Our love should be the brightest thing in the room

the whistle system is ingrained in the children as something they should always aspire toward. children are encouraged to become white whistles, whose authority on the abyss is always respected, even revered in orth's culture. not coincidentally, every white whistle is a terrible person. this is hinted at when we learn about riko's mother lyza, who abandoned her as a baby to make her last dive into the 6th layer of the abyss, but it's made explicitly clear when riko meets ozen, the woman who was with lyza when riko was born and carried her up from the depths of the abyss. ozen forces a child, marulke, to be her maid and live with her deep in the 2nd layer, a dangerous place where no child should be. ozen takes sadistic pleasure in emotionally tormenting riko and physically abusing reg, and she also subjects marulke to the same punishment that the orphanage doles out. all of the black whistles who work under ozen know about this and have no problems with it.

we later find out that bondrewd, another white whistle, essentially kidnapped a bunch of orphaned children in a foreign country and brought them to the 5th layer to subject them to experiments that he knew would kill them, all in order to find a way to survive the curse of ascending from the 6th layer. bondrewd constantly calls the young girls in his care "cute", and judging by his daughter likening reg's ability to get erections to "papa poles", it's extremely clear that he sexually abuses not just her, but any young girl he comes across. this man pontificates about the importance of family and how it eternally ties people together, even if they aren't blood related. to reiterate in case it wasn't clear enough: his adopted daughter, prushka, was born in the abyss, and has no choice but to stay under his care, because stepping foot outside in the abyss alone and trying to ascend from the 5th layer would almost certainly get her killed. any white whistle making their last dive has to interact with bondrewd, meaning they all know about the kind of person he is, and are fine with it. the city of orth itself, and likely the government of the country it's in, depends on the abyss exploration industry which is headed by people like lyza, ozen, and bondrewd to bring wealth to its people.

made in abyss is brilliant in the way that it critiques the power structures that enable child sexual abuse. the cutesy art style puts you in the mindset of riko, a child who literally doesn't know how badly she's been abused because it's completely normal to her. that's exactly the thing that made in abyss is trying to communicate. in society today, child abuse is a routine, ordinary part of everyday life, and children are intentionally kept in extremely vulnerable conditions and denied the knowledge they need to identify when they're being abused because it makes them easier to control. adults abuse children because they benefit greatly from doing so, and they're actually very open about it. it's disgusting, and it's heartwrenching to watch these children suffer, but you can't pin the blame on any one person. it isn't that individual white whistles are bad and need to be dealt with; the very way that society is structured enables child abuse and rewards adults for perpetrating it.

art by: u/itsbenpassmore

text:

No One Can Stop The Rain

(A poem by Assata Shakur)

Watch, the grass is growing.

Watch, but don't make it obvious.

Let your eyes roam casually, but watch! In any prison yard, you can see it - growing.

In the cracks, in the crevices, between the steel and the concrete,

out of the dead gray dust,

the bravest blades of grass shoot up,

bold and full of life.

Watch. the grass is growing.

It is growing through the cracks.

The guards say grass is against the Law.

Grass is contraband in prison.

The guards say that the grass is insolent.

It is uppity grass, radical grass, militant grass, terrorist grass, they call it weeds.

Nasty weeds, nigga weeds, dirty, spic, savage indian, wetback, pinko, commie weeds - subversive! And so the guards try to wipe out the grass.

They yank it from its roots. They poison it with drugs. They maul it, They rake it.

Blades of grass have been found hanging in cells,

covered with bruises. "apparent suicides"

The guards say that the GRASS IS UNAUTHORIZED DO NOT LET THE GRASS GROW.

You can spy on the grass. You can lock up the grass.

You can mow it down, temporarily.

But you will never keep it from growing.

Watch, the grass is beautiful.

The guards try to mow it down, but it keeps on growing.

The grass grows into a poem.

The grass grows into a song. The grass paints itself across the canvas of life.

And the picture is clear and the lyrics are true, and the haunting voices sing so sweet and strong that the people hear the grass from far away.

And the people start to dance, and the people start to sing, and the song is freedom.

Watch, the grass is growing.

- Assata Olugbala Shakur

1947-2025

wanna show you off, do a twirl, show them all you're mine 🎵

"Pride" sonyarriet for @themazewomen event :)