Fleeting Romance in Embassytown

While much of China Miéville's novel Embassytown explores a futuristic world facing a catastrophic war, elements of romance play into the novel.  Avice, the protagonist, seeks--or stumbles upon--a variety of relationships.  What is most interesting about these relationships is that none of them are built from a foundation that can endure the hardships in the novel.  Granted, Avice is the only character through whom the reader observes romance in Embassytown.  However, as her relationships seem fleeting, what does this indicate about love in this futuristic society?

As she tells the backstory of her tale, Avice evaluates her love life.  "I couldn't claim that marriage was my real skill, but I was better at it than many," she reflects.  "I'd had two previous husbands and a wife.  I'd lost them to changes of predilection, without rancour--as I say, I wasn't bad at marriage.  Scile was my fourth spouse" (18).  Avice's view on marriage sets the tone for how she and other characters approach relationships: indifferently.  Casually, Avice mentions that her relationships ended due to "changes of predilection"--in other words, a mere change in preference.  Just because she and a spouse grow tired of each other, their marriage dissipates.

Another example of how characters in this society do not take marriage seriously is evident in Avice's relationship with her husband Scile.  During their marriage, Avice has an affair with both Cal and Vin, who together comprise the Ambassador CalVin.  Because Scile and Avice are of different species, they cannot have sexual intercourse.  Nonetheless, they remain husband and wife, enjoying each other's company.  Interestingly, Avice performs sexual acts with CalVin and tells Scile about her affair, to which he actively listens and asks questions.  Clearly, Avice and Scile take the term "open relationship" to a new level.  They are married yet perfectly comfortable with Avice having an affair with two other men--at the same time.

As the story progresses, however, Scile and Avice have a falling out and stop speaking to each other almost entirely.  They view Language very differently: Scile advocates for keeping traditional Language the same and Avice strives to change it.  They embark on different missions in life.  Eventually, Scile becomes a simile like Avice, but their paths barely cross at all.  Thus marks the beginning of the end of their marriage.

Later in the novel, Avice also has an affair with Bren, an old man and failed Ambassador whom she has known since she was a little girl.  Bren was an old man while she was a child; years later, they develop an affinity for each other.  Again, Avice shakes up what the reader may consider appropriate romantic traditions by falling for an elder.  However, this relationship is not permanent; no marriage results.

In the end, the reader learns that Scile is imprisoned for murder; specifically, he killed Cal.  Avice's opinion of Scile has shifted dramatically from the time they were happily married, as evidenced when she declares, "His actions disgust me--there are dead friends who'd be alive if it weren't for him--but could you not feel pity to see him?" (338).  She despises him yet may still have an ounce of empathy.

Through Avice's love life, the reader observes romances that merely come and go.  Is this what Miéville predicts will happen to the future of relationships?  Are they not meant to endure the test of time?  Perhaps this trend only applies to Avice, as the reader does not get as thorough a look into the love lives of other characters.  However, from what Miéville indicates, romance in Embassytown is fleeting.

Importance of Empathy in Embassytown

While reading China Mieville's Embassytown, one often questions whether or not Avice, the narrator, will become a hero or will remain a sort of observer. From the last chapters of the novel, it is clear that Avice indeed becomes a hero despite her resistance to the role. She is able to take on the part because of her innate ability to empathize. Throughout the novel Avice is able to look at the perspectives of others despite the fact that they may be doing something she disagrees with or does not fully understand. 

On page 159, Scile's reaction to the assassination of Beehive reveals her ability to empathize despite the fact that she fundamentally disagrees with what Hasser did and also cannot understand Ariekene feelings. She describes her reaction, " I had so much sadness in me. I cried, only when I was alone. I was so sorry for Hasser, silly secret zealot; and for Valdick who I still believed never knew he'd been a distraction" (159). Avice mourns for the loss of two men who murdered an Ariekei she felt deserved to live. Despite this crucial disagreement, Avice feels a sense of loss and pity for the two radicals. She understands that they have been used and that from their perspective they were saving Embassytown. Avice also shows empathy on page 159 when she is able to mourn for the death of Beehive. She felt a connection with the Ariekei, despite the language and cultural barriers. "So sorry for surl/tesh-echer. I never knew what emotion would have been appropriate for Ariekene loss, so I settled for sadness" (159). Avice is physically incapable of knowing what Beehive's supporters felt when he was assassinated. She deals with this barrier by using the closest human expression she can think of to signify her sense of grief. Though she does not understand Ariekene culture or emotion, Avice is able to connect herself with them through her empathy. 

