Thursday, March 1, 2012

A game of thrones.

A board of chess was set by Jacques and The King. The King insisted to be white, remarking on its purity an noble history. Jacques complied, picking the black as to represent the oppression and hate building within him. Pieces are laid out and basic strategic planning begins. Basic moves, not conscious of their affect, are preformed by both parties, but a faulty move by the Bishop of The King's side caused a chain reaction that would end up collapsing the white and noble side of the King.

A pawn set out. Its fate unknown by its blind view to the other side. A castle, a blind high power, by chance, ended the life of this mere pawn. This rook, Monsieur de Marquis, a powerful man in the eyes of the aristocracy, carelessly and ruthlessly took this pawn's life. Giving such a disregard of consequences as long as their victory is ensured is a very strong characteristic of a castle. When played, they can spell the doom of many a piece, but normally it will kill and then be killed. It lives by the sword it killed with. Moving for power in the same manner that all others do, Monsieur de Marquis disregards such a killing of a pawn as just an occurance. After all, in his eyes, it is merely just a small piece barely worth recognition. "What has gone wrong"(114) quoth the confused Marquis when he realized the commotion caused by the death of such a petty human. "It is extraordinary to me... that you cannot take care of your own children" (115)  he later adds. Just another kill in the eyes of a castle. Little did he know the power behind the daddy of the dead pawn.

Gasard, a bishop, a piece that has all the right intentions but whose movements are different than the others, perhaps more radical, decided to take vengeance on the taking of a mere pawn. Gasard, driven by blood-thirst, swept diagnolly to where the assailing castle stands. In affect, the rook has a similar play as a castle. It is a versatile piece that can spell the doom of any piece that may cross it's path. The bishop, however, has an advantage. It's movement is less predictable and less seen. Moving across rather than forwards cloaks its intentions and movements. Still as reckless as the castle, its death is a seen possibility, but disregarded as not important. The queens and kings of both sides stay put and well. Our friend Jacques drives a steak through the heart of the unsuspecting castle. For vengeance and for Jacques, its motives lie.


Seeing a threat, not a major one, but one none the less, the King commanded his foot soldiers to attack the reckless rook. The positioning was blind and not seen, therefore an easy target for retaliation. As described by the mender of roads, another pawn, "by my heap of stones, to see the soldier and their prisoner pass... "bring him fast to his tomb!"... a man's being impelled forward by the butt-ends of muskets. (174-175.)
The soldiers bring the the reckless rook to justice.

While the mender of roads and other pawns talk to them about their experiences,  Madam and monsieur Defarge see over the entire operation and plan in great detail in which order they shall depose of the King's army. Madam Defarge, as depicted in the book, plans her every detail and who she will slay in her knitting, and she is seen doing much of it. The Madam is much more involved in the affairs of the other players in this game. She is seen talking and conversing with the patrons of her bar, she plans the executions of those who wronged them and she has power beyond that of any woman in the day. Just because she "began to pin her rose in her head-dress", she managed to make the customers "gradually to drop out of the wine-shop." (187). She and her husband, a perfect king and queen of the rebellion, sit waiting for the perfect moment. They gain intelligence from their underlings and plan their moves accordingly. A loss of either would be considered a game-ender. A rash move seen by the fast surge in an offensive by the mostly defensive "team Jacques" resulted in a devastating loss for the King. The storming of the Bastille, lead by the Defarges, slew a couple strong men and a castle: the king's governor of that region. Madam Defarge, using her power, executed the governor with ease.  Such a usurper was unexpected by the king and queen. A real threat emerged, a retaliation imminent and blood only beginning to spill, the game has only started. 

A real threat emerged, a retaliation imminent and blood only beginning to spill, the game has only started.   The Jacques' army remains relatively unharmed while the King's army has suffered reasonably more. It has lost two castles and two pawns. Crippling the use of the castles, the Jacques dealt a huge blow to the integrity of the royalty of the time. The conflict between the aristocracy and the peasantry resulted in a game of thrones. People, like pieces of chess, have lined up and taken sides. All hell is to be released for the players, and it is guaranteed, the end of this conflict will not be a clean one.

1 comment:

  1. Charlie:

    I like how you're trying to play with some creative ways of writing this blog post and draw out the analogy between the book and the game of chess, but trim down your ideas to one example. You have a lot of build up in your analogy and you spend some time on different examples. Try to simplify your ideas. Stop by and chat if you have questions.

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