The Courage to Demand Better

Soundless by Richelle Mead

I have re-read this book countless times. I re-read the book last weekend with a new perspective. Looking at it from the angle of a revolutionary action by a group that's been oppressed for so long. Part of this was inspired by the current situation in Kenya, with the rising awareness of how the actions of the political class are geared more towards their self interest rather than that of the electorate.

In Soundless, Fei, the story's protagonist is an artist. She is as close to royalty as can be, the best of the worst from the outside looking in. What this means for her is that she gets to observe the going-ons of their little village. Her position also gives her the privillege of access to food. Small portions of food, but nonetheless, more than what the miners, servants and beggars get.

The miners are the lowest in the social heirachy of this village, only above the beggars. Ironically, it's the miners who arguably play the biggest role in the continuity of the village. They are responsible for the grueling work of coaxing metal from the earth so the rest of the villagers can eat. Unbeknownst to them, the metals they're mining are actively poisoning them, causing a majority of them to gradually lose their sight. What's worse, the metals are depleting fast.

The tragedy is, with the declining metals and the high rates of blindness, the entire community is at risk of starvation, because the food reaching them keeps declining.

While Fei's position shields her from the harshness that the miners and beggars experience, she is also in a precarious position because her sister, also an artist, is going blind. And in a community where there's little to go around, she will end up in the pile of beggars waiting for handouts of moldy bread from well-wishers.

Fortunately for Fei, she regains her hearing. This new fortune combined with the courage of her childhood friend, Li Wei, they take on a journey to find better for themselves and their community.

There are a few things that stood out to me while reading the book. The first one was hierachy and how it affected the ability of the community to empathise with each other in their suffering. Fei's community has a class of elders who are at the top of the society, followed by the artists (apprentices), then the servants and finally the miners.

The elders have significant privilleges, like wearing cloths made from the best fabric and trimmings, herbal tea, and a good place to lay their heads. The artists also dressed significantly better, with their clean, well-maintained clothing. The miners wore their dirtied clothing.

But with this hierachy comes the disconnect between these classes. This is clear when Sheng, another artist alongside his friends beat up a servant who was caught stealing food to take to his mining family who'd been sick, therefore, incapable of working. This servant has already lost his job and received a prior beating before this.

Statements like "How dare he give our food to a miner!" and "Everyone earns what they deserve around here... if you can't fulfil your duty, you shouldn't expect to be fed for it" further demonstrate this disconnect.

Heirachy is the root of oppression. It places people at different levels of importance based on different characteristics. At the world scale, this looks like racism, placing one race above the others. This devolves into sexism, where men are deemed better than women based on their gender. This heirachy is also reflected in tribalism.

Other divisions look like the developed vs. underdeveloped, civilised vs. uncivilised, rich vs. the poor, the educated vs. the uneducated, the abled vs. the disabled, darker colored vs. light colored, the political class vs. the citizenry... But, under all these divisions, it's the class that places itself above the other that benefits the most from the oppression of the lower class. Just look at the impact of colonialism, slavery, and the patriachy.

In Soundless, Fei and Li Wei begin the journey that they hope will provide them with answers and maybe better conditions for their village. When they encounter a dead vilalge just like their own, it's a glance at the grim future awaiting them. A future of death, starvation, murder over food theft, and possibly extinction.

At this point, it's understandable that they start rationalizing what could have happened. Maybe these people were in the wrong. They died because they did something wrong.

I think this kind of rationalisation is only human. Imagine what happens when the truth of how inhumane people can be hits you. When you realise that there's someone, with the capacity to execute justice, but they cannot, simply bacause they really don't care. It's reeling to comprehend that kind callousness, especially when you compare it to the moral compass you've lived by of humanity for humanity's sake.

As Fei and Li Wei take in this dead village, they rationalise, "perhaps there was some misunderstanding with this village. Perhaps they asked for too much." This part here is interesting because, miscommunication is often cited as one of the causes of conflict, which can be true. But when your oppressor tells you that you misunderstood what they meant by their words, maybe even actions, it's them attempting to maintain the status quo. They want you to take a step back and consider your own actions. They want you to blunt the edge of their sword - you may be bleeding profusely from the cut, but surely, the sword wasn't that sharp, was it?

The journey Fei and Li Wei take is confronting. It's a stark reminder of how the hierachy of their community dictates even the friendships they can keep, as these two are in love with each other. But what's more confronting is the opulence that they encounter the moment they get to the township. The same township where they've been sending down their metals and receiving meager supplies of wilted food.

In this township, the people are plump - in their community only children in pictures are plump. Think about this for a second, you've lived your entire life on a meagre supply of food, eating for survival, then you encounter someone with enough to become plump. But their shock doesn't end there. The township is a reflection of opulence. They have way more than Fei or Li Wei have seen in their existence.

While in the market they witness the trade there and Li Wei, a miner, rightfully notes, "For the amount of metal we produce each day, we should have a bounty of food!" At this point, Fei is still rationalising, "maybe there's something special about that woman" before finally asking an important question, "why doesn't that kind of exchange apply to us?"

They spend the next few days coming to terms with the kind of life they could be living based on the amount of metals they were producing. They're able to gather more information from some of the survivors who managed to escape the dead mountain village about what was actually happening to them.

Threatened by pursuing soldiers who are now aware of their presence, Li Wei and Fei have a moment of doubt. They are aware of the thinking process, the fear, and the loyalty their community has to the existing system. They are also aware of the treacherous mountain climb that awaits them. But Fei, still having faith in her community and especially her love for her sister, insists on going back to inform their village on what's actually happening.

When Fei returns, alone, to her village, she's confronted by the awareness Li Wei already had: the villagers don't care about disrupting the status quo. In fact, they're so mad at her and Li Wei because since their departure, the township has returned their metals and declined to provide food, on allegations that the village sent out spies to the township.

Denying Fei's village food is the township's way of maintaining the status quo. The terrain on the village is hostile to plant and animal life. The climb down is trechearous, and without hearing, the whole community is bound to die on the way down.

But here's the interesting part in this entire story. All along, the people in the township had a means of unblocking the mountain passes that had isolated Fei's village. Because, when they become aware of Fei regaining her hearing, they know their time is short. They suddenly unblock the mountain passes, in a final push to deplete the mines.

Fast forward, two months after Fei and Li Wei rescue their village, the entire system in their community changes. Now, everyone in the community is considered an equal. They are still struggling with supplying themselves with food, but they are living in way better standards than they did before the climb down the mountain. In her own words, "Below this mountain, the world is dangerous and uncertain. But here, for now, we have beauty and hope again..."