This ability to connect through empathy is what ultimately allows Avice to see that the Absurd have been able to communicate without Language, they just needed a revelation to show them. She realizes this on pages 295. "The code they'd created was quite unlike the precise mapping they'd grown up knowing. But it was Language that was the anomaly: this new crude thing of flailing fingers and murderous stamping was closer by far to what we spoke" (295). By watching the Absurd interact, Avice is able to discover that they created the word "that" and therefore, their own non-speaking language. Without the ability to imagine what the Absurd wanted, Avice would not have discovered the language, let alone be able to teach it to Spanish Dancer and Theuth and save Embassytown later in the novel. 

A More Organized and Historically Accurate Description of a Possible Link between Embassytown & the Opium War

Both the First and Second Opium Wars were fought in the 1800s for similar reasons. In both cases, a Western imperialist power (Britain in the first war, both Britain and France in the second war) sought Chinese resources (such as silk and porcelain). The Chinese, under dynastic governance, were largely self-sufficient and did not see benefit in trading with the Western powers.

In order to create demand for Western goods, thereby incentivizing trade, the Western powers essentially got the Chinese hooked on opium. Opium is often converted to heroin, and thus can take the form of an addictive chemical drug. Conflicts ensued; many Chinese officials were wary of the addiction, while Western powers used the dependency as an opportunity for achieving their own economic objectives (such as the opening of Chinese ports).  

Given this information, certain parallels, though admittedly not perfect, do seem to exist between the Opium trade and the Hosts’ Language addiction in Embassytown.

To begin, in both cases, there exists an addiction to something foreign, introduced by the party seeking to control the other party. In the Opium War, that something is Opium, a chemical drug. In Embassytown, the Hosts are addicted to the Language used by EzRa, a non-identical Ambassador who is unlike the other Ambassadors.

Britain and France during the Opium Wars, which occurred in the mid-1800s, were at the height of imperialism. Imperialism benefited Britain and France because it gave them access to needed goods from other countries. In the case of China, however, they found difficulty in gaining access to Chinese goods. China did not need anything from Britain or France; therefore, Britain and France had to manufacture dependency, through the introduction of Opium and the subsequent Chinese Opium addiction, in order to create trade.  

In Embassytown, Bremen is the core of the Terre empire, and it holds authority over its colonies, including Embassytown. Given that there seems to be no shortage of doppel Ambassadors, it’s reasonable to assume that the creation of a non-identical Ambassador by Bremen was deliberate. Furthermore, implications of the link between EzRa and colonial domination are hinted when Avice describes Ra as an “an officer and an agent of a colonial power” (120). Furthermore, in numerous instances, references are made to the Hosts’ goods, from which the Terre benefit. One such example is when Avice describes, “A long way off were steppes where herds of semiwild factories ran, which twice each long year Ariekene scientist-gauchos would corral. We hoped to find a few of these cowboy bioriggers left, to trade their creatures’ offspring” (195). Parallels between the Opium War and the novel are also seen when, in the novel, violence breaks out between and among the Terre and Hosts as a result of the Hosts' addiction.

It’ll be interesting to see how the conflict continues and to (hopefully) learn of Bremen’s intention in sending EzRa to Embassytown. 

The Power of Lying

In China Mieville’s Embassytown, speech is presented in a whole new context through the use of a fictional race of beings known as “Hosts”. The work slowly develops lying as an impossible act for the Hosts that some can only attempt to mimic. By the works conclusion however, lying and its role in the Host culture is completely changed.  

