#Letitia Price

[izze-art]

The Fallen Angel of Babel 📜✒️🪽

LOVE BABEL BY RF KUANG!! I drew Robin Swift as the fallen angel painting!!

#babel an arcane history #babel rf kuang #rf kuang #babel #robin swift #babel or the necessity of violence #ramy mirza #griffin lovell #victoire desgraves #letitia price #rebecca f kuang

[bluebutter-art]

“...That they were all four of them drowning in the unfamiliar, and they saw in each other a raft, and clinging to one another was the only way to stay afloat.”

― R.F. Kuang, Babel: An Arcane History

#Babel #r. f. kuang #my art #Babel fanart #Robin Swift #Ramiz Rafi Mirza #Ramy #Victoire Desgraves #Letitia Price #Letty #one of those books that will stay with you forever #i havent been able to stop thinking about it for days #book rec #outfit and hair are probably not period accurate #sorry not sorry lol

[archiveofrasa]

letty couldn't handle the fact a brown man rejected her, but also couldn't handle knowing that ramy would pick robin over and over again, that he would rather have a (chinese) MAN over a (white) woman

she tried to connect with him the ways robin could, by talking abt his foreign land, by "appreciating" him ("but your skin is lovely—"), mimicking his banter with robin (constantly going against every mundane opinion he had in an effort to tease him) but she could never see how she was constantly hurting him by never listening to him, by putting down his feelings of britain's settlement in india, by her utter ignorance to the group's collective experiences

but no, it's ramy's fault, obviously. he wouldn't even look at her and she couldn't stand it

#babel an arcane history #babel or the necessity of violence #letitia price #ramiz rafi mirza #robin swift #i was trying to wrack my brain around why letty even liked ramy bc robin would say they just argued all the fucking time #but that's just it. robin ramy and victoire saw them as arguments but letty didn't #head in hands #babel rf kuang

[teartra]

Many layers of Birdie

#robin swift #ramiz rafi mirza #victoire desgraves #letitia price #babel #babel an arcane history #babel or the necessity of violence #rf kuang

[cikebabbler]

wondering if rf kuang intentionally wrote four main characters for both tpw and babel because the number four is associated with death in chinese and she likes hurting me

#losing my mind #the poppy war trilogy #fang runin #chen kitay #yin nezha #sring venka #babel an arcane history #robin swift #ramiz rafi mirza #victoire desgraves #letitia price #rf kuang

[mondeeznuts]

I'm loving this book so far!! Quick sketches of the cohort as I try to process my thoughts halfway through this novel lmao

#referenced the official(?) designs #babel #the necessity of violence #an arcane history #rf kuang #robin swift #ramiz rafi mirza #ramy mirza #letitia price #letty price #victoire desgraves #bookblr #mon makes #digital art #fanart

[bibiundtinaundzombies]

completely diverting from my usual asoiaf content here, but i‘m reading babel by r.f. kuang atm and all i wanna say is that miss girlfailure letty price should be thanking god every single day for the fact that ramy, robin and victoire have more restraint than richard papen and company. if literally any of the three of them was even a little bit less fundamentally nice and normal, letty would have been bunny corcoran‘d like three times over.

#babel an arcane history #babel rf kuang #babel or the necessity of violence #robin swift #ramy mirza #victoire desgraves #letty price #letitia price #rf kuang

[xxadiaa]

babel sketches from last year that i’ll never finish

#babel or the necessity of violence #babel an arcane history #robin swift #ramiz rafi mirza #letitia price #victoire desgraves #this book destroyed me #and always will #thanks ms rf kuang #xxadiaa art #babel spoilers

[belle-keys]

it's hilarious the way that some people are insinuating babel's story is unrelatable or that it's overhyped because it's exclusively based on the experiences of colonized people of colour

like, we colonized people of colour actually already know everything babel teaches in terms of empire and colonization and britain, like from the time the average trinidadian is out of primary school, we're already taught all of the things about imperialism and white supremacy that babel teaches and that robin learns

i'd argue that babel is actually intended as a didactic work for a white, first-world audience way more than than it supposedly "panders" to poc, like this book is for the letty prices of the the world, and i can see that it makes said letty prices as uncomfortable as it says it would...

