60 pages • 2 hours read
The Obelisk Gate
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Symbols & Motifs
Transformation
The idea of transformation is central to Jemisin’s conception of combatting oppressive social systems to create a better world. Different types of transformation appear at every level of The Obelisk Gate, making it an important motif. On a planetary scale, the environment is undergoing continual transformation, becoming more hostile and unlivable as the Season deepens and necessitating further change from the people and species that live in the Stillness. However, this Season is different since it is the product of Alabaster’s attempt to destroy the Earth in order to radically transform it and end the cycles of suffering and oppression that have lasted thousands of years.
On a smaller scale, many of the characters undergo a transformation of some kind. Essun has already changed from Damaya and Syenite but must now unlearn many of her assumptions about the world. Hoa literally transforms back into his natural stone eater form so that he can better defend Essun. Schaffa attempts to transform into a new version of himself to make amends for his past mistakes. Lastly, Alabaster is slowly turning to stone—a consequence of his decision to tear the Earth in two. This ability to change and adapt at the individual level is just as important as what is happening at the planetary level because both kinds of transformation are necessary for meaningful, radical change to occur. Jija refuses to change, which destroys his relationship with his daughter and leads to his death. On a more systemic level, the Guardians, the most oppressive force in the Stillness, fight to maintain the status quo above all else. These examples of stagnation demonstrate the necessity of transformation—particularly its connection to emancipatory politics and the project of making the world into a better, more equitable place.
Magic and the Silver
Magic is intrinsically tied to the Earth and the natural world in the Broken Earth trilogy. It emanates from Father Earth, and upon discovering it, a past civilization drilled into the Earth’s core in an attempt to harness its power, setting off a chain of events that jettisoned the moon out of orbit and started the Seasons. This attitude—that the Earth exists as a resource to be plundered—is criticized throughout the text as hubristic, short-sighted, and anthropocentric. It places humans above everything else and fails to see the interconnectedness of everything in the natural world, with disastrous consequences.
Recognizing magic is therefore key to several characters’ development. At first, Essun can only sense magic in the obelisks and deadciv ruins, but she eventually realizes that it is in everything (Nassun undergoes a similar realization on her own). In the climax of the novel, when Essun finally accesses the Obelisk Gate and sees the full extent of magic in the world, she describes it as “[a] web of silver threads interlacing the land, permeating rock and even the magma just underneath, strung like jewels between forests and fossilized corals and pools of oil. Carried through the air on the webs of leaping spiderlings” (361). Magic literally permeates everything: living, nonliving, ground, sea, and sky. Moreover, to even connect to the Gate in the first place, Essun must create a network with other orogenes and the obelisks so that she can handle the immense power it provides. Thus, magic symbolizes the interconnectedness of the natural world and the importance of relating to non-human nature in a way that is not exploitative.
Castrima
At first glance, Castrima appears to be a bastion for orogenes in an intolerant, hateful world. However, as the pressure mounts around Castrima, the cracks begin to show and the façade falls away. Most of the stills and orogenes are as untrusting of one another here as anywhere else, despite the hard work Ykka has done to keep them united. Thus, Castrima symbolizes the need for change that actually breaks with the past rather than building on top of it. In Castrima, the latter is both literally and figuratively happening. The comm is built inside a deadciv ruin, and there are artifacts everywhere. No one knows exactly how or why everything works, but they know it requires having an orogene around; figuratively speaking, Ykka is attempting to build a comm culture where orogenes are accepted and can live freely, but this is a mere overlay on preexisting culture. The result is that everyone reverts to what they are most comfortable with in times of uncertainty (though there were signs that not everyone was on board with orogenes from the beginning).
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By N. K. Jemisin