The Hosts’ Language is comprised of absolute truth, so the introduction of their contact with lying and attempts to lie at the “Festival of Lies” gives readers a sense of how they react to untruth. “One at a time every Ambassador lied. The Hosts grew boisterous in a fashion I’d never seen, then to my alarm seemed intoxicated, literally lie-drunk” (84). In this instance, the Hosts become “lie-drunk” through hearing the Ambassadors take turns telling simple lies. Early in the work it is clear that while they struggle with attempting to lie, the Hosts are clearly affected by hearing lies told.

The effects of lying to the Hosts are manifested even further with the arrival of a new ambassador named EzRa. Because EzRa is unlike the other ambassadors and not a pair of “mentally unified” clones, the Hosts understand his speech but it also has an effect similar to lying. “[EzRa’s speech] is impossible, is what. Right there in its form. And that is intoxicating. And [the Hosts] mainline it. It’s like a hallucination, a there-not-there. A contradiction that gets them high…Oratees are addicts. Strung out on an Ambassador’s Language” (169). Although what EzRa says may not be an actual lie, the sheer fact two non-connected beings are speaking to the Hosts in their language as one person is enough to produce a physical and psychological addiction for the Hosts. Soon after, the Hosts become addicted and the residents of Embassytown begin to “track their biorhythms” and “gauge how badly the drug of speech was needed” (179).

In the climax of the novel, lying is not only used to drug the Hosts, but also to change their understanding of Language forever. Avice is able to teach a Host how to transform a simile into a metaphor, thus giving it the ability to theoretically lie. “…thought and word were separated…there was no succulence, no titillating impossible. No mystery. Where Language had been there was only language: signifying sound” (310). After the Host comprehends that speaking doesn’t need to be absolute truth but rather a form of “signifying sound”, its mind is changed and the addiction of contradictory speech is cured. The Hosts ability to speak absolute truth is forgotten, but an entirely new state of mind is gained. Whether or not it is in the best interests of the Hosts’ culture and way of life, we do not know…

Avice's Role

            As I read the final pages of the novel, one question from the class discussion today continued to feel uncertain. Just what role does Avice play in the novel? But instead of addressing this question head on, I want to introduce another question I feel can help clarify her role. Why might Avice have gotten involved in the transactions of the world around her at all? She is a self-proclaimed “floaker” which I have come to assume is a rough version of the word floater in our society. Or in other words someone that does the absolute minimum necessary. When she returned she seemed to be proud and insistent upon her floaker status.

            When looking for an answer it became quite clear to me, she becomes involved to save those she loves and is emotionally invested in. The main reason Avice returns is to allow Scile to conduct his research and she becomes heavily involved in the crisis rather than leaving the town again because of her concern for Scile’s well-being. Had she not been emotionally involved with Scile she may have never returned to her former life. But it isn’t only Scile keeping her here. When Avice thinks of Vin’s death she says “I, to my utmost shock, choked and had to close my eyes (pg. 281).”  His death spurs a sort of vengeance as it makes her realize that she truly cared. Had the situation with EzRa not directly affected her relationships, it’s doubtful whether or not she would have taken action as she was adamant in the beginning of the novel that she was simply a floaker. But when it affects her she get more involved than ever before.

But this does not explain why she is useful to the leaders and ambassadors. Other than her emotional draw to the world, Avice didn’t become immersed in the everyday culture of the Hosts and she would just shrug it off as “some Ariekene thing, we wouldn’t understand.” With this attitude she immersed in the outside culture and became a valuable asset as a spy for the leaders of Embassytown. Her unattached state was also an asset towards the end of the novel when she devises a plan as she says “I’m not fluent. Maybe that’s helping me right now (pg.285).” Had she been actively immersed in the culture for the entirety of her life rather than escaping, she may not have been able to adopt an alternative viewpoint of the language and the situation.

            So in short, the way Avice’s character is set up is crucial to the plot of the story. Had she been invested in the culture, her viewpoint could have been corrupted and been irrelevant to helping the cause of the leaders. But had she not had an emotional connection to certain characters in the novel she would never have had a reason to come back and become involved in the crisis in the first place. Her character is deliberately set up to be useful.