Crivens, More Rambling!

It was by the charity of the universe that my friend Anne introduced me to the author Terry Pratchett, through his book We Free Men. This guy is basically about as INFP as you can get, and it's amazing down to every last dripping morsel of sarcasm. The allegory is hidden well and some points and rather conspicuously at others, in the name of humor, but its rather poignant. I've gleaned quite a few quotes that hit me like a frying pan over the head. And of course, because I'm me, I went through the whole book Myers-Briggs typing all of the characters.

I've got four to present to you today, cognitive function theories and all: Tiffany, Granny Aching, the (general) Nac Mac Foogles, and the Queen of Dreams. But first, a little bit about my thoughts on the book as a whole.

My two main reasons for enjoying this book are as follows:

1. I have never found a character more relatable than Tiffany. Seriously, the whole book I was reading through thinking "I don't remember myself doing this, but hey, proof of samsara."
2. Frying pans were used as weapons, seven years before Tangled.

That should be more than enough basis for me to force you to read this book. If you're not running to the library right now (darn you), I'll talk for just a little bit about the metaphor of the book itself. The major theme of it all is that we, as humans, walk through our lives seeing only what we want to or think we should see; a comatose state in which we cannot truly comprehend the wondrous nature of experiences we might have if we only were to open our eyes and wake up for real. However, being mere mortals, we could not begin to comprehend or exist in such a state of consciousness. It's the paradox and malaise of humanity.

All this, from a book whose every other word is a curse in some pictsie language.

There are some doubtless profound quotes, though. They contemplate religion, alternate realities, susuristic silence, hyperawareness, and of course, hypnagogia. I won't say it's my favorite book, as I do tend to prefer texts that leave me questioning my existence in near psychological breakdown state, but as for things that may or may not leave you in existential crisis, it's pretty dang good. Thank you, Anne, I'd recommend it too.

Also, thanks to this book, I now have a halfway decent Scottish accent under my belt.

I went ahead and researched the painting it was loosely based on, The Fairy-Feller's Master-Stroke. Incidentally, the artist went insane and killed his father, whom he thought was the devil in disguise. His caretakers at the insane asylum encouraged him to keep painting, and thus, commissioned by one of the doctors, this was born. He also produced the Sketches to Illustrate the Passions, which are pretty cool. They're actually quite lovely, although some are a tad morbid. 

In my mini research project, I also discovered that Queen wrote a song about this, with the same title of The Fairy-Feller's Master-Stroke. It suddenly turns into Nevermore, and I think the lyricist was high as a kite. Anyways, here's a link to the song. Now, onto our main feature: Myers-Briggs typing!! :D

First up, Tiffany Aching. She's a pretty fun main character to tag along with, and though I initially saw her as INFP, I later questioned my prior judgement and came to the outcome of a solid INTP. Let me explain why, first with the original MBTI and followed with cognitive functions.

Tiffany is most definitely an introvert. She reveled in silence and thoroughly enjoyed her alone time, which was one main reason why that little jiggit was Granny's (unofficial) favorite.

Secondly, we know she's intuitive because of the many references to "First Sight and Second Thoughts", which are among other things a fancy way of stating that she doesn't rely on what's expected or normal. Half of the book takes place in her thoughts, and she's not one to rely on those of others.

In deciding T or F, it got a bit harder. I went with T, for the primary reason that while she's an emotional person, she's decidedly very calculated about it. She used her little brother as monster bait-- with definite Perceiver-style impulse-- and decided not to cry about her grandmother.

It was definitely a harrowing issue to come to the conclusion that Tiffany is not, in fact, an INFP. My tears stain the keyboard even as I type, ect. There could be a definite debate to this-- for one thing, I see a lot more Fi than Fe. It's entirely possible that she's a well-rounded INFP, and this is my fervent hope and prayer. I don't like to rely too much on cognitive function theory, since it usually muddles things, but it's useful for explaining a character's thought process.

Introverted Feeling (Fi): Tiffany relates the outside world back to her feelings, and uses her sense of morality to guide her actions. It's often controlled, as she decides through a set of inner values what is worth her emotions. She doesn't worry too much about what others think of her, but rather, what her actions will cause her to think of herself.  For example, saving her brother. She doesn't think, "I have to find him, or how will my family feel?!" but "I need to save him because he's my brother, and if I didn't love him, what kind of person am I?" In spite of this, I typed her as a Thinker and not a Feeler, mainly because of the scene in which she confronts the Queen. While the Queen is using classic Fe manipulation strategy, Tiffany logically insults her instead of playing on her emotions. However, she's able to read the Queen quite well based on war she knows about her, enough to know her crucial emotional weak points. That smells of a Fi vs Fe contest, and a pretty well-written one at that.

Extroverted Intuition (Ne): Tiffany is open-minded, abstract, idealistic, insightful, and flexible in thought. The majority of her emotional reasoning sources inside (Fi), but she bounces her ideas off of others in order to fully grasp them. She likes to be present where possibilities exist, readily grasps foreign concepts, and seeks out creative solutions-- such as marrying Rob Anybody once a bird grinds a mountain down to a grain of sand. By the hundreds of obscure connections she makes throughout the book, it's easy to type her as a solid user of Ne. 

