Nation: Difference between revisions

[[File:Terry_Pratchett_Nation.jpg|frame]]

 

Soon, other survivors begin to arrive and more things are stirring. There will be trials, terrors, and secrets revealed, and always the forever danger of Locaha, the God of Death.

 

 

A stage version, adapted by Mark Ravenhill, debuted in 2009.

{{tropelist}}

* [[Action Survivor]]: Everyone to some extent.

* [[Ax Crazy]]: First Mate Cox. There's a reason that if a ship already has a first mate, they'll quickly ask to be second mate if First Mate Cox comes aboard.

* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: The Nation survives and flourishes. Daphne's father is crowned king. However, Daphne {{spoiler|leaves the island and only sees Mau one more time}}. Although {{spoiler|the girl who's being told the story}} insists that {{spoiler|two dolphins were seen swimming together immediately after both Mau and Daphne died}}

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: The axe (A [[Double Subversion]])

** {{spoiler|The recipe for making beer}} is a [[Chekhov's Skill]].

* [[Combat by Champion]]

* [[Cool Old Lady]]: Mrs. Gurgle (called so because Daphne can't pronounce her real name).

* [[Crazy Prepared]]: Cookie

* [[Deliberately Cute Child]]: although it doesn't happen onscreen, it's hinted that Daphne is not above pulling this when she has to. There's an interesting flashback when, as a child, she corners a particularly-[[Jerkass]] cousin, tells him to stop his antics, and [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit|promptly bursts into tears when the adults arrive]]. (The narrative also notes that her family could never have survived as long as it did without a mean streak.)

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Daphne, and she knows it too:

{{quote|"There was something in the brain that said: Sinister-looking valley + half dead trees + ominous doorway {{=}} skulls in a bowl, or possible on a stick. But even by listening to it, she felt she was being unfair to Mau and Cahle and the rest of them."}}

* [[Good Cannot Comprehend Evil]]: Daphne has a hard time explaining Cox's behavior to the islanders. They can cope with cannibals, but not someone who shoots people because they're there.

* [[The Grim Reaper]]: Locaha. And he's not as nice as Pratchett's other [[Discworld|Grim Reaper]].

** He acts cruelly uncaring, though some or even all of this might be [[Stealth Mentor|a ploy to make Mau figure things out himself]]. He's also more eager to claim lives than the [[Discworld]] Grim Reaper. However, the [[Just-So Story]] that opens the book depicts his creation as a necessity to avoid overpopulation and shows him taking a stand against Imo when Imo wants to wipe out the already-populated world and start over.

* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Mau goes through a pretty extreme version of this when he's sinking the bodies of his tribe in the ocean. Basically, his body's moving, but his mind isn't there any more. He doesn't even notice Daphne standing directly in front of him. He only wakes up just before drowning himself.

** Daphne gets a beneficial one via the Grandmothers to help her birth a baby.

'Huh, yes, ''six minutes'',' said the boy. }}

* [[Small Secluded World]]: the main character's world only includes a few islands since no one in his tribe ever sailed far enough to see the continent.

* [[Spirited Young Lady]]: Daphne.

* [[Soft Water]]: Averted, just in real life water can {{spoiler|stop bullets.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Alternate History Literature]]

[[Category:Young Adult Literature]]

[[Category:Carnegie Medal]]

[[Category:Literature]]