The Obelisk Gate
Chapter 5: Nassun takes the reins
by Jemisin, N.K.In this chapter, Nassun reflects on her conflicted feelings toward her parents while traveling with her father in a wagon. She resents her mother, Jija, for forcing her to lie about her orogenic abilities and for her harsh, controlling behavior. In contrast, she idolizes her father, who has shown her kindness and patience, though she is disturbed by his current anger and grief over killing her younger brother, Uche. Nassun blames her mother for her father’s emotional distance and attempts to reconnect with him by confessing her withheld truths, seeking his approval despite her fear.
Nassun’s internal struggle highlights the toxic dynamics of her family. Her mother’s relentless demands and punishments contrast sharply with her father’s gentler, more affectionate parenting. Yet, his violent outburst—knocking Nassun off the wagon in a moment of rage—reveals his own instability. Afterward, he collapses into remorse, clutching her and sobbing, revealing his grief over Uche’s death and his fear of losing Nassun too. This moment of vulnerability reassures Nassun of his love, even as it underscores the trauma binding them.
Their emotional turmoil is interrupted by a catastrophic seismic event—a continental rift triggered far north. Nassun, still dazed from her fall, instinctively locks up instead of using her orogeny to mitigate the disaster. Her father senses the impending danger but is powerless to act. The chapter ends mid-action as Nassun, despite her disorientation, attempts to anchor herself and her father against the overwhelming force of the quake, hinting at her latent power and resilience.
The chapter explores themes of familial love, abuse, and survival, with Nassun caught between her parents’ flaws and her own emerging agency. The seismic disaster mirrors the upheaval in her personal life, setting the stage for her growth as an orogene. The narrative balances intimate character moments with high-stakes action, emphasizing how external and internal forces shape Nassun’s journey.
FAQs
1. How does Nassun’s relationship with her father differ from her relationship with her mother, based on this chapter?
Answer:
Nassun’s relationship with her father is characterized by warmth, affection, and trust, while her relationship with her mother is marked by fear, control, and emotional neglect. Her father engages in bonding activities like fishing and stargazing, speaks to her patiently, and disciplines her gently. In contrast, her mother issues harsh commands, physically punishes her, and constantly criticizes her, making Nassun feel unloved. Nassun internalizes her mother’s disapproval, believing she can “do nothing right,” whereas her father’s love feels unconditional despite his later violent outburst, which she blames on her mother’s influence.2. Analyze the significance of Nassun’s reaction to being struck by her father. How does this moment reveal her conflicting emotions?
Answer:
When Nassun is knocked off the wagon by her father, her immediate thought—”He still loves me”—reveals her desperate need to rationalize his violence to preserve her idealized image of him. Despite fearing his anger, she blames her mother for his actions, reflecting her psychological dependence on his affection. Her relief at his subsequent apology underscores her internal conflict: she craves his love but struggles to reconcile it with his capacity for harm. This moment also highlights her conditioned response to suppress pain (both physical and emotional), a survival mechanism ingrained by her mother’s abuse.3. How does the chapter portray the theme of inherited trauma, particularly through Nassun’s orogenic abilities?
Answer:
Nassun’s orogeny symbolizes inherited trauma, as her mother’s harsh training (“Don’t react, don’t ice”) mirrors the cyclical nature of abuse. Essun (her mother) forces Nassun to suppress her natural instincts, just as societal fear of orogeny demands repression. When Nassun instinctively “locks up” during the seismic wave, it reflects both her mother’s conditioning and the broader oppression of orogenes. The chapter suggests that trauma—whether familial or societal—shapes identity and behavior, as Nassun’s relationship with her power is fraught with fear and shame, echoing her mother’s unresolved struggles.4. What does the seismic event at the end of the chapter reveal about the broader world and its connection to Nassun’s personal crisis?
Answer:
The continental rift parallels Nassun’s fractured family dynamics, emphasizing how personal and global catastrophes intersect. Just as Nassun’s world is upended by her father’s violence and her mother’s lies, the seismic wave literally “unpeels the world,” destabilizing reality. Nassun’s partial failure to control the wave mirrors her incomplete emotional control—both are overwhelmed by forces beyond her. The event also foreshadows larger conflicts, linking Nassun’s trauma to the planet’s upheaval, suggesting that systemic violence (against orogenes, children, or the land itself) has far-reaching consequences.5. Evaluate the chapter’s depiction of parental love as both nurturing and destructive. Provide examples.
Answer:
The chapter complicates parental love by showing its dual capacity for care and harm. Nassun’s father exemplifies this duality: he is tender (gifting her toys, sharing stories) but later strikes her in grief, revealing love intertwined with volatility. Her mother’s “love” is purely performative (“Mama has said occasionally that she loves Nassun”), weaponized to justify control. Both parents fail to protect Nassun—her father through his outburst, her mother through systemic abuse—demonstrating how love can be distorted by trauma. The chapter critiques idealized parenthood, showing how even affectionate relationships can perpetuate cycles of pain.
Quotes
1. “She’s looking at her father… ‘Lie. You lied, and lies are always bad.’”
This quote captures Nassun’s internalized guilt and complex relationship with truth-telling, revealing how she blames herself for her father’s violence despite being coerced into deception by her mother. It establishes the chapter’s central tension between parental influence and personal agency.
2. “Mama has said occasionally that she loves Nassun, but Nassun has never seen any proof of it. Not like Daddy…”
This contrast between Nassun’s parents highlights the tragic irony of her situation - she idealizes the violent father while doubting the love of the strict but non-violent mother. The passage reveals how abuse distorts a child’s perception of care.
3. “Daddy is never too tired to talk at the ends of his workdays. Daddy does not inspect Nassun in the mornings after baths the way Mama does…”
These observations showcase Nassun’s selective memory that romanticizes her father while magnifying her mother’s faults, demonstrating how children construct narratives to cope with trauma and maintain attachment to abusive parents.
4. “He jerks her close and holds her tightly, although it hurts… ‘You can’t have this one, too!’”
This visceral moment reveals the father’s contradictory nature - capable of both violence and desperate love. His outburst connects Uche’s murder to his current actions, showing grief manifesting as dangerous possessiveness.
5. “The shake is basically what happens when a person doing laundry flaps the wrinkles out of a sheet, writ on a continental scale…”
This stunning simile conveys the apocalyptic scale of the geological event while maintaining the domestic perspective of a child’s worldview, blending personal drama with world-shattering consequences.