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Summary
Part Three, Chapter 27
H.S. Curie journal entry
Curie notes that the media does not cover gleanings, even the mass gleanings. Nevertheless, individuals do upload photographs and videos of them to the Thunderhead. Individual scythes can become famous for their work, which leads some to seek out celebrity. Though Curie is well aware that people consider her a legend, she wishes that were not so.
Chapter 27: Harvest Conclave
Citra continues her training with Curie. She has discovered more in her investigation into Faraday’s death that she cannot wait to share with Rowan at the Conclave. Though she and Curie trust each other, Citra cannot reveal what she knows to her mentor. Part of her training has consisted of learning about bad scythes, whom she believes are lazy, prejudiced, or beset by poor judgment. She observes that people now consider bad scythes like Goddard as visionary. After they get news of Goddard’s latest mass gleaning, Curie warns Citra about the dangers of being a famous scythe. She admits her infamous gleaning of the president and his cabinet was a mistake, born of a well-intentioned but futile desire to change the world. She also warns Citra not to trust Rowan, believing that gleaning Rowan before Goddard’s teachings infect him is the best thing she can do for her friend.
During the scythe arrivals at the Harvest Conclave, Goddard receives fawning attention from the crowd. Meanwhile, Citra and a very tense Curie arrive far more quietly. Citra’s feelings are hurt because Rowan does not come to find her. Meanwhile, Rowan actually wants to see her but cannot due to the attention he receives from apprentices who envy his position with Goddard. He and Citra bicker upon finally seeing each other because she assumes he is enjoying the attention. After agreeing not to think about the next Conclave, Citra privately shows Rowan what she has uncovered about Faraday’s last day. She has found nothing conclusive but did discover that the camera on the train platform where Faraday died had been conveniently vandalized, and some of the witnesses had received immunity from gleaning. Rowan does not think she has anything solid to follow up on and disagrees with her insinuation that Goddard likely killed Faraday. Rowan tells her she can learn more once she becomes a scythe, but she questions why he is so sure that she will win the apprenticeship contest.
During the Conclave’s regular proceedings, Goddard faces another anonymous accusation, this time for being too free with handing out immunity. Curie tells Citra that Goddard is becoming too powerful and says that someone should have gleaned him as a child. During lunch, Citra listens to other old-guard scythes express concern about Goddard, and it upsets her that they lump Rowan in with him. In the remaining sessions, the Conclave debates superficial issues, such as whether scythes can accept endorsements, rather than more serious matters, such as addressing how gleaning seems to be devolving into murder.
Bokator matches are selected for this Conclave’s apprenticeship test and Citra’s heart sinks when she realizes she will face off against Rowan. Rowan has already decided to throw the match, though not overtly. He is frustrated when he realizes Citra knows what he is doing and is still letting him win. Citra assumes Rowan is trying to throw the match out of arrogance and would rather glean herself than glean him if he intentionally fails the apprenticeship. To get himself disqualified, Rowan breaks Citra’s neck during the final seconds of the match, killing her. The crowd erupts in fury, some angry at Rowan for breaking the rules and others angry at his disqualification. Rowan hopes that Citra will not forgive him after she is revived.
H.S. Curie journal entry
Curie recalls that there had been a movement in the past to purge only those people who were born in the mortal age. She had opposed it, but the Thunderhead did nothing. Scythedom ultimately ended the purges and punished the scythes who participated, but by then, much mortal-age knowledge was gone forever. Now, people born during the mortal age hide their origins. Curie wonders if the Thunderhead would be as indifferent and neutral if scythes started recklessly gleaning all humanity, and whether the Thunderhead would mourn such an action. If the Thunderhead would mourn, she wonders if it would do so as a child might after losing a parent, or as a parent would mourn the loss of an incorrigible, foolish child.
Analysis
Citra’s investigation into Faraday’s death reveals key differences between her and Rowan as they both strive toward similar goals. Citra is determined to uncover the truth of what happened, even going so far as to subvert the rules in order to better investigate. Ultimately, she finds nothing conclusive, but she quickly jumps to the conclusion that Faraday did not glean himself and that Goddard is guilty of murdering him. But Rowan knows Goddard far more intimately than Citra does, and he is dismissive of her accusation and unconvinced by her circumstantial evidence. Rather than evaluating the evidence to draw a conclusion, she has already made up her mind that foul play occurred, and she views every fact through this limited lens. Meanwhile, Rowan, who’s always excelled at people skills but been less academically inclined, doesn’t understand the urgency that drives her investigation and also disagrees that Goddard is the most likely suspect, though he acknowledges it does appear as if someone has murdered Faraday. He cautions Citra to put aside her investigation until she is a scythe herself. The conversation between the two about whether Goddard is a murderer reveals that Citra is highly resourceful and driven, while also potentially hasty to judgment, and that Rowan is a perceptive, big-picture thinker who’s skilled at reading people and situations.
The martial art of Bokator symbolizes the complex requirements of the scythe profession as Rowan and Citra fight to determine who will glean the other. The match between them is an intricate power play, one that requires equal parts strength, agility, and focus, and it quickly devolves into a deft attempt by both of them to throw the match to save each other. In this way, Bokator mirrors the complicated skillset required to be a good scythe. Good scythes must be hardened enough to kill for a living but not so hardened that they allow themselves to descend into bloodthirst or nihilism. It’s a delicate balance that not everyone can manage, and it is exemplified by the careful movements Citra and Rowan employ during their fight. The complex dynamics of the match, with Citra and Rowan both trying to lose while also obscuring that they are losing intentionally, mirrors the complicated dynamics within Scythedom as Goddard’s fame and influence increase. The misdirection Citra and Rowan both demonstrate in the match essentially mirrors the misdirection Goddard employs to protect himself. Like a skilled Bokator practitioner, he uses self-generated anonymous accusations to deflect valid criticisms of himself and conceal his real goals.
The characters’ use of language around matters of death reflects a growing schism in Scythedom. When Rowan snaps Citra’s neck during the Bokator match, he renders her deadish. People in this world use “deadish” to describe someone who is dead but can be revived, unlike those who have been gleaned. Still, the word deadish obscures the fact that Rowan has killed her. This society has become numb to the realities of death because they rarely contend with the finality of it. Citra herself has also become more cognizant of these issues, where earlier she had shown no awareness of what murder was. However, during the Conclave, she even uses the word “murder” while fuming about the scythes’ preoccupation with superficial matters rather than with Goddard’s mass gleanings. Curie’s mentorship likely plays a heavy role in Citra’s perceptions, since Curie uses the word “purge,” with connotations of chilling historic massacres and genocides, to describe when scythes go too far. Goddard’s rising power heavily relies on the obfuscation of the reality of what he is doing because stopping him necessitates directly identifying his actions as the crimes they really are.
The depiction of guerilla media demonstrates that Citra is not alone in using the Thunderhead subversively as a means for information. According to Curie, official channels do not cover gleanings, but everyone knows about them and people can easily use the Thunderhead to upload their own evidence for others to view. This dynamic mirrors Citra’s own misuse of her access to the backbrain to learn what happened to Faraday. Despite Curie’s complaints about how dull people have become, the fact that multiple people proactively use the Thunderhead to bypass official channels of news and share information suggests that people may not be as complacent with life as they appear, even if their motivations for doing so include mere morbid curiosity. Both the people who share the information and those who seek it out are using their own initiative to reject the official silence on gleanings. Within this context, they’re doing exactly what the highly independent and intelligent Citra does when she uses the Thunderhead’s backbrain to disprove Xenocrates’ explanation for Faraday’s death.