good

#babel #babel an arcane history #rf kuang #robin swift #dark academia books #dark academia #poc dark academia #dark academia aesthetic #letitia price #colonialism #colonization #linguistics #books and literature #poc

[mortallycrookedchopshop]

It's funny. How Evie Brooks, who had planned her whole betrayal wound up dead instead, while Letty whose seeds of betrayal only come up in the last moments managed to survive and took Ramy out. In the end, the loved ones become the first to die (Sterling and Griffin loved Evie, Robin and Letty loved Ramy). Anthony and Victoire had no choice but to become the anchor of the betrayed ones.

At this point, RF Kuang should probably hold funding dedicated to her traumatized readers

#babel an arcane history #robin swift #ramiz rafi mirza #victoire desgraves #letitia price #griffin lovell #babel rf kuang

[kimbapisnotsushi]

the NUANCE of how robin and ramy split between taking care of letty and victoire respectively because ramy can understand victoire in a way that robin and letty would never be able to and robin is left to deal with letty because although people are still racist to him he knows him being able to pass grants him an undeniable privilege above ramy and victoire (and is well aware of what they go through) but letty is definitely NOT aware of such things and personally i think robin loves victoire and ramy too much to let them suffer through the indignity and injustice of letty victimizing herself and so he takes on the task of being the one to comfort her

#the culmination of this (at least of what i’ve read so far) is the party scebe #right after the commemoration ball #but like we can see this in earlier parts of the book too #babel #babel an arcane history #rf kuang #robin swift #victoire desgraves #letitia price #ramiz rafi mirza #sou says stuff

[tianshiisdead]

More old doodles 📸✨️ sorry to any babel fans that see this

#hetalia #babel #tiart #hws china #hws india #hws england #hws haiti #hetalia ocs #robin swift #ramiz rafi mirza #letitia price #victoire desgraves

[archiveofrasa]

i see a lot of criticism about the friendships between the babel characters and how we were told a lot of things about their positive dynamic, yet shown barely any of it (but are instead mostly presented with the negative aspects). i don’t know if other people clocked this but i feel like it was intentional

rf kuang was commenting on friendships made through trauma-bonding: they were doomed from the start

tldr; the characterisation is (one of) the subtly(ies) people were looking for in the colonial theme. they criticise the latter but i love the fact colonialism is more of an upfront theme because lord knows i am tired of it being subtle so people can ignore it

robin says from the very beginning after they formed their little friend group:

“why had they been so quick, so carelessly eager to trust one another? why had they refused to see the myriad of ways they could hurt each other? why had they not paused to interrogate their differences in birth, in raising, that meant they were not and could never be on the same side?”

the next small paragraph goes into a raft metaphor about how they saw themselves in each other and that’s why they stuck together. they shared one thing they could not ignore – their otherness. their friendship was purely built on the fact they were discriminated against and that they had to spent the next 4 years with each other. their first pleasant conversation is them discussing how they were treated at oxford. of course, the characters didn’t see this because they had never really befriended people their age before. this feeling of belonging felt like love to them (considering their upbringings, ramy’s i will discuss in a bit)

it makes perfect sense why robin would repeatedly imply that they loved and cared about each other. in his eyes, they did. what was it they had if not love? robin, who has ignored so many problems in the past before babel as he knew it would cause him issues, wouldn’t address their friendship dynamic or how strong the arguments and animosity were. he, an abused child, would rather have this than nothing at all

in actuality (demonstrated, i think, through the photograph they took at the end of chapter 9), they were together because of academia’s and discrimination’s forced proximity. robin feels specific emotions about them that feel strong to him because he’s never experienced it before, but that doesn’t mean they are strong enough to keep them together, which is why when they see the photo, they feel weird about it because why isn’t it portraying their dynamic ‘correctly’?

