The Everlasting Alix E Harrow Literary Analysis
I wanted to write a bit of a literary analysis of The Everlasting. Honestly when I started reading books again, I kind of thought people would write stuff like this in reviews or somewhere, like Spark Notes but instead I was reading reviews a couple sentences long that I felt like didn’t understand the book. And in an age of dying media literacy, I decided I would take a stab at it. I unfortunately did Software Engineering as my degree, and last time I did anything like this was GCSE so I am no expert. Feedback is appreciated, and of course feel free to add your own opinion. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Everlasting by Alex E. Harrow is a fantasy romance novel set in the 20th century, post war in an empire called Dominion. It follows a scholar going back in time to complete Una the Everlasting’s legendary story, and to scribe it for forthcoming generations. But he is sent back more than once, reliving his life each time, and only remembering what he did in a previous iteration by the end of the new one. My focus for this analysis is not about the romance or the unconventional gender roles (which many would say is the main point of the book) but what I loved about it most which was the anti-war and anti-colonialist messages.
Owen Mallory is a Product of Propaganda
My analysis begins with something I’ve seen in reviews of this book. ‘How am I meant to like our main protagonist, when he seems like a massive Tory, and then out of nowhere he isn’t?’. Owen Mallory is pro-colonialist, pro-war, and defends the decisions his government makes to the end. It’s fair to dislike him at the start, we want our narrators to be likeable. But the point never was Owen’s a Tory because he’s a bad person, he’s been brainwashed to be in love with Dominion. Owen is a product of propaganda.
From when Owen is a young boy, he is presented with the legend of Una the Everlasting. His reaction to her story shows the impact a tale can have, especially on a young impressionable mind. 'You (Una) had been poor, but no one called you a poor thing.' Owen speaks with envy as he’s talking about the legend. He relates to her background, they both grew up in poverty but she was still a saint to be regarded.
When Owen is 23 with very little self-worth, he saw a poster of Una, and to Owen ‘ [she] who was everything I wasn’t and everything I wanted.’ He coveted what she had, she was glorious to him and all he had to do was fight for his country like she had to become that. The poster stated ‘Dominion Needs You!’. Throughout history, propagandist posters were used in both World War I and II, and this evokes the same rhetoric as the well known 'Your Country Needs You' poster featuring Lord Kitchener, or the more American known 'I Want You for U.S. Army’ poster featuring Uncle Sam. Both characters are pointing at the viewer and use patriotism and nationalism to evoke emotions from the viewer. Owen had been a victim of this, just as many were during the war.
Another reason Owen is more patriotic can be seen through his upbringing. His father is a drunkard, as well as a traitor. He fought in the war, but abandoned his post early, leading to the title. Owen watched him be ridiculed as a traitor, as well as how he would oftentimes see his father drunk from a young age, he does not respect him. In reference to the stories of Una Everlasting, he even says ‘Perhaps if my father had read your stories… he would not have grown up to be a traitor and turncoat’. Owen is disappointed by his father, and he fantasises how life could’ve been different.
Owen also doesn’t become anti-Dominion overnight. Although meeting the woman he reveres so deeply, he doesn’t warn her of her death. He lies to her, and runs through the script that is asked of him by his country. ‘I watched you ride toward the blood end of your story alone.’ We can see through the tone of his voice, he seems regretful of this but he does allow her to go forward. It’s only after her death, and finding out the truth from Vivian Rolfe that Owen begins to dislike the Dominion he had pride for ‘You want to turn this, turn her, into a fucking campaign ad?’ Before this Owen never disrespected Vivian Rolfe (the war minister), but we can see his attitudes towards the government changing.
The unshackling of Owen’s pro-war sentiments I think is quite interesting. A perfect place to see this is through the boy on the train. After Owen initially gets the copy of the book, a boy on the train asks questions about it.
In the first iteration it’s described, 'The boy was waiting with his long dreamer’s lashes tipped up to me… Would it be your story… that sent him to the front? Something swelled painfully in my chest at the thought; pride, I decided.’ We can infer from the word ‘painfully’ that at this point Owen might already have views against the war, but he still decides that he is feeling pride about the idea of the little boy going to war like him. The boy represents Owen as a child, impressionable, a blank slate that could end up on any path in his life.
