In Which I Overanalyze The Rifter by Ginn Hale
Monday, February 5th, 2018 09:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
florianschildI've been blogging about my reread of The Rifter series by Ginn Hale over on tumblr. (If you're interested, you can check it out at notesfromnayeshi.tumblr.com.) But I'm cross-posting some of the more weighty analysis here, in case there are any Rifter fans among my friends-list. This post is an attempt to read between the lines and learn more about the character of Ravishan, and what his life was like before he met John. There will be *big* Rifter spoilers herein.
Here goes:
Ginn Hale alludes throughout the series to Ravishan’s childhood and events that occurred before John arrived in Basawar, but never really tells us outright what happened. But I think the astute reader can put the pieces together and come to some pretty grim conclusions. (Oh! And tell me if you caught all of this on your first read-through. Because maybe I’m just that oblivious, but I thought this stuff was pretty subtle.)
Some facts:
Putting all of these snippets together, we get a picture of a young Ravishan (certainly no older than 12 and probably at least a year or two younger) being brought to Rathal’pesha by his uncle Dayyid after the murder of his parents and the kidnapping of his sister. He trains at Rathal’pesha under the strict watch of Dayyid, who controls every aspect of his life and behavior (down to how many times he chews each bite of his food) and abuses and beats him. And Dayyid’s abuse is compounded by the dangers and suffering of the ushiri training. Hann’yu says that Ravishan had no friends until John came to Rathal’pesha. Hann’yu thinks it is because Ravishan is arrogant, but I think it’s just as likely that Ravishan is being intentionally distanced from the other ushiri by Dayyid in order to toughen him up and further control him.
Then, not long before John arrives in Basawar, Ravishan must have been caught in an intimate situation with another man. Fikiri taunts Ravishan, saying that he had his head shaved for whoring with a goat herder, and we know that Ravishan’s hair was cut shortly before he met John. Don’t even get me started on how - soon after Ravishan’s hair was cut - he was covered in wounds from a blood-letting ritual that was meant to “drain impure desires”. When the subject of gay relationships comes up between John and Hann’yu, he tells John that shortly before John came to Rathal’pesha “a young man was put to death”. I think it’s safe to say that the young man was probably whoever Ravishan had been caught with.
With that in mind, how much more horrifying does John’s comment to Ravishan seem? After Ravishan confesses his desire to John, John tells him:
"You don’t endanger the life of a man you care about just so you can get laid."
John doesn’t know it, but that is exactly what Ravishan already did; the last young man he was intimate with was killed when they were caught together. It makes Ravishan’s reaction to John’s words so much more painful.
"Ravishan recoiled as if he had been physically struck. The color drained from Ravishan’s cheeks and mouth and his hands dropped to his sides."
And just to twist the knife once more: after their conversation in Candle Alley, Ravishan goes up into the mountains where John eventually finds him. But if the young man that was killed really was a goat herder, he probably took his goats up the mountain to graze. Perhaps that was the place where they would meet to see each other? Ravishan goes back there and stays out all day in the cold as penance, because what John said to him made him feel so terribly guilty.
So, TL;DR:
Ravishan grew up under the thumb of an abusive uncle. It’s clear in the text that Dayyid was hard on everyone in Rathal’pesha, but I think a close reading reveals that he was specifically and brutally abusive to Ravishan. Controlling his behavior, constantly spying on him, locking him in dark rooms and beating him, condemning his sexual orientation, and killing his boyfriend. It’s much more than we see him doing to any of the other men, even the other ushiri candidates.
Here goes:
Ginn Hale alludes throughout the series to Ravishan’s childhood and events that occurred before John arrived in Basawar, but never really tells us outright what happened. But I think the astute reader can put the pieces together and come to some pretty grim conclusions. (Oh! And tell me if you caught all of this on your first read-through. Because maybe I’m just that oblivious, but I thought this stuff was pretty subtle.)
Some facts:
- Going off the the Lisam family tree, Dayyid is Ravishan’s uncle. Ravishan’s father was his brother. When Dayyid catches Ravishan in Candle Alley, he says to him “I should have killed you with your father”. Dayyid killed his own brother.
- Dayyid held a gun to Ravishan’s head and only allowed him to live because he moved through the Gray Space to escape.
- Hann’yu says that he was sent to Rathal’pesha 5 years ago, and at that time Ravishan was already there. At the time when Hann’yu says that, Ravishan is about 18, meaning he came to Rathal’pesha at or before age 12.
- Ravishan meets John with short hair.
- Hann’yu says that there was an incident before John arrived where “a young man was put to death”.
When Ravishan confesses his feelings to John in Candle Alley, John says to him “You don’t endanger the life of a man you care about just so you can get laid.” - Fikiri says to Ravishan “at least I didn’t have my head shaved for whoring with a goat herder”
- When John finds Ravishan in Candle Alley, he is with a man that John describes as a goat herder.
Putting all of these snippets together, we get a picture of a young Ravishan (certainly no older than 12 and probably at least a year or two younger) being brought to Rathal’pesha by his uncle Dayyid after the murder of his parents and the kidnapping of his sister. He trains at Rathal’pesha under the strict watch of Dayyid, who controls every aspect of his life and behavior (down to how many times he chews each bite of his food) and abuses and beats him. And Dayyid’s abuse is compounded by the dangers and suffering of the ushiri training. Hann’yu says that Ravishan had no friends until John came to Rathal’pesha. Hann’yu thinks it is because Ravishan is arrogant, but I think it’s just as likely that Ravishan is being intentionally distanced from the other ushiri by Dayyid in order to toughen him up and further control him.
Then, not long before John arrives in Basawar, Ravishan must have been caught in an intimate situation with another man. Fikiri taunts Ravishan, saying that he had his head shaved for whoring with a goat herder, and we know that Ravishan’s hair was cut shortly before he met John. Don’t even get me started on how - soon after Ravishan’s hair was cut - he was covered in wounds from a blood-letting ritual that was meant to “drain impure desires”. When the subject of gay relationships comes up between John and Hann’yu, he tells John that shortly before John came to Rathal’pesha “a young man was put to death”. I think it’s safe to say that the young man was probably whoever Ravishan had been caught with.
With that in mind, how much more horrifying does John’s comment to Ravishan seem? After Ravishan confesses his desire to John, John tells him:
"You don’t endanger the life of a man you care about just so you can get laid."
John doesn’t know it, but that is exactly what Ravishan already did; the last young man he was intimate with was killed when they were caught together. It makes Ravishan’s reaction to John’s words so much more painful.
"Ravishan recoiled as if he had been physically struck. The color drained from Ravishan’s cheeks and mouth and his hands dropped to his sides."
And just to twist the knife once more: after their conversation in Candle Alley, Ravishan goes up into the mountains where John eventually finds him. But if the young man that was killed really was a goat herder, he probably took his goats up the mountain to graze. Perhaps that was the place where they would meet to see each other? Ravishan goes back there and stays out all day in the cold as penance, because what John said to him made him feel so terribly guilty.
So, TL;DR:
Ravishan grew up under the thumb of an abusive uncle. It’s clear in the text that Dayyid was hard on everyone in Rathal’pesha, but I think a close reading reveals that he was specifically and brutally abusive to Ravishan. Controlling his behavior, constantly spying on him, locking him in dark rooms and beating him, condemning his sexual orientation, and killing his boyfriend. It’s much more than we see him doing to any of the other men, even the other ushiri candidates.
