Feet Of Clay: A Little Review
When I wrote about Men At Arms I mentioned that Feet Of Clay had a far stronger sense of righteous anger about it, and while that's certainly true, I had forgotten the compassion that Pratchett also writes into it.
It also is exhibit A in why reading Discworld books as disconnected thematic 'series' is a bad thing. This is a must-read before any of the Moist Von Lipwig books, establishing the golems and how they operate, as well as the first proper examination of dwarfish attitudes towards sex and gender.
Feet Of Clay is kind of a masterclass in the deft use of allegory (though it can be argued that a lot of it wasn't intentional at the point of writing). Cheery/Cheri isn't exactly a 1:1 mirror of the trans experience, and the golems aren't 1:1 matches for slave labour, but in both cases there's so many elements on show that it's hardly surprising that many people have found the stories of Cheri and Dorfl speak to their own personal experiences in some way.
It is, at its core, a story about personhood. For Dorfl (and by later extension all golemkind) the question of just how alive he really is doesn't get a definitive answer by the end of the book, although the story is clearly leaning in the direction of 'yes'. It's very interesting that the way this notably deviates from the real-world struggles for human rights is in the value placed on a golem's existence; Dorfl knows his value, and the value of other golems - it's the price they were bought for, and the price he intends to pay to buy them their freedom. Contrast that with experiences of enslaved peoples throughout history, where putting a monetary value on a person's life or declaring they equate to ⅗ of human being is today considered utterly dehumanising and a violation of their personhood, it makes the point stronger by way of contrast, rather than simply making the plight of golems a cipher for slavery.
Or perhaps it doesn't. Perhaps it takes too light a touch on such a heavy issue, perhaps I'm letting Pratchett off too easily for a denouement where golems see the way out of ownership is to simply save up and purchase themselves (though historically this has been one of the most common methods for leaving relatively). I can't say on any personal authority, as I have no lived experience to compare it to.
The same goes for Corporal Littlebottom, who of course quickly became a character many trans readers identified with. Again, I can't speak to a lived experience here. But as with Dorfl, this isn't a direct allegory for trans experiences - indeed, the joke (or at least the twist) is that she isn't trans, but is coming out as being her birth gender, a huge taboo (especially for women) in dwarven cultures. But the journey of self-expression and identity is recognisably similar.
I think Pratchett was, at least at time of writing, not fully aware of how important this would turn out to be for LGBTQ readers, as a lot of her scenes are pushed as humour first and foremost, but I understand he grew to appreciate the feedback from such readers, and this helped inform later works.
The other part I find fascinating here is that a third faction is introduced to the political landscape of Ankh-Morpork - the nobility. In Men At Arms the guild hegemony was built up, in order for it to begin its long, slow decline at the expense of a civil service branch (exemplified first by the Watch and later by Moist Von Lipwig). But the nobility are a group whose decline has already taken place, and yet still have power and influence in the city (though, it should be noted, not very much. The idea to promote Nobby as a puppet ruler is so badly thought out that it actually shows their utter incompetence as conspirators).
In any case, the book is largely a triumph, though it does have a few flabby areas which could have done with trimming down. Angua's subplot doesn't really go anywhere or have much to do with any other aspect of the story. I don't much like that the Patrician works out the plot against him before Vimes does - in Men At Arms he was actually vulnerable, but making him seem omniscient reduces the stakes too much.
And finally, at it's core this is yet another Ankh-Morpork book centered on a conspiracy to oust the Patrician. The Watch books so far are three for three on this score, and this isn't even the last one. Hell, The Fifth Elephant has largely the same conspiracy plot, but simply transplants it to another country and another leader. But that's something to deal with another time.