In the second iteration Owen describes him slightly differently. ‘...he might one day read the title himself… Perhaps those dreams would send him to war… As I had. Something swelled painfully in my chest - guilt, I thought.’ The short phrase ‘As I had.’ infers regret, Owen doesn’t wish the same story to repeat with this boy. He also feels guilt immediately, a stark contrast to his feeling of pride previously. He feels like the impact that he would make through the translation of this book, his life’s work, would cause an impact he would feel culpable for.
In the third iteration we see the boy a final time, ‘I pictured him reading it one day. Pictured him enlisting, shipping out, fighting, killing, dying, another hero of Dominion. Something swelled painfully in my chest - fury, I thought.’ This description is much shorter than his previous ones, where he would fantasise about how the dreams from this book could cause the boy to go to war. Now he describes war astutely, in a couple words on how he envisions it. His sentiment about war isn’t about glory, he has no pride for it, he only shows anger about the idea of the cycle that he will impact.
Born of Another Race in a Colonial Country
Harrow briefly touches upon the struggles ethnic minorities face whilst being in a colonial country. Owen is a darker skinned man, mentioned often how he resembles closely to those from the Hinterlands, his theory is that his mother was a Hinterlander, and she had met his father (a man from the Dominion) during the previous war. Because of this, even during the first iteration, he understands his privilege and where he stands. This can be seen through his argument with his father. ‘He didn’t seem to understand that a man like me would never be wholly beyond suspicion, no matter how ardently loyal, while a man like him would never be wholly condemned, no matter how faithless.’ Owen understands that his father bears privilege he never will, based on his physical appearance. His father a traitor, Owen a patriot for his country, and yet Owen would never be as readily accepted by the Dominion like his father.
This can be mirrored in real life. Ethnic minorities in countries like Britain and America can oftentimes be seen to be more patriotic so they can be accepted into a country as an outsider. In one of Owen’s final iterations, he translates the book and becomes sensational. He tours the country, and becomes a household name. Despite his fame, he continued to experience micro-agressions, ‘But then a woman had lingered after one of my lectures to pat my hand and tell me she only wished the rest of ‘my type’ would devote themselves to their new country’. This shows a subtle act of discrimination against Owen, and the Hinterlanders, how minorities have to represent the whole of their race. Finally Owen decides patriotism hasn’t done anything to aid him, as he will never be accepted. 'And I understood finally that a nation is a house with no windows or doors at all. That no matter what I did - no matter how much blood I spilled in its defence or ink I spent in its praise - it would never, ever be my home.’
Other propaganda I thought was interesting from a colonial point of view. How other races are demonised within the book - pretty similar to how Palestinians were treated as lesser beings, black people during apartheid etc.
Dehumanisation is a method of colonialism found plenteous through history, how Palestinians were described by zionists before 1948 “Chaim Weizmann who when asked about the inhabitants of Palestine responded with ‘The British told us that there are some hundred thousand negroes [Kushim] and for there is no value.’” Black people are described to have smaller brains and be biologically less intellectual from the 1600s up until the 20th century.
In the Everlasting it is used to describe the people of Dominion before they were colonised “The savage Hyllmen, the Gallish with their heathen temples all painted up like fast women. All of them mired in filth and darkness.” This is a common tactic, used to rile up soldiers but also to hammer the idea that those people were necessary subjects of subjugation.
The final bit of propaganda I found very impressive was Vivian’s use of ‘Ancel the betrayer’. After she manipulated Ancel to kill the legend Una in the past, Vivian uses the term ‘Ancel’s Heirs’ to label traitors. If the citizens of Dominion were like Owen and listened to the tales, they would immediately have disdain for the label, but also for the group that were associated with Ancel.
And that is my analysis! Honestly, I stay away from books about wars since they are depressing, so maybe my analysis is surface level and there are better books to showcase these topics. I enjoyed the premise, the execution and the villain extensively and was impressed by how she was always 5 steps ahead.
jacobvanloon
pixelskylines
tangentwithtanner
izzy806
2087
prguitarman
areudirty
origamiaround
