Soc Jesper - Tumblr Posts

Just saw someone on tiktok say Wesper's ship name should be Gunpowder and I can't stop thinking about it.

Recently finished reading the Six of Crows duology! Loved this crew’s banter and following them through all their chaotic schemes!!

Jesper, Inej & Kaz 1.08 “No Mourners”

Jesper Fahey is a thot . He listens to Doja cat and Megan the Stallion for advices .

SOC and Neoliberlism

So, as promised, here it is my analysis of Six of Crows and how neoliberalism is amazingly portrayed in Ketterdam, and how the city is an example of what happens in a community that is not provided for.

Before we begin, I wanted to say that English is not my first language, and, considering I read SOC in Brazilian Portuguese, I might translate some names literally or differently from the English version but I think it's manageable to read and understand my point. If not, I'll edit the text.

The first thing we have to understand is how neoliberalism works and the theory behind it, and then we'll talk about how it's portrayed in Ketterdam.

So neoliberalism is a theory born more or less at the end of the 20th century (70s-80s), and it finds its roots in laissez-faire capitalism, meaning that it's a political current that tries to suppress and/or eliminate the State's influence from the market. The neoliberalist view understands that the market can supply by itself the population's needs without help or limitations imposed by the State.

The thing here is that most people listen to this and think neoliberalism is about electronics, cars, and other stuff. The truth is, that neoliberalism aims to suppress the presence of State-run facilities in ALL corners of society, such as health care, housing, water access, electricity, etcetera.

So, we can use the American and Brazillian health systems to understand it better, for example:

In the US, the ones providing health care for the population are great corporations - they decide the price of care, they work together with pharmaceutical companies to define medicine prices, and the laws that bind them are pretty much only offer and demand. There is almost none State intervention to provide the population with accessible health care.

However, this brings problems, of course: not everyone (actually, most people) has real access to health care simply because they can't afford it, or they can't afford it without taking a big financial hit, which threatens their other basic needs, such as food, housing, water, electricity, etcetera. Not everyone can provide for their medical needs, such as diabetic and disabled people.

That leads to:

(a) an increase in poverty;

(b) a decrease in educational levels - if you don't have the means to pay for higher educational levels because of health care debt, or if you're sick and need to go to class and tough through it but you're not really learning anything, and so on, which leads to a major workforce in base level production and a minor class who has access to this education;

(c) an increase in overworking people - meaning that we have a lot of people taking on several jobs to be able to pay for things like health care, which increases the competitiveness between people, making individualism levels go up and breaking up human beings' natural sense of community.

I could also talk here about how this breeds isolation and increases the potential for mental health problems but I think you got what I was saying.

On the other hand, we have the Brazilian health care system (SUS), which is a universal gratuitous medical care service through the whole country. Its purpose is not profit, it's providing health care for the community, so therefore, any SUS unit is bound by State law and run by the State. By law, every SUS unit must provide for anyone who enters its premises in need of medical care. Everyone, Brazillian and foreigners, poor or rich, must be treated if they need to. It's the law.

Of course, that doesn't mean it's all rainbows and flowers, there are definitely many problems in SUS. However, what I'm trying to showcase here is that, when the needs of a population are met, the population itself is more resilient, their life quality goes up and so does their participation in their community.

On the other hand, in neoliberalism, when the State is absent from these areas of community service, the market is, in theory, the one providing for the community. In practice, however, what we observe from neoliberal policies in cities with a great poor population in Latam for example, is that when the State doesn't provide for the community, the market is unable to step up for them because of their obscene prices.

The poor population that doesn't have their needs met by the State or the market sees a great boom in criminal activities within their spaces. That's mainly why criminal organizations are so present in slums and favelas throughout Latin America: criminal organizations are a way for the community to provide for themselves and, as a means to become more powerful, they provide for the community in exchange for their services (not to say they do that for the good of their hearts, of course not).

It's why it's so common, for example, that criminal organizations such as PCC in Brazil pay for kids from favelas to undergo Law school, for example.

And that's is where I wanted to go to start the conversation in SOC: one of the main traits of Ketterdam is the Barrel and, in the Barrel, we have the presence of many criminal organizations, such as the Dregs, the Dime Lions, the Menagerie staff (not the girls, ofc), etcetera.

This, as observed by Kaz himself, is one of the only ways to survive on the Barrel - you filiate yourself to a gang because you need to be able to provide for yourself and, more times than others, for your family as well.

