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megansendlessreads 's review for:
Carve the Mark
by Veronica Roth
Carve the Mark tells the story of a people who have become tyrants in the eyes of the rest of the world. They are seen as overly vicious and a war bringing people. This story specifically follows the life of two important characters on the opposite sides of a deep rooted war. Cyra Noavek is the second child of the ruling family and is ruled by her deliberating pain of her gift and her brother. Akos is the third child of an oracle who has seen the breakdown and rebellion that arises out of Akos and Cyra’s actions.
I’m not going to lie, I was hesitant to buy and read this novel after the “controversy” about Carve the Mark was released and discussed. There were a lot of people upset with how the author set up some of the main characters and felt like there was a clear trend of racism present within this novel. There have been videos and reviews and articles written about Carve the Mark and whether or not racism and other sensitive topics.
Controversies:
Racism
The first controversy that erupted was about racism. I read through the novel and to be honest didn’t look for any specific instances of racism that might have been present in the novel. And after finishing the novel I have to say that I didn’t see anything that striked me as racist. The characters are briefly described in small snippets and to be honest, I don’t usually pay too much attention to character descriptions anyways. But no where in the novel did I see an instance where there were a group of similar looking people being characterized a certain way that was different from everyone else.
Instead I don’t think the author differentiated people from each other, every society was described as a range of different colors and descriptions. No characters were set apart because of how they looked and I think several of the families that were actually described with any particular detail has siblings that had different types of hair and skin tones.
Conclusion: At least to my understanding of Carve the Mark, there isn’t any racism present in this novel and to say that there were, would be a huge stretch and generalization of characters. You would have to really assume a lot of things that aren’t depicted in this novel to make it about racism and that’s just not how it is read.
Chronic Pain
One of the other controversies mentioned in this novel was how Veronica Roth depicted chronic pain in Carve the Mark.
I personally don’t have experience with chronic pain but when I read the novel I didn’t see the pain Cyra was in as a representation of this thing that affects a lot of people. Instead I took it at it’s value within the novel, which was part of Cyra’s currentgift. While it could definitely be related and start a great healthy conversation on the importance of realizing and understanding chronic pain, I didn’t see it as the author trying to represent people who do deal with this disease in a negative way.
Conclusion: From how I read Carve the Mark, there can definitely be a link to how Cyra’s currentgift affects her with those who deal with chronic pain. The parallels aren’t so direct that I could say that this was the author’s intention and people deal with pain in completely unique ways. To say how pain was represented in the novel was wrong would be misleading because I felt like Cyra became stronger throughout the novel through the pain she was in which is a common theme in young adult fantasy.
Self-Harm
The final controversy that came with the publication of Carve the Mark was the topic of self-harm. Cyra’s society has this tradition of marking oneself for every kill or loss that they experience. Once again I think this aspect has to be taken with the concept of the novel in mind. This is not some ostracized practice that leads to suicide or is used in an unhealthy way to deal with pain. Instead this is a custom that society follows and therefore has to be examined within that context. There are many societies who do similar things within our own world so to say that this novel is a pathway to saying it is okay to self harm, or misrepresents cutting is just very outside the scope of the novel.
Conclusion: This novel does not endorse self-harm but instead could open an avenue for a healthy discussion about self-harm as well as traditions of other societies. Keeping the scope of these issues to that of the novel becomes important because of how the action is described as a tradition of one’s society instead of an unhealthy way to relieve pain.
In Other Words
I know most of this review revolved around the controversies of Carve the Mark, but I felt like it was important because these things made me hesitant to start a great novel by an even better author. I loved these characters and their story and I know Roth will create a follow up book that will change everything in this series and knock me for a loop as she has done in all of her other series. Don’t miss out on a great read because of what other people found. Take opinions with a grain of salt and find your own truth because this novel is worth it.
I’m not going to lie, I was hesitant to buy and read this novel after the “controversy” about Carve the Mark was released and discussed. There were a lot of people upset with how the author set up some of the main characters and felt like there was a clear trend of racism present within this novel. There have been videos and reviews and articles written about Carve the Mark and whether or not racism and other sensitive topics.
Controversies:
Racism
The first controversy that erupted was about racism. I read through the novel and to be honest didn’t look for any specific instances of racism that might have been present in the novel. And after finishing the novel I have to say that I didn’t see anything that striked me as racist. The characters are briefly described in small snippets and to be honest, I don’t usually pay too much attention to character descriptions anyways. But no where in the novel did I see an instance where there were a group of similar looking people being characterized a certain way that was different from everyone else.
Instead I don’t think the author differentiated people from each other, every society was described as a range of different colors and descriptions. No characters were set apart because of how they looked and I think several of the families that were actually described with any particular detail has siblings that had different types of hair and skin tones.
Conclusion: At least to my understanding of Carve the Mark, there isn’t any racism present in this novel and to say that there were, would be a huge stretch and generalization of characters. You would have to really assume a lot of things that aren’t depicted in this novel to make it about racism and that’s just not how it is read.
Chronic Pain
One of the other controversies mentioned in this novel was how Veronica Roth depicted chronic pain in Carve the Mark.
I personally don’t have experience with chronic pain but when I read the novel I didn’t see the pain Cyra was in as a representation of this thing that affects a lot of people. Instead I took it at it’s value within the novel, which was part of Cyra’s currentgift. While it could definitely be related and start a great healthy conversation on the importance of realizing and understanding chronic pain, I didn’t see it as the author trying to represent people who do deal with this disease in a negative way.
Conclusion: From how I read Carve the Mark, there can definitely be a link to how Cyra’s currentgift affects her with those who deal with chronic pain. The parallels aren’t so direct that I could say that this was the author’s intention and people deal with pain in completely unique ways. To say how pain was represented in the novel was wrong would be misleading because I felt like Cyra became stronger throughout the novel through the pain she was in which is a common theme in young adult fantasy.
Self-Harm
The final controversy that came with the publication of Carve the Mark was the topic of self-harm. Cyra’s society has this tradition of marking oneself for every kill or loss that they experience. Once again I think this aspect has to be taken with the concept of the novel in mind. This is not some ostracized practice that leads to suicide or is used in an unhealthy way to deal with pain. Instead this is a custom that society follows and therefore has to be examined within that context. There are many societies who do similar things within our own world so to say that this novel is a pathway to saying it is okay to self harm, or misrepresents cutting is just very outside the scope of the novel.
Conclusion: This novel does not endorse self-harm but instead could open an avenue for a healthy discussion about self-harm as well as traditions of other societies. Keeping the scope of these issues to that of the novel becomes important because of how the action is described as a tradition of one’s society instead of an unhealthy way to relieve pain.
In Other Words
I know most of this review revolved around the controversies of Carve the Mark, but I felt like it was important because these things made me hesitant to start a great novel by an even better author. I loved these characters and their story and I know Roth will create a follow up book that will change everything in this series and knock me for a loop as she has done in all of her other series. Don’t miss out on a great read because of what other people found. Take opinions with a grain of salt and find your own truth because this novel is worth it.