Exploration of the Themes of the Watch Series of Terry Pratchett's
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MASARYKOVA UNIVERZITA FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature Exploration of the Themes of the Watch Series of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld through the Character of Samuel Vimes Diploma Thesis Brno 2019 Supervisor Author Mgr. Jiří Šalamoun, Ph.D. Bc. Martin Linhart Anotace Předmětem této práce je průzkum užití dvou hlavních témat série knih zabývající se Ankh- Morporkskou Městskou hlídkou, která patří mezi knihy řady Úžasná Zeměplocha Terryho Pratchetta. Těmito tématy jsou, za prvé osobnost hrdiny v civilizovaném a relativně moderním městě a kterak je schéma hrdinovy cesty popsané Josephem Campbellem adaptováno do Pratchettova prostředí a stylu psaní. Druhým tématem je aplikace filozofického konceptu Já a Jiní (určování identity, respektive vylučování jedinců nesplňujících kritéria daného zmíněným určením) na fantaskní tvory obývající Ankh-Morpork. Tento průzkum je veden skrze postavu Samuela Elánia, protagonistu zmíněné série, který v první části slouží jako subverze tradičního hrdinského vyprávění a ve části druhé slouží jako výchozí úhel pohledu z něhož jsou pozorovány jeho definice Jiných. Práce je rozdělena do dvou hlavních částí. Teoretická sekce poskytuje základní informace o Terry Pratchettovi, prostředí Zeměplochy, Ankh-Morporku a také Hlídky. Mimo to také shrnuje schéma transformací hrdiny a průběh hrdinovy cesty popsané Campbellem. Analytická sekce poté porovnává informace ze sekce předchozí s životem a vývojem osoby Samuela Elánia jako možného Campbellovského hrdiny. Schéma hrdinovy cesty je porovnáno s románem Stráže! Stráže! který slouží jako odkaz na toto schéma. Následující kapitoly analytické sekce zkoumají Elániovy názory na Jiné, nejprve ve všeobecném smyslu jeho Já a všech ostatních, po němž následuje Elániovo vylučování sebe sama ze skupin osob třímajících osobní autoritu navzdory tomu, že on sám patří mezi ně, a nakonec práce zkoumá Elániovy názory vůči ostatním vnímajícím druhům Zeměplochy a jak tyto názory ovlivňují jeho přístup k faktu, že se tyto druhy stávají členy hlídky. Klíčová slova Terry Pratchett, Zeměplocha, Samuel Elánius, literatura, Campbell, monomýtus, hrdinova cesta, hrdina, tropy, já, jiní, diversita Annotation The focus of this thesis is to examine the use of two main themes in the series centered around the Ankh-Morpork City Watch which is a part of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series of novels. The themes in question are, firstly, the portrayal of the hero in a civilized, relatively modern city, how the Campbell’s created schema of the hero’s journey is adapted into this setting and Pratchett’s style of writing, and secondly, the application of the philosophical concept of the Self and the Other (the distinction of identity and the exclusion of those not meeting the criteria of the distinction, respectively) upon the fantastical species inhabiting Ankh-Morpork. This is accomplished through the character of Samuel Vimes, the protagonist of the series, who in the first part of the series serves as a subversion of the traditional hero narrative and in the second as the point of view, from which his definitions of the Other are observed. The thesis is divided into two main sections, the theoretical section provides basic information about Terry Pratchett, the setting of the Discworld, Ankh-Morpork and the Watch, as well as recounts the schema of the transformation of the hero and hero’s journey as postulated by Campbell. The analytical section then compares the information from the previous section with the life story and Vimes’ development as a possible Campbell’s hero. The schema of the hero’s journey is then compared to the novel Guards! Guards! as it serves as a direct reference to it. Next chapters of the analytical section then examine Vimes’ view of the Other, first in a very general sense of himself against anyone else, followed by Vimes’ distinction of himself from the positions of authority despite him being a person possessing a great authority and finally, the thesis examines Vimes’ attitude toward other sentient species of the Discworld and how it informs his opinions of them serving as the members of the Watch. Keywords Terry Pratchett, Discworld, Samuel Vimes, literature, Campbell, Monomyth, hero’s journey, hero, tropes, the self, the other, diversity Prohlášení Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou bakalářskou práci vypracoval samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů, ve znění pozdějších předpisů. Declaration I hereby declare, that this bachelor thesis was done independently, using only the information provided by the sources cited in the text and included in the list of references in accordance with the Disciplinary regulations for the students of the Faculty of Education of the Masaryk University. …………………………………………. Brno, 2019 Bc. Martin Linhart Acknowledgments I would like to take the opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to Mgr. Jiří Šalamoun, Ph.D., for his helpful advice, support and patience with me as my supervisor. Furthermore, I would like to thank everyone who helped me in any way to finish my thesis. Table of contents Introduction.................................................................................................................................7 1 Theoretical section...............................................................................................................10 1.1 Terry Pratchett..............................................................................................................10 1.2 Introduction to the Discworld.......................................................................................11 1.3 The literary analysis.....................................................................................................14 1.4 Literary characters........................................................................................................14 1.4.1 Typology of characters..........................................................................................15 1.4.2 Varieties of a hero.................................................................................................18 1.5 Transformation of a hero..............................................................................................20 1.6 Hero’s journey..............................................................................................................25 2 Analytical section.................................................................................................................41 2.1 What makes a hero? - Vimes’ Journey.........................................................................41 2.1.1 Before Samuel......................................................................................................41 2.1.2 Samuel’s Life Journey..........................................................................................42 2.1.3 Transformation of Vimes......................................................................................46 2.1.4 Guards! Guards! - The Journey of Two Heroes....................................................49 2.1.5 Tradition versus subversion: What makes Pratchett’s hero?................................53 2.2 Vimes versus the Other.................................................................................................56 2.2.1 Vimes and others...................................................................................................57 2.2.2 Vimes and authority..............................................................................................60 2.2.3 Vimes and diversity..............................................................................................63 Conclusion................................................................................................................................70 Bibliography..............................................................................................................................72 Introduction The Watch series of Discworld books by Terry Pratchett is centered around two focal themes – the initial focus being the examination of what makes a fantasy it and the second focal point being the exploration of the philosophical concept of “the Self and the Other.” The focus of this thesis is to examine how these two themes reflect in the main character of Samuel Vimes and the journey of said character through the Watch series of novels. First, we will examine Vimes as a hero from the literary perspective, the literal hero’s journey as postulated by Campbell, which will be a seminal source of information for the thesis. This will be followed by the examination of Vimes’ personality, opinions and the development of therein on the theme of the Self and the Other, in short, a concept used to identify an individual (Self) or a group of individuals (Us) by excluding them from the mass (Other) based on physical or mental characteristics, under the rationale of Vimes being the central protagonist and thus the person with whose opinions the readers should identify. Moreover, Pratchett himself spoke in interviews about his identification with the character of Vimes (The Guardian), therefore it could be considered not only the opinion of the character, but of the author himself. Structurally, the thesis will be divided into two main sections: the