The Sword and Laser discussion

I feel stupid since I don't understand fully what happened. What made Syenite threw up exactly at the end of that chapter (when they saw the boy who was a node maintainer)? She was already horrified but something from Alabaster's explation right before apparently caused that. Something to do with the boy's thigh marks and his reaction towards danger(?). Was he assaulted then destroyed everyone around him as a consequence?

PS: I only listened up to the interlude, by the way.

I am too lazy to use spoiler tags on the app so I don't want to get too detailed. Its been a while since I read it but there are some pretty terrible things that happen to the node maintainers. I think the details of that kids experience come out in dialogue not far from where you are.

It is unpleasant on several levels.

Silvana wrote: "I feel stupid since I don't understand fully what happened. What made Syenite threw up exactly at the end of that chapter (when they saw the boy who was a node maintainer)? She was already horrifie..."

It's the worst part of the book. (view spoiler)[ You've pretty much got it exactly. They had a very powerful orogene. They either used the excuse that he was not going to be able to control his power himself, or the Guardians knew that the kid was going to be more powerful for them to control. So they lobotomized him, stuck him in this life-support chair, and used him as a quake-suppressor. A machine. A fairly sophisticated medical staff was kept on hand to keep him healthy but unconscious indefinitely. Alabaster suspects that they were bored and corrupt and took money so that individuals could rape him. How long the abuser or abusers did this before they decided that the experience would be even better if the victim was awake was unclear. The lobotomy means that if not sedated, the maintainer is in constant pain from constant orogeny. So the poor thing awakes for the first time in who knows how long, in pain and being assaulted. Orogenes who panic reach for the Earth and the air and just *pull* without thinking. He set off a quake and killed everyone in the compound, including himself. I don't think he had any idea he knew what he was doing. (hide spoiler)]

It's not clear exactly which part bothers Syenite the most. She is able to keep it together when she's being technical, I know the trick. But then the whole package comes down on her and she can't keep it together. Especially since her idea of node maintainers seems to have been entirely different and she had been all but bad mouthing them.

So in general, I found this book really neat and powerful, but I do wonder whether the author could have maybe not pushed this bit so far. But the point is to really drive home that most folks do not consider orogenes to be human. And that, sometimes in our world, humans do not consider other types of humans to be human in a way that can sometimes lead to horrible abuses like this. The cautionary tale taken to its logical extreme.

It's brutal but I think it's an important part of helping the reader understand desperate actions that both characters take much later in the book. Spoilers for end : (view spoiler)[ Syenite killing Coru, because death is a better than being enslaved, takes on great meaning since he could easily be deemed uncontrollable and be made a node maintainer. Also Alabaster destroying everything. Because it's not just revenge for himself. I don't remember when the idea is introduced that some of the node maintainers are Alabaster's own children. Which helps us understand the depths of his rage, even though he has risen to the supposedly "prestigious" rank that he is allowed. (hide spoiler)]

Joanna wrote: "Silvana wrote: "I feel stupid since I don't understand fully what happened. What made Syenite threw up exactly at the end of that chapter (when they saw the boy who was a node maintainer)? She was ..."

Thank you, Joanna. Great, thorough explanation.
I was started to get sleepy last night when listening to the chapter but that part was quite shocking I ended up listening to it thrice and ran here to get confirmation.

Silvana wrote: "Joanna wrote: "Silvana wrote: "I feel stupid since I don't understand fully what happened. What made Syenite threw up exactly at the end of that chapter (when they saw the boy who was a node mainta..."

It doesn't help that Alabaster talks about what happened and leaves a lot of empty bits your brain is supposed to fill in. I appreciate that we only see the aftermath, the conceptual of it, filtered. This could have been written as torture porn, and wasn't.

Joanna wrote: "So in general, I found this book really neat and powerful, but I do wonder whether the author could have maybe not pushed this bit so far. "
I think the entire point of this scene is to make you understand the evil depths people can sink to when they allow themselves to pretend other people are less human than they are. In my opinion, she's right to push it as far as she did because we should never forget that there are people in the world right now who would be capable of this. Decent people need to stay vigilant and not let inhumane treatment be allowed to pass unnoticed and unprotested.

The node maintainers really were the most brutal part of the book. The actions of the Guardians throughout the book (view spoiler)[ attempting to kill Syenite and Alabaster for knowing too much, the abuse towards the node maintainers, etc just show how corrupt the whole organization has become.

Syenite's guardian tried to make it sound like the Guardians were pure while the Orogene's were cursed or corrupted when in fact it is likely the exact opposite. (hide spoiler)]

NK Jemison pulls no punches. The whole book was brutal and yet so very compelling.

Yeah, that was the one episode in the book when I really cringed. Overall I thought the author was direct about her message, but it was mostly rendered tastefully. But this bit - with the child not only being incapacitated and used in the most inhumane way, but also abused - just seemed a bit gratuitous...

Zina wrote: "Yeah, that was the one episode in the book when I really cringed. Overall I thought the author was direct about her message, but it was mostly rendered tastefully. But this bit - with the child not..."

I think it was necessary in order to make you (the reader, any reader) sympathetic to the character (I cannot remember his name) when he decides to kill millions of people and condemn the Stillness to a centuries long Fifth Season in order to burn that particular civilization to the ground. You have to really understand why he's so angry in order not to villianize him.