As a first-time reader of Graceling I was a little unsure of what to expect when
delving into the novel. In the first few pages, Katsa can slink around behind
castle walls undetected and single-handedly dispatch of 20-30 men with ease.
This seemingly ludicrous ability, afforded to her by her "grace"
reminded me immediately of the feats accomplished in movies such as Mission:
Impossible, The Bourne Supremacy, or James Bond. One could say these special
agents were “graced” with fighting/killing like Katsa. Katsa working in the
shadows as part of a secret Council to effect positive change throughout the
kingdom seemed very akin to a secret spy agency – complete with a vast array of
safe houses and hidden operatives. The tense MI theme song lends itself
perfectly to Katsa’s portrayal in the early portions of the novel. I could
easily imagine her sneaking about, dispatching a guard as the music swells, and
then sneaking as it lulled. Although Katsa’s sleeping pills aren’t nearly as
sophisticated as say an exploding stick of gum, they are very much a tool of
espionage, contributing to her secret agent image.
Hi Jacob,
ReplyDeleteYes, your post made me think about how much this novel is about espionage and intrigue, and yet when we were talking about its genres we did not touch on that. It could be that that genre usually conjured up images of powerful (white) men in suits, so we didn't make those connections to Graceling, but I think your song selection does a nice job of inviting us to revisit those assumptions. You could embed the link to the song in the title of the song when you first introduce it or embed a video or mp3 clip of the song into the post so that we can listen to it alongside your analysis.