Kaz's story is actually a perfect example of how Ketterdam is the representation of America in the early 20th century in full policies of laissez-faire (neoliberalism): as we can see in Titanic and many other historical fictions, the said American Dream had people believing the US to be this economical paradise where they could all enter the market and become millionaires.

The result of it is the Great Depression, of course, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

When Kaz and Jodi leave Lij for Ketterdam, Jodi believes he'll become a merchant - which is a pretty common belief of those who arrive at Ketterdam, as Pekka Rollins and Kaz himself state in Crooked Kingdom.

The reality of it, though, is much harsher, because the truth is that when you have a market that controls everything, as we see in Ketterdam with the Merchant's Guild (I think that's how it's translated?) and the Stadwatch as a police force, you see perfectly how neoliberal policies really work in real life:

You have a higher class who controls the market and the riches (question: who do you think got the money Shu Han sent to Ketterdam at the beginning of the first book: the people of the city/country or the merchants in the "government"?), and a lower class that, without support from the State or the market to have their needs met will turn to their own means to do so.

So you have the trafficking that brought Inej to the island, the unlimited gambling that Jesper was trapped in, the cons Jodi and Kaz fell for - it's all product of liberal policies.

And so, you have Ketterdam and its neoliberal policies (:

(I really love to make this kind of analysis, please, if you have something you want me to talk about, don't hesitate to ask)

Kanej || HOPE

masterlist//prologue//previous chapter//next chapter —>

---

Anika

The job had not gone as planned. It was far from perfect. It was a complete blasphemy!

On top of that, she had managed to anger the boss.

Great! Just amazing!

She could hear a distant murmur, someone calling her name, asking for her.

She dropped the limp figure on the floor, as she took a step back. The World was swirling around her....

"Anika, what happened?" Kaz could only fathom the worst, "Anika?!"

"Water," she croaked.

The explanation would come. First, she needed to steady herself.

*********

She was walking down the lane, hood up, crouched low. The Dime Lions were rumored to have gotten their territory expanded to their old warehouses. She was supposed to sneak in on their conversations and find out which ones were being used. They were careful enough not to leave any recorded documents behind. She would be back within an hour. In and out.

*********

"How did they know about Inej returning from Ravka?" Kaz rasped coldly.

"The latest slave trader intercepted by Inej, Volkov, Dreke Volkov, was one of their valuable assets. Dreke had somehow managed to communicate with them before being a prisoner of the Wraith."

"And they are planning what?"

"To hold her as a captive at the warehouse near the Van Eck Mansion."

"Does Jesper or Wylan know about this?"

"I don't think so," her voice quivered, "No."

"Umm, Kaz?"

Kaz followed her gaze to find Roeder waking up.

Dregs⚔Official

Nina: GUESS WHAT I DISCOVERED!!

Inej: OMG! What?!

Kaz: If you both don't shut up right now, I'll hire a new HeartRender and a new Spider

Nina: Nah

Nina: You wouldn't do that

Matthias: How are you so sure?

Nina: HE'S IN LOVE WITH INEJ 😍😍

Kaz: .....

Kaz: She's just an investment

Nina: Shut up! You love her and just admit it

Inej: ....

Inej: 💀💀

Anika: Oh yes! Boss keeps his love letters locked up !!

Jesper: Did I miss something?

Wylan: Jes dear, Kaz is in love with our beloved Inej

Jesper: ....

Kaz: NO I AM NOT

Nina: See? He's out of his witty remarks

Kaz: ....

Inej: .....

Game Night With The Crows

so @padfoot-lupin77 i am still a bit confused about the whole re-blogging thing (since i joined Tumblr, quite recently-) but the idea caught me and grew in me like the most resilient disease *starts blabbering about Inception* *please ignore* ... well, anyways .... here i am!

Hope you like it!!

.•°☆°•.

Summary: The Crows take a break from their usual schemes to play a game of Monopoly, in which without a doubt, Kaz dominates.

***

The Slat was unusually quiet. The kind of quiet that always put Jesper on edge. Kaz was in his office, working through a stack of papers, while Inej sharpened her knives at the corner table. Wylan and Nina were huddled over some new schematics for a job, and Matthias stood guard by the door, his eyes scanning the room for any sign of trouble.

Jesper, unable to sit still any longer, wandered over to Kaz's office and knocked on the open door. "Kaz, we need a break."

Kaz didn't look up from his work. "A break?" he repeated, his tone flat.

"Yes, a break. You know, something to take our minds off the constant scheming and plotting." Jesper leaned against the doorframe, his usual grin in place, "how about a game night?"

