Nation

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Pratchett, Terry. 2008. Nation. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0061433012.

PLOT SUMMARY

It is a new and different world. A very different world. In a universe parallel to our own, where the Great Southern Pelagic Ocean, with its islands of Mrs. Ethel J. Bundy’s Birthday Island and The Mothering Sunday Islands, exists, as well as the ReUnited States, cataclysmic events have occurred. In England, the King and his 138 successors have died during a Russian flu epidemic. On the other side of the world, in the Pelagic Ocean, a tsunami has swept away the Nation, a small island community. It is here that two young lives become intertwined. Mau, the lone survivor of the Nation, is caught between boyhood and manhood, soulless and without hope. Ermintrude, otherwise known as Daphne, has been stranded on the island when the ship she is sailing on is dropped by the wave into the island’s forest, killing everyone on board except Daphne. Nation is a story of coming of age, survival, and exploring the depths of one’s faith, wrestling with the gods to find the answers to big questions. At the end, when asked why he is crying, the old man sums it all up, “Because we keep going. Because we’ve come so far and have such a long way still to go.”

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Terry Pratchett has created a world that could exist and characters that plumb the depths of human resilience. In the natural world, great tragedies do happen and we are always fascinated and amazed by tales of survival against seemingly impossible odds. Nation is just such a tale. Two young people, on the verge of adulthood, from very different worlds, strive to create a new Nation after the first is destroyed by a tsunami. Told from their alternating viewpoints, the reader experiences the intense struggles each faces as they each make a place for themselves in a new and different world.

Mau is the only one of his nation to survive the tsunami. The waves started to dance as he made ready to leave the Boys’ Island, the place to leave his boy soul behind, ready to receive his man soul when he got back to the Nation. Caught in the storm at sea, Mau experiences the terror of the wave. More terrifying than the wave, is discovering, on reaching the island, that no one is left. It is left to Mau to find each body, tie rocks or coral to it with papervine, cut the spirit hole, and send the body into the sea, where it would be pulled under and the person would grow a new skin and become a dolphin. It is at this time that Mau begins to hear the voices of the Grandfathers, and he wrestles with the traditions they speak of to him, and with the gods who have allowed this to happen to his Nation. Mau finds Daphne (or the other way around) and together they learn about the new world they are living in, making it a place for refugees. Mau finds an uneasy peace within himself, a balance of sorts that allows him to lead his new people.

Daphne is on a ship that is taking her to her father, who is the governor of Port Mercia. The ship, caught in the wave, is deposited amongst the trees of the Nation with Daphne its sole survivor. Daphne is a bit more matter-of-fact about the deaths of her fellow shipmates, but she is haunted by the death of her baby brother many years before. Used to a domineering grandmother and a kind and gentle father, Daphne must reach deep within herself to balance her proper English upbringing with her will to survive. It is she who discovers Mau in his numbed state and cares for him without his knowledge. As she comes to care for him and the Nation, she discovers skills that she didn’t know she possessed. As more and more refugees come to the island, she becomes mother, nurse, mystic, and soul mate. Always faithful to the idea that her father will come to find her, she finds herself torn between her old life and her new life when he does arrive. Daphne can choose to stay with Mau or return with her father. Mau tells her that her father, the new king, needs her. He tells her that she has made his world more perfect.

Pratchett has created intense characters who reflect those innermost thoughts and feelings that we all experienced. The tragedy of the wave is seen as the horrendous event that it is; the reader feels Mau’s pain and understands his withdrawal from reality as he buries each loved member of the Nation at sea. But Pratchett also has found the beauty in tragedy - two souls who remain united despite their eventual separation, two young people who build something new out of the ashes of the old. “Where much is taken, something is returned.” It is not a better world; it is a different world.

Pratchett setting holds all the best of an island world - a lagoon, a forest, a sandy beach and a mountain. Best of all, there are caves, guarded by the bones of the Grandfathers, which reveal the origins of the world, man, and language. It is in these caves that Mau begins to find his redemption.

PERSONAL RESPONSE

I chose to read Nation because my son is a huge Terry Pratchett fan. At the beginning of the story, I had a little bit of trouble getting into the rhythm of the story, feeling like the cadence of the words was a little awkward. I was prepared, at that point, to not like this book. I loved it! At various points within the book, I found some of Daphne’s thought processes a little unbelievable, but then I thought to myself, “Her is a girl, in horrific conditions, ripped from her very staid, well-regulated world, and I am questioning how she thinks?” I quickly got over thinking that way. This is a great book and I think that both young adult and adult readers will find much to take away from it.

REVIEW EXCERPTS

Boston Glove-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature, 2009 Winner Fiction and Poetry United States

Cybil Award, 2008 Finalist Fantasy and Science Fiction (Young Adult) United States
Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, 2009 Longlist United Kingdom

Locus Award, 2009 Finalist Young Adult Book United States

Los Angeles Times Book Prize, 2008 Winner Young Adult Literature United States
Michael L. Printz Award, 2009 Honor Book United States

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature, 2009 Finalist United States
Odyssey Award, 2009 Honor United States

Booklist Starred Review: “Quirky wit and broad vision make this a fascinating survival story on many levels.”

Children’s Literature: “There are so many levels of thought in this book; it would be great for discussions. A true adventure and survival story outside of Pratchett’s Discworld, his humor and depth still shine through. There is no better way to show both genders coming of age than with an island adventure that touches every emotion. Leadership, fear, questioning authority, and a sense of wonder all come together to make an unforgettable journey.”

Kirkus: “This is no heavy-toned tale: Tears and rage there may be in plenty, but also a cast of marvelously wrought characters, humor that flies from mild to screamingly funny to out-and-out gross, incredible discoveries, profound insights into human nature and several subplots—one of which involves deeply religious cannibals. A searching exploration of good and evil, fate and free will, both as broad and as deep as anything this brilliant and, happily, prolific author has produced so far.”

CONNECTIONS

Ø  Explore Terry Pratchett’s website, which offers a plethora of information about all things Pratchett, with students: http://www.terrypratchett.co.uk/

Ø  Recognizing that one can’t anticipate every action and reaction in the event of a disaster, brainstorm with students what skills or mindsets they have that would help them to survive an event such as the one Mau and Daphne faced.

Ø  Have students list the items they feel would be necessary to them in a survival situation.

Ø  Have students research true-life tales of survival and compare those survivors with Mau and Daphne.

Ø  Read other tales of survival, including:

·                         Paulsen, Gary. 2006. Hatchet. ISBN 9781416936473.

·                         George, Jean Craighead. 2004. My Side of the Mountain. ISBN 9780142401118.