Week 6: Equal Rites

After reading Good Omens and nothing else by Pratchett, I was interested to see whether Gaiman or Pratchett was responsible for the parts of Good Omens that I adored. The answer was largely Pratchett. Equal Rites reminded me intensely of some of my favorite books I had read as a child. Very full of its own fantasy lore, Equal Rites satisfies that part of me that desires to see magic treated as something entirely normal, along with a healthy dose of witchy pragmatism. The language was both powerful and concise, full of quotable moments and a careful interweaving of that which is simple and that which is complex. Since this week is about the Heroic Journey, I figured I’d also list the other mentioned books that I’ve read: The Hobbit, which used to be a bedtime story of mine, The Lord of the Rings, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series, and Patrick Rothfuss’s infuriatingly unfinished trilogy. I do a lot of reading on my own time, and the majority of it has probably been both Fantasy and Heroic Journey. My favorite books are epic adventures, filled with harrowing obstacles from unknown lands and an unlikely protagonist come freshly into power. It’s this genre which tugs most at my heartstrings. It’s also one of the genres which has a long history of alienating women to the sidelines, which is why a book like Equal Rites is so refreshing. First of all, there’s a female protagonist, even though this isn’t too surprising anymore when you look at most of the young-adult books coming out recently. We commonly see female heroines these days. What’s really spectacular is seeing a female protagonist be mentored instead of alienated by another woman (Granny,) then go on to help her male counterpart, Simon, instead of being dominated by him. All too often a powerful heroine has a good journey until meeting her male interest, who immediately robs her of all mental and physical power in the novel in order to teach her how to be a woman. Instead, Esk has something to teach Simon about using (or not using) magic. It’s a really refreshing take on the relationship between a heroine and her counterpart. As well, Granny and the wizards experience a fair bit of give and take towards the end of the novel, each learning something new from the wizards or witches they disparaged for so long. Pratchett upends gender roles cleverly, without you even realizing what he’s done before it’s over. And best of all, he doesn’t demonize or champion either the men or the women, but shows how they’ve both been weakened by ignoring each other, and how they’re better on equal footing together. Unfortunately, Pratchett’s message with Equal Rites is still in dire need of being told. Our current culture still holds men to unrealistic expectations of strength, and women to unfair expectations of weakness.