Quote:'You've noticed by now, surely, that Babel alone among the Oxford faculties accepts students not of European origin. Nowhere else in this country will you find Hindus, Muslims, Africans, and Chinamen studying under the same roof. We accept you not despite, but because of your foreign backgrounds.' Professor Playfair emphasized this last part as if it was a matter of great pride. 'Because of your origins, you have the gift of languages those born in England cannot imitate. And you, like Psammetichus's boys, are the tongues that will speak this vision of global harmony into being.'

Reading this passage (p. 81) definitely brought something into sharp relief: I have benefitted from being white-passing enough that my first thought was: oh hey that is a little patronizing but overall actually a really nice sentiment, yay Babel! 

ONLY FOR THE OH-SHIT SHOE TO DROP BY THE END OF THE PAGE:

Quote:... he had read the relevant passage of Herodotus, and recalled that the Egyptian boys were nevertheless slaves ...

I take comfort in the fact that Robin, too, was lulled into a false sense of security.

---

Nitpicking, but I don't think doppelganger (end of Book I) is ever shown to have a justifiable reason he knows that much info about Robin. His name? Sure. Literally any of the rest of it? Nope, not buying it.

Quote:English did not just just borrow words from other languages; it was stuffed to the brim with foreign influences, a Frankenstein vernacular. And Robin found it incredible, how this country, whose citizens prided themselves so much on being better than the rest of the world, could not make it thoguht an afternoon tea without borrowed goods.

Emphasis mine—the first part I'd encountered more or less on the internet before.

I just really like how Kuang expressed this idea. It gets straight to the point without sermonizing or needing to double own with footnotes, which was one of my complaints from earlier in the text.

When Robin is caught, as an outside observer, you can really see how much Lovell is manipulating Robin, making him feel guilty and lucky to get to stay even though there is no way he would have put in half so much effort if Robin weren't immensely valuable to Babel. I think this is the first time that he is actually treated as such, and it's sad that he doesn't recognize it himself.

I also love that we got a glimpse into Ramy's background & headspace in this section! The contrast between his upbringing and Robin's is immediately evident, even though they both have English guardians who took them from their homelands—Ramy had more of an opportunity to bond with his family, to develop a sense of pride in who he is, and it was a really interesting interlude <3

Me at the end of the section after the CASUAL MURDER:



ALSO LOL THIS QUOTE (p. 289) KILLED ME:

Quote:'The problem is that the Chinese have convinced themselves that they're the most superior nation in the world,' [Lovell] said.

It's you. Hi. You're the problem. It's you.