Introverted Sensing (Si): While Tiffany often lives among her thoughts and is wrapped up in her own imagination, she's also quite the sensor. She notices when things are off in her environment-- the unreality of the Drome's creations, Jenny Greenteeth appearing subtly, the slight noises of the pictsies-- and reflects heavily on the past as a guide for current actions. She's quite sentimental over her memories and they comprise a good portion of the book. She's consistent, hard working, and uses her routines to find comfort in daily life (This is offset by her rampant Ne, which pushes her into exploring everything). 

Extroverted Thinking (Te): Logic is a driving weapon at Tiffany's disposal. Once she's reasoned through her emotions, ideas, and sense of morality, she steps right into doing whatever makes the most sense. This could be using her brother as monster bait or defying the Queen by coldly playing her deepest insecurities, but once she's decided what the right thing to do is, she'll go by whatever means are objectively necessary. She makes decisions quickly and decisively.

Granny Aching

What we know of Sarah Aching comes entirely from the dialogue of the Nac Mac Foogles and Tiffany's memory. This is ~~SPOILER~~ because she's already deceased, but nevertheless she remains crucial in the underlying plot, up to the climax, and is therefore deemed by me a major character. I'll try to keep this profile a lot shorter. Granny Aching is an ISTJ. She was undeniably an introvert, relied on a strong moral code of right and wrong, worked within the law, nurtured both her sheep and any person in need duly with a spirit of moral obligation, worked hard unceasingly, and did her best to fill the traditional role of a "grandmother". On top of this, she stubbornly refused to leave the Chalk and clung to her constant values.

Nac Mac Foogles

The  Nac Mac Foogles (pictsies) seemed to have one general, shared personality. There were, of course, deviants, but as a whole, they conformed to a broad cognitive structure. The Nac Mac Foogles are ESFPs. And they were so, so fun to type. We know, for starters, that they're extroverts-- you never see one alone, their idea of heaven is endless parties and beer (as well as rampaging), and they're quite loud and exuberant. As SPs, the Sensor-Percievers, they're full of hedonism and are lively, fast-paced, skilled in battle, and based on their interpretation of common sense. They also tend to cry "Waily waily" on everything, though they can be serious on some rare occasions, and have a strong compassion which drives them to be the Robin Hoods of the fae world. They're ready to rush into both danger and fun, have a strong instinct to protect and fight for others, lack long-range vision, and can never seem to take the logical path.

Queen of Dreams

Let me just say right off that I love this character. It's fantastic development, even though it seems superficial at the surface. Fi vs Fe clashes are some of my favorite moments in literature. This one comes across as Harry Potter meets Chronicles of Narnia, in the worst way, which is alright I guess, but not ideal. There's not a lot of of information to go off of, but I just had to type her. The Queen screams ENFJ to me. For one thing, she's definitely got extroverted feeling at a max, and it's been corrupted to villainry. Her back story involves being left by her King, following which, her happy summer kingdom descends into eternal winter. Writers just love characterizing xNFJs as the harbringers of winter-- Elsa, Ingrid, Queen of Dreams, etc. It's such a trope, but I love it. 

Anyways, when a Fe-Ni combo goes off the deep end, you have some of the most manipulative and fantastic, poignant, gray-area villains. By this I mean, it's oftentimes hard to not fall into sympathy for them. The Queen's warped NF typing is blatantly present from the moment we see her: One, kindap children because she just wants to care for them; Two, fall into the classic primary Feeling function of "your mistakes are not your fault, but that of your circumstances"; and Three, her response to losing who we can only assume was the love of her life.

She's an extrovert because she must always have company and doesn't withdraw into solitude (additionally, because of her primary Fe function), and the J/P difference comes from the cognitive function stack. Again, in order to have that extroverted feeling, she fits with the classic ENFJ villain. Other example of Fe is Hans, from Frozen, and another pseudo-villain of NFJ-ness is Elsa from the same movie. The ENFJ vs INFJ difference in supposed evil is obviously present.

An important point to remember: Functions display differently for every individual.

This concludes my massive text on Wee Free Men! I checked out the one copy, but it's soon to be at our local library :P If you'd like to follow up on more book recommendations, simply click on my tag #bookreviews. If you enjoyed this book, you'll probably like Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper by Michael Reisman.

It's humorous, action-packed, profoundly intuitive, and most certainly makes you go about the world looking for suspicious textbooks. A couple years back, this was the book that made me enjoy reading more than I could express with words. Simon Bloom was the novel that started it all, and I will forever be grateful.

If you'd like to purchase the book, it can be found on Amazon here.

You can thank me later ;)

Crivens, what a long post!

I conclude with one of my very favorite quotes:

"We sleepwalk through life, because how could we live if we were always this awake?"

(Okay okay I'm sorry, here's a link to the actual song.)