Babel - Entry 5
May 8, 2024 * literature, babel * part 5
Contents
Robin and the rest of his cohort land in Britain, managing to cover up Lovell’s death, and head to Mrs. Piper’s residence to hide out for the time being. There, Letty finds out that the three are part of the Hermes Society and sobs for a while, but agrees to help them out.
They head back to Babel, somehow believing that it would all go away once they head inside, but eventually they’re found out for killing Professor Lovell, and run to join the Hermes Society and hide out in their hidden base, conveniently located close to Oxford, and hidden in plain sight. There, they meet up with Griffin and Anthony again, and plan on how to prevent the British from forcing the Chinese to trade with them for opium, Griffin coming up with increasingly violent methods to do so, and putting off Letty. One night, when Griffin is away, the place is raided by police and Oxford professors - it turns out Letty sold them out, and she shoots and kills Ramy in the panic that follows. Robin and Victoire are captured and jailed while the rest of the Hermes members are killed. They’re both tortured, but they don’t give out, and they’re eventually broken out by Griffin who is killed saving them. Robin and Victoire make a drastic plan to take hostage of Babel with guns in order to stop British silverworking, reasoning that they’re just scholars who can’t defend themselves, and decide to put their plan in action.
Analysis/Reflection
Letty’s betrayal shocked me, and it seemed out of character for her, but looking at the developments up until now, it seemed kind of inevitable. Based on some of the internal narrations of the characters, it was clear that they were tired of Letty always making things about her, and showed that although she was sympathetic to them, she could never really understand their situations. I think this was somewhat flawed reasoning, as many people are capable of empathy, and inherently sidelining those who’re in a different situation from you can be, as I mentioned in my previous entry, rather counterproductive. Following this, we can see how Letty was repeatedly trying to come up with peaceful solutions, and failed to see how diplomacy wouldn’t work in this scenario, and detested the violent solutions that Griffin was proposing. Eventually, she became convinced that her friends were too far gone, and needed to be taken out of that environment, and from her own delusion that she was doing what was best for them, betrayed them.
It also shows the most drastic shift in Robin’s character, as to how he becomes inclined towards violence after the death of his half brother and Ramy, and how the grief threatens to swallow him at every turn. He vows to destroy that which took Ramy away from him.
I think Kuang again is pretty direct when throwing concepts out there, but they’re reasonable ideas, and ever relevant when considering the current recurring discourse around race and white supremacy, and how imperialistic powers such as America assert their influence around the world.