They are torn between skepticism and faith. Misery struggles with that idea and assumes it is a delusion at first. We know Misery is the chosen one and she is guided by something only she can see and hear. Yang is playing with a lot of things, most notably – the chosen one. We get Misery’s unfiltered truth, but the framing allows us to know from the outset that there is more than what Misery knows happening. The bulk of the story is told from Misery’s perspective via an omniscient narrator. We know as soon as we meet Misery Nomaki (she/they) that everything we are about to read has already happened. I probably missed ways in which The Genesis of Misery uses elements of the Joan of Arc story, and how it differs. Her class and gender made her an improbable military leader, and also made her easy to abandon by her allies. But after some losses, she was captured by the English, tried for heresy, and executed by being burned at the stake. She led the French to victories against the English. Let’s review a few things about the Patron Saint of France: during the 100 Years War (1337 – 1453), Joan was a peasant teen-aged girl who had visions and heard voices which she believed were divine. The Genesis of Misery is not a queer retelling of Joan of Arc in space, but it also kind of is (…innn sppaaaaace).
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