An Essay on Criticism by Alexander Pope starts with, “Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill appear in writing or in judging ill; But, of the two, less dang'rous is th' offence. To tire our patience, than mislead our sense.” I came across this quote from the video Can You Judge Art Objectively? The video got me thinking about whether or not I am achieving what I aim to in these posts.
When I wrote my first post on A Gathering of Shadows I felt stupid; I felt like I was wasting my time. I did not feel like I had achieved a greater understanding of the text. As a result, I am going to be trying something new based on the video mentioned above. I’m going to try and make sense of what is being communicated in the books.
A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Shwab, to me, communicates the idea of confinement. It goes through the topic via love, location, life and death, people, nationality, loyalty, and more. Each choice the character makes confines themselves, or another, in some way. However, unlike in the modern story of Cinderella, the characters do not necessarily break through their confinement.
Take, for example, Rhy. In book one of the series, Rhy is stabbed and Kell saves Rhy’s life by binding their lives together. As long as Kell lives, Rhy lives. Choices Kell and Rhy made this outcome inevitable and, as a result, Rhy is confined to never die for as long as Kell lives. But it goes beyond that. When one feels anything, the other feels some version of it. They no longer have the freedom to act knowing their actions will not harm the other.
Rhy’s confinement is explored throughout the book, whether it is the opener when he is dying from Kell losing connection to his magic or when he avoids sleep to hide from the darkness. However, his confinement turns into something of a liberation. In the beginning, Osaron comes to Red London, one of the four or five Londons in the story's universe, and takes over the city and its people. Rhy, though, cannot be taken over because he is connected to Kell. This confinement ends up liberating him to act. While everyone else who is not infected must hide in the castle, he goes out to help those who have survived Osaron.
This brings up the next form of confinement: self. Osaron has taken over the entire city and all those who are touched by his shadows are taken over (with a few exceptions). Osaron will take over the person’s body and leave them with no way to act. It is not clear if they even have thought. Based on Holland’s experiences which are explored in the book it is likely that the world is simply black and they are stuck in their own mind.
Holland is the embodiment of confinement in the story. In the first book, he has a collar that has him being controlled by another. In the second book, he has been freed from his collar, but allowed Osaron, as a partner, to enter his body in exchange for life. In the third book, he lost control of his entire body to Osaron and was gone for a small portion of the book. However, what follows is retribution. By the end, he has vanquished Osaron at the cost of his own magic. He has lost a source of freedom in exchange for vengeance.
Even Holland’s loyalty confines him. His London, a cutthroat brutal one, is his home. His life’s ambition is to save it and turn the city into one where one can grow up safely. At the end of the book, he leaves what is practically a utopia, in comparison, to return to his London where he will likely be killed. In this case, I would call it self-confinement as a result of loyalty to a childhood dream.
The list goes on though. We have Kell losing part of his magic from the battle when they use the inheritor to capture Osaron. The inheritor is a device that can take the magic from one person and give it another. Even to defeat Osaron, Holland, Kell, and Lila wear matching bands to fight together. These bands tie them together in confinement but allow them to be much more powerful if they work together. There is a venture to a pirate ship to get the inheritor and the bands which ends up requiring characters to trade whole years of their lives in exchange for the items.
On the other end of the spectrum of confinement is the main protagonist, Lila Bard. Throughout the entire series, she fights against any and all forms of confinement due to a traumatic event in the first book. At the slightest hint of commitment, she will run, which is her own confinement. It is only towards the end of the trilogy that we see her begin to understand that some confinement can be good, which I believe is a valid message that can be taken away from A Conjuring of Light.