Deconstructing Fire by Kristin Cashore, Part 3: Chapter 2

Spoilers for Fire, Graceling, and Bitterblue.

Content Notes: Jealousy and control in relationships; violence causing permanent injury; rape.

Chapter 2: In which various men are unable to manage their own damn emotions

Recap: In Chapter 1, we met Fire, a human monster who is impossibly beautiful and who can control humans and animals with her mind. A stranger shot her (non-fatally and by accident) and was taken prisoner by Fire's overprotective friend and lover, Archer.

Chapter 2 Synopsis: Fire wakes up to the news that the stranger was killed during the night by an extremely talented archer.  Archer is upset and Fire reminisces about her deceased father, Cansrel, who was similarly overprotective.

First of all, a quote from the text that sort of establishes that the citizens of the Dells tend to be darker-skinned rather than lighter:

"But the men of Pikkia, though not all alike, tended to be big, and lighter-skinned than their Dellian neighbors---at any rate, not small and dark like the blue-eyed poacher had been" [p. 37].

I like this quote because it establishes that the poacher - this is the guy who shot Fire - has both dark skin and blue eyes. I dislike it because it only establishes that the typical Dellian skin tone is darker than the skin of some light-skinned people, which is both vague and a definition by comparison. I'd rather find a quote that clearly describes Dellian skin - and preferably Fire's skin, since we Earthlings are accustomed to red-haired people having the whitest skin of all - in no uncertain terms. And maybe I will! There's lots of book left.

A major theme of this chapter is the introduction of Archer's bizarre and unwarranted jealousy toward Fire. For example:

"You think everyone wants to steal me," Fire said mildly. ... "And you should have a guard whenever you walk out your door, and you should be quicker to manipulate the people you meet. Then I'd have less cause to worry" [Archer said] [p. 37].

Remember in the last chapter, when Fire was unhappy about controlling the mind of the guy who shot her for just so she could save her own life? For pity's sake, Archer, I know she's pretty and everything, but have you ever listened to a single thing she's ever said??? Or do you just think that her freedom, independence, ethics, and right to make her own decisions are all so much white noise compared to your ardent desire to keep her safe and isolated?

The truth is that Archer's jealousy and over-protectiveness cannot be separated. He isn't a villain; he respects Fire's ultimate right to make her own choices (to a point); and the text makes it clear that he and Fire truly love each other; but he is sure as hell going to make her listen to his loud, angry, and bitter opinions.

Archer mentions the name of a new guard whom he supposes Fire hasn't met, and she replies that she has met him, and refers to his hair colour as identification. And Archer loses. His. Shit.

"I won't be stationing Tovat at your house any longer," he said, an unpleasant edge to his voice that drove her to silence for a moment, so that she wouldn't say anything unpleasant back about Archer's dubious---and rather hypocritical---right to jealousy. He opened a feeling to her that she didn't particularly care to feel right now. Biting back a sigh, she chose words that would protect Tovat" [pp. 40-41].

Let us consider this. First, Archer throws a fit and threatens the job of one of his own employees and second, Fire controls her own urge to say something cutting in return. She recognises the damage that a fight could do to their relationship, and decides to avoid it by choosing not to engage in the argument. Archer is allowed to be angry, but Fire feels that she has to control both her own emotions and Archer's - not through her monster mind-control powers, but through the typical tip-toeing and sensitive phrasing with which we women are so familiar. Her aim is not her own interests, but to protect Tovat from Archer's irrational jealousy.

This kind of managing of men's emotions is so common in real life that it could easily fly under the radar. I very much appreciate that Cashore draws attention to Archer's bad attitudes and reactions, and criticizes them through Fire, who is portrayed as calmer, more compassionate, and wiser than her friend.

Cashore continues to weave exposition with action, using such intriguing phrases as, "Archer's father lived in Archer's house" [p. 41]. Later in the chapter, Fire has a conversation with Archer's father, Brocker, which gives Cashore the opportunity to get the reader up to speed on Dellian political history as Brocker, who is an adviser to the king and the former military commander of the Dells, responds to Fire's questions regarding current and past politics.

Brocker uses a wheelchair, and has since before his son's birth, evidently due to offending the previous (unstable) king so badly that [TRIGGER WARNING for horrifying violence] he ordered eight men to shatter Brocker's legs. Let me just draw your attention, lovely readers, to the fact that Cashore does not pull her punches when it comes either to violence or to extremely disturbing psychological torture. This is going to be much more of an issue if I continue to Bitterblue after this. That book really needs to come with trigger warnings. But Fire has its share of distressing themes, particularly in relation to the human monster ability to control minds and the particular type of sexualised violence that Fire faces.

I cannot deconstruct this chapter without addressing the following. [TRIGGER WARNING for rape.]

"... a year or two later, when Brocker had recovered as well as he ever would, [King] Nax had still been angry with his commander.  He'd handpicked a brute from his prisons, a dirty, savage man, and sent him north to punish Brocker by punishing Brocker's wife" [p. 44].

It transpires that Archer was conceived via this man's rape of Aliss, Brocker's wife. Which really does not seem like a punishment of Brocker so much as one of Aliss. The text does make it plain that Nax was under Cansrel's influence, and Cansrel quite likely thought the whole situation was quite entertaining. We are not shown or told how Aliss dealt with her rape or resulting pregnancy. She dies of natural causes before the book begins.

I feel strongly that Aliss's story as a survivor of rape would have been relevant not only to the story, as it deals so much with sexual coercion, but also to Fire as a character who has to navigate so much sexual violence herself. Cashore does draw attention to the fact that Nax's second decision to punish Brocker falls much more strongly on Aliss, but I am not satisfied. I want to know who Aliss was. I want to know her story. She deserved to have it told.

[End of all trigger warnings.]

Anyway, here is one reason why Brocker is awesome:

"I've just finished writing a history of military strategy in the Dells. You're welcome to take it with you. It'll put you to sleep while making you clever and unbeatable" [p. 43].

 Brocker, please be my valentine.

Next time, I'll finish Chapter 2 and cover Chapter 3, which is quite short. We will speak of Cansrel and Fire's childhood, of father figures and Brocker as a foil for Cansrel, and Fire's emotional development.