This is mostly a Nate analysis but I discuss rooster a bit too. SPOILERS FOR BOOK 2 OF A HOUSE DIVIDED!!!
@skipitty-bop (it’s finished! Messy! But finished!)
One of the first things that caught my eye when reading through the books was just how similar Rooster and Nate look. The blond hair, the pale eyes, he looks so similar to Nate when he was still a soldier. The big thing that struck me is just how different their ideologies are in regard to being a tool of the margrave to help others.
Rooster is a young fresh faced soldier who will do anything to help others. His “by any means necessary” ideals directly counter Nate’s “Survivor” mentality which makes the part where Nate willingly throws himself into danger for other people’s sake all the more important to me.
Seeing this young soldier, about to risk everything to save the people he cares about, sets some things off for Nate.
Nate’s “Survivor” mentality has always been about choices. Having a choice in things is important to Nate. Having a choice means he has a choice to escape and live another day. He chose to run away from the ambush on his men. He chose to lie to Captain Booner and lead them the opposite way of the front lines. As stated, he will live “By any means necessary”. But he also makes choices that will help people in some way. His choice to lead Booner the opposite way was to help others to flee. The problem with that choice for Booner and Nate is that they both know that his choice came from the desire to survive so any and all selflessness he shows about possibly helping people is negated by his own desires.
With his “Survivor” frame of mind he’s constantly making excuses and justifications to himself that “there was nothing I could do” (as seen with him trying to comfort himself about not being able to catch Henrietta before she fell farther into the basement). Despite his attempts at comforting himself with justifications he still carries immense guilt over this aspect of himself (as seen with him hoping Henrietta is also a survivor like him and saying that maybe Booner was right and that he should have been left for dead on the battlefield for his actions).
Rooster, to Nate, represents what kind of soldier he could have been. A kind and selfless soldier willing to risk life and limb for others if he wasn’t so focused on his own survival. He realizes that being a good soldier was going to get him and Booner killed and realized Rooster would die running towards battle like he would’ve if he was a soldier like Rooster. So for once in his life Nate made the choice to sacrifice himself.
By pushing Rooster it was an apology of sorts. A way to atone for surviving, because maybe by saving this one soldier he can forgive himself for leaving so many others to die. Showing that maybe being a survivor means you can live another day to save others like he wanted when he led Booner astray to help more people.