it’s true that perhaps to get robin’s perspective across, it would’ve been good to see the positive aspects more but i think that would’ve made it harder for us to see how weak their friendship was. people wanted more positive to show that they loved each other, which isn’t the point rf kuang is trying to make

rf kuang chooses to show the negative aspects more because they show where their friendship will end up. when letty did what she did, i didn’t see it as a plot twist, i saw it as an inevitability. this was going to happen. honestly, i feel this with most of the ‘plot twists’ of babel except the end of book iii (i really didn’t see that coming). it was easy for letty to do what she does in book iv because their friendship had such unstable foundations. when they no longer benefitted her, she turned her back on them

the only dynamic i feel was actually strong was robin and ramy. i’m not just saying this because i think they’re queer lol. they were close not just because they were both men of colour and had similar upbringings – they actually liked each other. they admired each other and adored each other’s personalities, they bounced off each other and knew what the other meant when they spoke. when they argued, it was over something that actually considered each other’s beliefs and goals and desires, not over their differences.

(unlike letty and ramy, letty and victoire and maybe even robin and victoire, though i think they lean more to ramy/robin than they do to letty/anyone lol. ramy and victoire have a dynamic that i personally feel like robin didn’t really see because ramy understood victoire in a way robin couldn’t. you kind of see it when robin is the one who letty complains about ramy/victoire to, but that’s it i think?)

speaking of ramy, linking it back to their perspectives of love, it makes a lot of sense why he caused the most disruption in the friend group. he’s the only one with an actual family that he stays in touch with. he knows what love feels like. so of course he’s the one that is strongly anti-empire, compared to robin and victoire who have been emotionally manipulated in their childhood by said empire, the one who argues with letty the most. he still feels what robin and victoire feel, of course, but to a lesser extent

honestly i don’t know how to end this analysis, i just think rf kuang is a genius lmao but i may add more onto this as i continue to reread the book we shall see

#the way my most recent posts are abt babel i'm so sorry #i have hyperfocused on this book so hard #and bc my friends are still reading it i can't spoil it for them #i know sappho might read this and if he does...🔫 #babel r f kuang #babel an arcane history #babel or the necessity of violence #robin swift #ramiz rafi mirza #letitia price #victoire desgraves

[teartra]

Dude this freaking stuck with me

#i’ll take this to my grave #robin swift #victoire desgraves #ramiz rafi mirza #letitia price #babel #babel or the necessity of violence

[cikebabbler]

I can't get letty's chapter out of my head. I can't forget all her struggles as a girl and woman in a misogynistic society. How she is discriminated against in a way that robin and ramy would never understand. Because despite coming from races white people find inferior, at the end of the day, they are still men, and are therefore afforded the level of respect and recognition they would never be willing to give letty. And I understand and empathize and resonate with all of these.

But my first thought after reading letty's chapter is she did not mention victoire, not even once. After everything she learned, after everything victoire told her, she still failed to realize that everything she experienced, victoire also did—even worse. Victoire, the friend that she spent the most time with, was not only discriminated against because she's a woman, she was also discriminated against because she's not white. After everything, letty only sees the advantages robin and ramy had for being men, refusing to see all the ways society was shunning victoire. this isn't the oppression olympics ofc, but how can she not see victoire's pain? how can she only see robin's and ramy's privelege. how can she fail to acknowledge victoire's struggles and pain until the very end. how can letty, despite being victoire's friend, refuse to see her pain just because she refuses to acknowledge her own privelege.

she is so convinced that her struggles are unique that she can't wrap her head around the fact other people, people she considered friends, have suffered as much, or even more. she can't see that her struggles were caused by a system that is so interwoven with the systems hermes were fighting against that they might as well be the same thing—because frankly, they are. she only sees her own pain and how she's come so far to overcome everything. she thinks she's alone in her battle that she just can't see how so many others have been fighting similar battles against the same opponents. she can't see how hermes is not sabotaging her fight for freedom and respect, but are fighting the enemy letty does not even realize she also has to fight to truly and meaningfully gain the respect and freedom she wants.

