TWOM Rant: Rebellion
this is going to be me rambling but the way The Will of the Many by James Islington talks about responsibility and rebellion is so interesting because even though they realize that the people at the top are corrupt and the system they built is terrible, the anguis despises people at the bottom for being complacent in the system.
page 172:
"They were innocent"
"Innocent?" Estevan has just been listening thoughtfully but he stirs at that, offended. "Were they not Octavii and Septimii, ceding their Will to Canten, for Canten's purposes?"
...
"Should we not hold others to the standards to which we hold ourselves? Anyone who does not resist them, Diago, is lending them their strength. Is complicit in all that they do. The Octavii are not just guilty - they hoist the entire Hierarchy on their shoulders."
Estevan/Melior knows that the lower-ranking members of the Hierarchy outnumber the higher ups. It's important to recognize that when you are at the "bottom" rung of society you have so much more power than you realize. The Hierarchy has 24 million people and people ranking above Octavii make up barely 2 million people. They would be terrified if people at the bottom ever joined together to overthrow them because when the Octavii die, they are losing the amount of Will being ceded to them, making themselves weaker. It would be extremely complicated to go to war with the Octavii and keep their power because the more casualties there are the more exposed they become; either way it would make it easier for some other group to take power.
pages 281 - 282
"Based on a standard pyramid, how many people out of every hundred would you expect to be Ovtavii?"
"A little under ninety?"
...
"About ten should be Septimii, a couple of Sextii. Quintii and above don't even factor into it at those numbers, but you get the idea. Given that, with twenty-four million people in the Hierarchy, how many would you expect to be Octavii?"
"About... twenty-one million?"
"A little less. Then two and a half million Septimii. About half a million Sextii." He jots the numbers, then glances up at me to check that I'm following.
"So?" The rations do sound a little off to me- I'd say that Sextii were more rare than that- but then, I've hardly shared the same space as senators and the like over the past few years.
...
"Regionally, most communities are arranged so that the Sextus is the highest position; everyone else of importance out there is a Septimus. Census data from last year said that there are only sixty thousand Sextii, eight thousand Quintii, and about two hundred Quartii in the Republic. Not in Canten, or in Deditia. In the entire Republic" He looks at me significantly.
I frown, doing the calculations in my head. "That's..." I shake my head. "That doesn't change the Octavii and Septimii numbers much, but it means that one person in every thousand is a Sextii. Not one in every hundred."
The illusion being sold to the people of the Hierarchy is that anyone can become a Sextus based on merit, anyone can climb the ladder to become a high ranking member of society, is based on false claims. The people in charge of the system are greedy, ensuring that people have false hopes or believe that society is somewhat fair helps squash feelings of resentment towards the Hierarchy. If you are an Octavii it's not that hard to move up to Septimii?? You're just not cut out to be a higher ranking member of society. If you believe that you aren't worth that much to the Hierarchy and that you are weak and replaceable it crushes your spirit to rebel against them. This mirrors how people are sold the false narrative of how anyone can become rich if they just work hard enough. The factors that limit opportunities and growth are ignored, success is in reach and it is your responsibility to take it. Additionally, because they are so "weak" they need to continue ceding their Will to the Hierarchy in order to protect them from threats like the Anguis, like people who have to work in low-paying jobs with limited protections in order to keep society running. But this is why Vis is sympathetic towards the Octavii and other people who are complicit with the system the Hierarchy has put into place, when you have nothing, why would you care about issues you aren't aware of? The Hierarchy is corrupt, but it is a way of life for these people.
page 280 - 281
"A fair system only works if there's an unbiased means of assessing merit. When there is no pride or selfishness involved." He gives a soft snort, shaking his head. Which means that fair systems cannot exist where people are involved"
...
"The Academy's a perfect example of what he talks about; we're meant to be the brightest of the Republic, but almost all of us here are the children of senators and knights. We've been trained, educated, since we could walk. Of course we're going to be 'better' than some fifth son of an Octavus who's been ceding half his life, just so his family can get by. Especially at tests which are devised by the same people who trained us. Who decide what merit is"
They were born into a world where it is normal for you to give up half your life force in order to "benefit" society as a whole, "Stronger Together" and whatnot. If they don't cede their Will, they'll be whipped until they comply. They aren't aware of the disparities in the power distribution, the corruption going on with Military and the Anguis, or the horrors of the sappers. Even Vis and his peers are barely aware of the census data and the only ones who know the true horror of the sappers are Vis and Eidhin. Vis and Estevan are able to see the corruption of the Hierarchy from an outsider's perspective- a prince and an advisor who know the horrors of Will. But Vis' time in the Republic mingling with people who were born and raised with the ideals of the Hierarchy showed him another side of these people. He wouldn't have been able to get by without the help of the villagers when he had just escaped from Suus, but the Anguis had burned their village down. (pg 171) It is impossible to fix a broken system without violence. It is also impossible to have a successful rebellion without good people dying. What matters more? Human life or ending human suffering?
page 486
"No country's governance is perfect. Anyone who looks at a system of people and thinks the system is the problem, is a fool. But I also want you to understand that the Hierarchy's is far more insidious. Because it's not imperiled by flaw. It is built on one."
"The Hierarchy?" I was puzzled. The Hierarchy were a wall, smooth and strong and impossibly tall. They were an insurmountable obstacle, a force beyond my comprehension. "What flaw?"
"Greed." My father turned to me then, and his dark eyes held mine. The wind whipped us, a chill to it that far up. "Greed is by definition the moral ruler of the Hierarchy, Diago. All decisions are based upon it. It is not the strong who benefit in their system, no matter what they say- it is the weak. It is the ones willing to do anything, sacrifice anything, to rise. It rewards avarice and is so steeped in a wrong way of thinking that those within it cannot even see it"
Estevan and Vis’ father, Cristoval recognize the way the Hierarchy has brainwashed its citizens but still hold them to a higher moral standard. Vis recognizes the issue but is torn on what to think (I would be too if I was a double agent and always on the verge of death)
However, he sees the way the Anguis works and how the people within it have to cede to its leaders.
even tho they hate the system of the hierarchy they use it nonetheless with sedotia ceding her will to estevan
they have birthwright that means you can't kill people
"hate is a form of violence"
quote about the right to die from edwin
them working with the high ranking officials in the senate quotes
shows how rebellion is complicated and there are many aspects to it that are ugly but would you rather be in a world where you have to kill people to get the freedom that you deserve of be complicit in the suffering of 22 million people
hard choices to make
did I say anything meaningful at all? probably not but I finished this book last night and cannot stop thinking about it
