Fire and Hemlock Readalong: Chapter 5
...in which Polly trains to become a hero.
Another huge chapter that manages to squish a lot of important thematic stuff in, mostly surrounding stories and gender roles.
First of all, we have Nina as King Herod. Nina is an interestingly androgynous character, which I'm realizing this time around--yes, she's the "silly" one according to DWJ's estimation, but there's also enough similar in her to Polly that draws them together. Then, we have Dad's vs. Mr. Lynn's Christmas presents: Dad gives Polly a disappointing dollhouse at Ivy's behest, though she doesn't want it, and she feels like it's something she should be grateful for. This feels a very typical anti-feminist sentiment couched in the language of childhood: oh, you get crumbs? Well, be grateful you're getting anything at all from a man. Mr. Lynn, on the other hand, gives her expressly androgynous reading material: adventure stories, not "girls books," with perhaps the exception of Henrietta's House, which I unfortunately can find very little info about--though Polly tells us the made-up adventures are "reely trew," another suggestion of where this novel is going. He also sends her the soldiers she wants, which also plays into how he sees her as boy-adjacent in a way that fulfills her.
The major part of this chapter is, of course, Polly's hero training, which starts out as athleticism and morphs into a more traditional sense of defending justice, if only in the schoolyard. There are two interesting things happening here: on the one hand, Polly is consciously turning herself into a hero "on the inside" through the same kind of "being things" way she described to Mr. Lynn. She's settling into an identity for herself that's driven largely by her friendship with Mr. Lynn, though that's not entirely legible at this point. She's also becoming visible, as it were, to her peers, which is another formation of identity, and it's repeatedly stated as a bit at odds with how she feels inside. It's one of the best portrayals of what it feels like to grow up that I've ever come across because it's so subtle. We don't either over-dwell on Polly's feelings or get sweeping conclusions. There are just these little interactions with Nina or the Headmistress or Ivy where the conflict between self and other comes up and mirrors the conflict between Nowhere and Now-Here.
A last thing in this chapter that's super provocative is how Polly expressly states she's becoming a hero because "I think I have to save someone." Already, she has a sense of what she will come to mean to Mr. Lynn, and the glimmerings of her nascent vanity suggest what he will come to mean to her.
10 notes
·
View notes
request
could you please make a pierre gasly insta au or a max one. You don't need to and if you don't want to please just ignore this comment. Stay Hydrated Love.
pairing...max verstappen x christian horner's daughter!reader
summary...in which yn promised she would never fall for a driver until a certain driver made her take back her promise
{instagram}
yourusername
liked by christianhorner, kymillman and 1,098,675 others
yourusername my favorite kind of weekend 🤍
comments:
fan1 love to see her in the paddock
christianhorner you look pretty happy for someone who didn't want to come to last year's races
yourusername no need to expose me like that, dad-
fan2 loved your look this today!
lilymhe bestie looking good!
yourbestfriend1 missed you this weekend 😢
yourusername i'll be back soon!!
{instagram}
enews
liked by maxvfan1234, maxy4eva and 109,879 others
enews yn horner was photographed walking in the f1 paddock ahead of the austrian grand prix. the brunette was seen engrossed in the practice sessions, qualifying, as well as the race, this comes as rumors swirl that she may be rooting for someone special. link in bio for more.
comments:
fan1 love her fit!!
fan2 no offence enews but get your stories straight, our queen could never!!
fan3 someone show enew's admin yn's iconic tweet from a few years ago 🙄
fan4 istg imma send them the post 🙄
{twitter}
{instagram}
yourusername
liked by therealgerihalliwell, maxverstappen1 and 209,583 others
yourusername reunited with the besties 🤍
comments:
yourbestfriend1 girls' trip finally left the groupchat!
yourusername who would've thought 😂
yourbestfriend2 need to do this again sometime!
fan1 ahhh dream girls' trip!
fan2 am I the only one who realised max liked her post??
fan3 i did too, probs nothing though
fan2 hm we'll see
therealgerihalliwell glad you enjoyed your time away!
yourusername no, THANK YOU for convincing dad to let me go!
christianhorner hey! i had my reasons
yourusername sure dad..
{instagram}
yourusername has added a photo to their story!
{twitter}
{instagram}
yourusername
liked by therealgerihalliwell, yourbestfriend1 and 594,027 others
yourusername life lately <3
comments:
yourbestfriend1 gotta get credits for a few pics 👀
yourusername of course! here it is lol
fan1 love the skirt 🫶
fan2 THE SECOND SLIDE WAT-
christianhorner hope you had fun, dear
fan3 are we just gonna ignore the seond pic..
fan2 THATS WHAT I THOUGHT
therealgerihalliwell gorgeous 💗
yourbestfriend2 i see you really enjoyed your company lately
yourusername shush you
fan4 obviously we don't know smth-
{instagram}
maxverstappen1
liked by yourusername, maxmaxmax123 and 2,983,093 others
maxverstappen1 went karting with close friends
comments:
fan1 maxy 🧡
fan2 max soft launching is not on my bingo card
fan3 max AND yn soft launching in the same week? they're together, I'm calling it
fan1 ig we'll see
{twitter}
{instagram}
yourusername
liked by maxverstappen1, christianhorner and 1,563,392 others
yourusername ready for the last race before the summer break <3
comments:
fan1 ICONICC
fan2 i love her 😭😭
christianhorner number one redbull supporter
yourusername thank you thank you
fan3 yn's pic with max 😭
fan4 and him liking her post too!!
fan3 ikr!! like can you guys be more obvious???
{instagram}
redbullracing
liked by yourusername, maxfan4ever and 571,223 others
redbullracing broken record (and trophy cc @mclaren)
comments:
shelovesformula1 🔥🔥🔥🔥
fan1 lando was like: if i can't have it, no one can
fan2 yn liking the pic 👀
fan3 chill it's baseless
fan4 apparently @fan3 lived under a rock for the past fex months
fan5 frr the soft launch and all
{instagram}
yourusername
liked by therealgerihalliwell, maxverstappen1 and 1,837,093 others
yourusername congrats on the big win, my love ❤️
comments:
fan1 im still shook even if we already knew-
fan2 SAME HERE IM SHOOK
fan3 WAIT WHAT????
fan4 told ya
fan3 ...
maxverstappen1 thanks baby! thanks for being my good luck charm <3
yourusername always <3
christianhorner didn't know your boyfriend was one of my drivers...
yourusername ...oops?
{twitter}
a/n: hope you liked it!!
click here to be added to my f1 taglist
tags: @peachiicherries @charli123456789 @lovings4turn @qnktmr @flannelforthetoads @iloveyou3000morgan @the-depressed-fellow @mirrorball-6 @cha-hot @shobaes @luvrrish @sainzluvrr @oscarpastryyyyy @escapism-writer
2K notes
·
View notes