"Yes! Monopoly, to be precise. Let's see who really knows how to make a fortune," Jesper suggested with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

Kaz glanced at the papers on his desk, then back at Jesper. After a long moment, he sighed. "Fine. But only for a couple of hours."

Jesper's grin widened. "Perfect. I'll get the others."

Jesper practically bounced back into the main room, where the others looked up curiously. "Guess what? Kaz agreed to a game night!"

Nina laughed. "You actually convinced him? This I have to see."

Matthias looked skeptical. "The demjin playing a game? I’ll believe it when I see it."

Wylan lan's eyes lit up at the mention of Monopoly. "I’m in. It’ll be nice to do something normal for once."

Inej smiled softly, her curiosity piqued. "I’ll play."

With everyone in agreement, they gathered around the largest table in the Slat, clearing off maps and blueprints to make room for the game. Jesper spread out the Monopoly board while Nina and Matthias brought waffles from the kitchen.

Kaz emerged from his office, looking slightly bemused but not entirely displeased. He took a seat at the head of the table, watching as the others chose their pieces.

"I'll be the thimble," Inej said, picking up the small metal piece.

Jesper grabbed the race car, of course. "Vroom vroom, here comes the winner!"

Nina picked the dog, Matthias took the hat, and Wylan chose the boot. Kaz, with a resigned air, took the battleship.

"Let's get this over with," Kaz muttered, though there was a hint of amusement in his eyes.

The game began with its usual mix of excitement and strategy. Jesper was the first to land on Boardwalk, a broad grin spreading across his face. "Looks like I'm building an empire!"

"Not if I can help it," Wylan said, eyeing the other properties strategically.

Nina and Matthias engaged in playful banter as they moved their pieces around the board. "You always pick the dog," Matthias observed.

"It brings me luck," Nina replied with a wink.

Kaz played with the same ruthless efficiency he brought to everything else, quickly accumulating properties and planning his moves several turns in advance. "Luck is for amateurs," he said as he landed on Park Place, solidifying his hold on the board.

At one point, Kaz bought up a whole block of properties, and Jesper couldn’t resist a comment. "Looks like Brekker’s Investments are expanding."

Kaz glanced up, "It's all about knowing where to invest your resources," he said, his gaze briefly flickering to Inej, who rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless.

His eyes lingered on to Inej...

Inej...

Her quiet strength, the way she held herself with such grace and confidence, always struck him. Her dark hair fell in soft waves, framing her face perfectly. When she smiled, even the most hardened part of him seemed to soften.

She was more than just an investment.

Her eyes caught his, and for a fleeting second, the world outside of their little circle ceased to exist.

Her smile was like a rare glimpse of sunlight in the dreary streets of Ketterdam, and Kaz found himself caught in its warmth. He wondered —

Nina’s voice cut through his thoughts like a knife. "Kaz, are you daydreaming about Inej’s strategy or just imagining your next romantic move? It's your turn," she teased, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

Kaz blinked, realizing he had almost missed a crucial move. He quickly rolled the dice and made his play, landing on a property he had been eyeing for several turns. With swift precision, he bought it up, adding another piece to his growing empire.

As the night wore on, the board became a battlefield of hotels and houses. Kaz, unsurprisingly, was in the lead, but the others put up a valiant fight. Jesper, true to form, made a few reckless moves, much to Wylan’s dismay.

"You’re supposed to be good at this!" Wylan exclaimed as Jesper handed over another stack of cash to Kaz.

"I’m good at making things exciting, merchling" Jesper replied with his usual grin.

As Kaz placed his final hotel on Boardwalk, sealing his victory, Jesper groaned.

"Next time, we’re playing something that doesn’t involve you bankrupting us all."

"We’ll see about that."

Even in victory, Kaz allowed himself a rare moment of relaxation, knowing that sometimes, even the sharpest minds needed a break.

Hear me out guys!!

Is it just me who relates every damn thing , however little might be it be, with the Grishaverse but mainly the Crows?

Like start from History, move on to Economics, Pol Science, English, and holy moly, even Chemistry!! I remember stuff with SoC and CK reference and always find a way to compare them!!

Feel free to argue but-

Kaz. Inej. Nina. Matthias. Jesper. Wylan.

Each of them are the main characters.

Matthias Helvar, The Druskelle

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

Jesper Fahey, The Sharpshooter

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.

Wylan Van Eck, The Artist

A runaway with a privileged past.

Inej Ghafa, The Spy

A spy known as the Wraith.

Nina Zenik, The Heartrender.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

Kaz Brekker, The Thief

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist.

The End.