Politics in Clash of Kings.

I am on book two of the Game of Thrones series. The second book is called “A clash of kings.”  A character named Varys poses a riddle. "In a room sit three great men, a king, a priest, and a rch man with his gold. Between them stands a sellsword, a little man of common birth and no great mind. Each of the great ones bids him slay the other two. 'Do it,' says the king, 'for I am your lawful ruler.' 'Do it,' says the priest, 'for I command you in the names of the gods.' 'Do it,' says the rich man, 'and all this gold shall be yours.' So tell me- who lives and who dies?" The main character points out that the sellsword would obviously kill the Priest and the King. But Varys asked, ‘why would he listen to any of them?’

As I read through this book about Kings wasting lives in their little political power play, I always wonder exactly what Varys wondered. Why would armies, listen to singular persons, who don’t have any experience, just because they come from a rich family? In the riddle, the sellseword has the power, not any of the three men. He could command them, and make them bow if he just realized the fact that they feared him.

I feel the same way about countries with a forced dictatorship. Why do the dictators have the power?  Can’t the soldiers see that without them the dictator has nothing? If everyone walked out of the country, if everyone began protesting that the dictator would just be another person. Loyalty in certain cases, can be a very very dangerous thing indeed.

But then again, I feel like in Clash of Kings a sudden breakdown of the hierarchy would mean total chaos. Because the sellswords would take to bullying the average person, and they would be helpless. The problem is the people have no say. It’s either the one’s with swords, or the one’s with gold. And in the worse case scenarios the one’s with both.  The political system in Clash of Kings is cringe worthy, but even more cringe worthy is the fact that countries in the real world still run in that way. 

Oscar.

In ‘The brief and wondrous life of Oscar Wao’ Oscar is a morbidly obese Dominican who lives in New York. He struggles through life, as everyone torments him and he torments himself. Eventually a curse, which has been in his family for years, does him in. The book has a lot to do with culture, at some points its bilingual, and it has foot note upon foot note on like in the Dominican Republic. Oscar feels tons of pressure from his homeland to be slick and smooth with the ladies, and he spends hours worrying that he isn’t (and he isn’t).   

Having a culture where unspoken rules, ethics, a morals are passed down from generation to generation is usually a good thing. It promotes a tight knit community, where everyone knows each other, and knows how everyone acts.  But it also makes a harsh place for people who are different. When every single person has the same standards, and someone can’t meet it, then every single person will be disappointed, and displeased. For Oscar, being a stuttering, obese nerd makes him a sore thumb in the Dominican community. He desperately wants to fit in, but he is unable to. In fact, he is so different from everyone else that people regularly ask him whether or not he’s actually Dominican. He insists that he is, but is he really?                  

Sure his family comes from there, but he doesn’t have the same morals, he doesn’t have the same standards or beliefs. The only thing that marks him as Dominican is his heritage, and is that enough? What does it mean to be from somewhere? For Oscar is means having people that accept him, having people that are similar to him, and share his thoughts. And in Oscars case, the place where he’s from is not his land, or his culture, and much as he wants it to be. 

Oppressive order? Or chaos?

 In a book I recently read, called Shades of Grey society is based on what people can see. There are seven kinds of people, Red, Green, Blue, Purple, Yellow, Orange, and Grey. Purple is the highest in society; Grey the lowest. Eddie Russet is a low Red. He gets in trouble and is sent away from his home, and society, to a place called “The outer fringes” and unruly place, that seems to blow Eddie mind. They break rules! They don’t follow the holy book of color! He meets a wild Grey named Jane. Together they discover a dark secret about this dystopia future. My question after reading the book was “Which is better, having an oppressive, yet semi functional society, or chaos?”

Obviously there are ups and downs for both. The society, if not stopped, will last for centuries more probably, centuries of oppression and hidden death.  But for most people living is alright. But for those who dare question or think, they’ll meet a grim end. However in chaos, there are no rules. Someone with power and influence could easily take over and make things even worse!

So there’s no perfect answer. The hardest and best solution is to work to destroy the society, but keep some vestiges of civilization once it’s gone. Eddie and Jane truly have a hard couple of years coming.