Character Development by Jemisin

Analyze one character (ex Nassun) actions she takes/words she speaks in different points in the novels

Attempt to see how Jemisin changes that character and to what end

One of the most difficult things for a writer to do is to create and develop a character that is believable. Jemisin is very effective at writing characters and developing them in a way that feels real in their context and is constructive to her story and its themes. I am interested in how she develops a character, so I went back to Obelisk Gate in order to sess how exactly Nassun goes from wayward child to savior of humanity. (How would an orogene sess a book? Bury it? Stand on it? Would they be able to read a book a lot more quickly if it was underground? Food for thought)

Nassun’s introduction to The Broken Earth series is late for a main character, only getting any direct attention after the start of the second novel. It only goes to show Jemisin’s talent as a writer that she is able to develop Nassun as she does with so much less time and dedication. When we are introduced to Nassun she is fixated on her father in a worryingly obsessive manner. She seems to direct a great deal of negativity back onto her mother and herself, hating that Essun made her keep secrets from Jija about being an orogene. Essun’s development bleeds over into Nassun’s a bit as she lists a litany of reasons why she distrusts her mother and prefers her father over her, even after Jija murders Uche. Nassun seems confused, lost and desperate for something to cling to in the wake of her family’s destruction, which she blames on herself, her mother and her orogeny. What is important here is that she has been able to be what her father can love up until this point, but now he expects her to be something she can’t, which is not an orogene. They both are only able to continue on with the promise that Nassun will be able to undo her nature at Found Moon.

Later, after Nassun connects to the Sapphire and kills Eitz in the process she is heaping the blame for his death onto herself and lamenting that she is a monster. To this Shaffa says; “Perhaps, but you are my monster” (198). The narrator asserts that because of how awful Nassun feels that this actually makes her feel better. This is telling of her development and a reminder that not all change is for the better. In Shaffa she has a parental figure that gives her the love and affection that she craved from a father that was too weak and afraid to give it to her and a mother who was too broken and afraid to give it to her in a way that reached her. At this point Nassun is falling into a trap that many young orogenes fall into where their world has dissolved around them and they’ve no-one to turn to and Guardians show up to fill that void for them. Shaffa is a unique case and has managed to fight the influence of Evil Earth and genuinely cares for Nassun, yet still capitalizes on Nassun’s emotionally vulnerable state to engender feelings of trust and dependency. With Shaffa, Nassun is able to be herself without compromising or altering herself for his satisfaction. The most significant way that Shaffa is able to connect to Nassun is that he loves her for who she is, rather than for what she was or might be. This is different from Jija, who Nassun is forced to kill because he can not reconcile with the fact that his daughter is an orogene. This is significant in that Nassun refuses to bend to someone else’s expectations of her.

As a sort of side note, it is interesting to see how Essun alienated herself from Nassun by teaching her orogeny in the same way she was taught despite knowing that this method embittered her to the Fulcrum and eventually drove her away. It reminds me of how children with abusive parents are likely to also be abusive because they have no other model for parenting than violence to keep control. This lack of trust exists until the end of the series until Essun says that she wants to help Nassun with the Obelisk Gate.

In Stone Sky Nassun’s slavish devotion to Shaffa has only deepened to the point where she compromises her own objective in reaching the Obelisk Gate by bringing Shaffa with her despite Evil Earth’s ability to control him. While Shaffa is incapacitated, Nassun is alone and spends a great deal of time in the ruins of Syl Anagist hoping for Shaffa’s recovery before moving on. After Shaffa’s corestone is removed and she realizes how little time he has left to live she comes up with the plan to use the obelisks to turn everyone in the world into stone eaters in order to preserve Shaffa is some form or another. This plan I think is representative of Nassun inability to let go, she wants to keep Shaffa despite the fact that after living for so long as a slave to Evil Earth, being made into a stone eater that was tied to the same being. That is understandable given the value that being given unconditional validation has for anyone, but especially Nassun. Her actions in these later chapters illustrate that she has realized that orogenes are treated badly not because of their own failings, but because of the ignorance and mindless hate. Nassun no longer blames herself for how she is treated, but still relies on Shaffa’s validation of her and will preserve him however she can in order to continue being validated. Before she reaches the Obelisk Gate, the stone eater that has attached himself to her, Steel, stops Nassun and through a series of questions essentially points out that Nassun is lying to herself about turning Shaffa into a stone eater for his sake. She is really doing it for her own benefit and that living forever is not really that great. She is convinced through his argument that turning Shaffa into a stone eater is not the best thing for him. This does not mean she alters in her course though, and she prepares herself to go forward anyway.

What ultimately stops this is Essun’s presence at the climax and her real concern for her daughter. The Obelisk Gate speaks to Nassun and questions whether Shaffa is really the only person that cares for her as she believed up until this point having written off her mother as being “wrong” due to the Fulcrum’s influence. When Essun offers to unconditionally help Nassun, that is proof enough that her mother really does care for her and doesn’t really want Nassun to change herself for her sake.

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