#letitia price #victoire desgraves #babel rf kuang #babel an arcane history #babel

[imab00kwh0r3]

babel, and why i love it (SPOILERS!!!!)

ok im terribly late to reading it, for its not sold in many places where i live, so i found the pdf luckily.

babel is a book about colonialism and racism and oppression, it is about revolution and battling your inner conscience (in my opinion at least, i'll elaborate later). it tells the story of robin swift coming to the prestigious royal institute of translation or better known as babel, where during his yrs there he discovers that the glamourous oxford university isnt such a righteous place. his loyalty is tested, blood is shed and tears fall which leads up to a revolution to stop an incoming war.

there are many reviews regarding how its racist to white ppl (which is astounding to even think about) and that its not accurate as women werent allowed to go to university in the 1830s but im not going to talk about that, that much. i wanted to speak on the actual translation/language aspect of it.

throughout the book, translation and language r some of the main themes (obviously) but the impact it has on the people, both in the book and irl is smth i havent seen anyone mention. language isnt just a form of communication but it is part of our culture, it is part of our identity, and during colonial times many languages suffered, they were being erased as they were "barbaric" or "strange" they were banned and anyone who spoke them was punished like in victoires chapter. robin, ramy and victoire all can barely speak their native languages, robin has almost fogotten cantonese, ramy has very basic knowledge of bengali and victoire is never given a chance or is permitted to speak in haitian creole. they lost one of the main things that connects them to their motherland, they only have their appearance left. they will never be able to talk to their ppl properly.

victoire was frustrated that haitian creole isnt recognised as a proper language like how in their exams, her match-pair wouldnt be counted properly as haitian creole wouldnt be used much hence its "useless" in the eyes of prof. leblanc. she was beaten when she would speak haitian croele in her house in france. when she first came to babel she was correcting herself from "kreyol" to "haitian creole" and was unsure if she could even study it.

robin realised that prof.lovell actually knew more than him about his own language, his mother tongue. he could barely stand being back in canton and he felt isolated in a way as everything changed and was new and so was the language even though he was born hearing and speaking it.

not much is talked about this with ramy except that he barely knows bengali, even though hes fluent in english, latin, greek, arabic, persian and urdu. he knows 6 languages and in his chapter he is sed to "absorb languages like a sponge" and that he recited poems or writing in other languages he didnt know perfectly, even down to tone, only after having it read to him once but he barely knows his mother tongue.

this relates to modern times as many languages of previously colonised countries rely on english words like in india u will barely hear the word pathshala, instead u will hear school. in mauritian creole when people speak they will slip in english words, like "netwai whiteboard la" which means clean the whiteboard.

we dont know our language fully because of the erasure of them.

theres also 1st gen immigrant children where their mother tongue is smth they barely hear or they forgot after a while, they feel so incredibly disconnected once they realise. this is how robin is and this is how i am too, i was born in europe, then at 7 i moved to england and now im somewhere entirely different, i dont remember my mother tongue, i dont dream in it. which ultimately makes u lose ur voice in a metaphorical way.

u cant speak because u dont know how.

another important thing is the purposeful mistranslations and burning of books, thats not fully discussed in the book although it would have been a nice touch. colonisers purposefully mistranslated things to control the masses because when they burnt our books, they burnt our language, knowledge and people. and the exploitation of our languages like the statue at univ of william jones sitting at desk and 3 hindu sages on the floor infront of him exists, and how missionaries were taught our languages to help in conversion.

now onto the 1830s inaccuracies and racism:

its the fucking 1830s do u think white ppl were nice to poc at this time, like slavery just ended in the eyes of the law for britain but still continued in other places like america. reverse racism doesnt exist, white ppl can be prejudiced against but u lot r not oppressed and never will be, u lot wont be killed for being white, so stop crying. and about the women wouldnt be at university in the 1830s thing its fiction, r.f. kuang took some liberties.

and that is all i have to say, dont start an argument, anyways babel is great, go read it!!

#babel an arcane history #babel or the necessity of violence #babel #babel rf kuang #robin swift #ramiz rafi mirza #ramy mirza #victoire desgraves #letitia price