be Peter standing up for someone else. He’d let himself get hit so somebody else wouldn’t have to, and he’d hit back to show others that they’re not alone and they’re not helpless and somebody is willing to fight for them. 

after his last trip to narnia edmund struggles a lot and go to susan for confort because she’s already been through that

edmund is very protective over susan

edmund misses susan terribly in aslan’s country and maybe in the end she was right all along when she built herself a life on earth

susan is more calm so she stops edmund from doing stupid things

they love to hang out with each other without talking just reading side by side or playing chess

“so i’m meeting the prince of calormene next week” “there’s no way i’m not coming with you” 

“i can take care of myself, ed” “i know i just wanna take care of rabadash’s face if he hurts you’

susan calls of everyone who makes a reference to edmund’s betrayal in order to make him feel bad and not legitimate 

“he’s your king show a little respect”

imagine susan being in aslan’s country after she died of an old age, she runs toward her siblings she’s young again and she hugs edmund so tight 

Is it just me or his expression is so soft here?

The way he immediately caught her as soon as she cried and stumbled a bit.

The way he pulled Lucy gently to his arms.

Then he just stood there, waiting for her to calm down.

Same energy:

She warmly welcomed him, also inviting him to her arms.

What’s more, she let him rest on her lap.

And if you noticed, she might have stroked his hair as well. Or maybe not and I was hallucinating

Then he suddenly woke up like nothing happened💀 so we can assume that when Lucy placed him on her lap, he’d already felt better but enjoyed being on her lap anyway?💀

But we got this lovely scene,

Yo seriously get ya a man that looks at you like how Natsu looks at Lucy like Every. Damn. Time.

Also get ya a girl who does the same. I mean, look at her gentle gaze to her man.

Hi Everyone!

How are you? 

I made this blog in hopes of support in helping to promote an Irish woman’s story as I try to make her dream come true for Christmas.

My Mother, Angela, suffers from illnesses such as diverticulitis, diabetes and arthritis. She is retiring soon to a council house she has looked after for the past 40 years.

The house has issues from, maggots, mold to crumbling walls and the ceilings cracking and falling down. As you can imagine, this has led to many health issues for my family but most importantly my mother. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough to buy our home and with my grandmother, now in the early stages dementia, it means my Mother will soon have to give up work and look after her fully.

The council will not allow my grandmother to move in with us as she is an old age pensioner and the house would need work to accommodate her needs. A Councillor, off the cuff, remarked the council would look at the fact she would not be able to contribute much towards rent and they wouldn’t waste the money on adapting the house on the possibility of her longevity.

When they find out that she has this illness, they may possibly kick her out of her own home and we will have no choice but to put her into a home which is the furthest thing that we want to do. We love her and want to care for her as she done for us.

My Mother is the most amazing and has the kindest soul of anyone you will ever meet and I am blessed to have her. She went to work right after my dad passed so that she could give myself and my brother the best life she could. She went to college at night trying to educate herself to get a good job for us. She’s worked long nights and traveled through desperate weather conditions to get to work, all to put a hot meal on the table for my brother and me.

She also works as a carer in a nursing home because she wanted a job that allowed her to give back. It’s a very tough job on her and she has sat by the bedside of many people comforting them as they passed away but it is a job she loves and is perfect for her as she has a heart of gold.

I have done an interview with a local newspaper  and radio station but unfortunately have not got much support.

The council won’t sell us our home because our income isn’t sufficient. My Mother has been trying to fix all the repairs over the years and has spent everything she has on them. She now has nothing for her retirement. Not even the house she worked so hard for.

We need to fix it up and adapt it so can care for my grandmother here but I desperately need help.

I have set up a fundraiser to buy the house and pay for all the repairs and make it accessible so that my Mother can move in my grandmother and care for her as she deteriorates further, found here: 

https://gofundme.com/f/help-my-mother-get-her-home

If you can please donate or help promote our story.

Thank you for reading,

UPDATE: My grandmother was taken to hospital after suffering seizures in front of my mother and I so I apologize for being late getting back to everyone and thanking you for your support. They are going to keep her in observation for a few days and test her but think it’s coming from her heart as her heart rate and blood pressure were very low when she was brought in.

Update: Nan is doing better! Heart rate is still slightly irregular but thankfully no more seizures so far.