Death Star by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry
Spoilers: You have been Warned
Please note that I have not finished the book and all comments are speculation as I read through. Not every analysis will be done such as this one but I felt I had enough to comment on to start.
Chapter(s): 1, 2, 3, and 9
There is an epic, far reaching tail of good versus evil but this isn't it. In the Star Wars story you all know the Rebels must fight the tyrannical rule of the Empire. Within the Death Star a new story is told and this time it is about a system of government. No one here comes out without some ethical debate hanging around.
With Lieutenant Commander Villian we get our first glimpse into the workings of the most powerful weapon the Empire can think to make. There isn't much to make out in a large context from the first few pages but he sets up for a big realization. When ever we see Imperial Stormtroopers non can be distinguished from any other. The dehumanization is immense. Very few in "A New Hope" have faces that can be seen and none make us feel we are in safe company. The newer set of movies involve clones as Stormtroopers during the Clone Wars. This does nothing to remind us that Stormtroopers are people. After the new Star Wars movies we think that all Stormtroopers are clones. It can take a moment to see beyond that but Vil quickly dispels this by clearly stating he "nor any other TIE pilot that he knew of was a clone (Page 5)." Way to crash the party. Just with this comment we start slipping into a new mind set. Gone are the faceless and in come citizens serving their country. I don't know how most places in the world feel about their military but within the U.S. there is a lot of pride and love for those who serve. Vil himself also expresses the same pride as he looks onto the project he is there to protect.
Teela Kaarz is someone who should also have pride in her work. She was an architect with good standing. Was, till she was convicted for being a traitor. She was taken from the prison planet Despayre to help with the construction of the Death Star under Benits Stinex. Her work brings her shame. She tries to justify the work by making lives better. How many lives are we talking about? With the intro for Wilhuff Tarkin, the Grand Moff, we learn there will be a million on staff.
I took the time to talk about Teela because it leads nicely into realizing just who is on the space station. We know there are citizens serving their military but there is so much more then that. Wookiees taken against their will along with many other slaves. We don't know how many are from the prison world or not. In the original Star Wars the Rebels destroy all this and everyone in it. Surely not all on the station have done wrong, more than likely most have not, at least in the since of being apart of the Empire with their crimes. If the Rebels have taken so many lives why do we not see them as being wrong...at all? "But by doing what she knew how to do, she might actually save a few lives, or at least make those lives more comfortable. Yes, those lives would belong to servants of the Empire, but after all, not every single being here was evil. As rationalization went, that one wasn't so bad. Her inner self almost bought it (Page 63)." It is simple, it is the reason Teela feels shame, there can be no good while the Empire stands.
"To this war of every man, against every man,
this also is consequent: that nothing can be unjust. The notions of
right and wrong, justice and injustice, have there no place. Where there
is no common power, there is no law, no justice. Force and fraud, are
in war the two cardinal virtues." -Ibid.
I would like to thank the song Empire by Jukebox the Ghost for keeping me company wile I wrote this.
Reaves, Michael, and Steve Perry. Star Wars: Death Star. New York: Lucas/Del Rey/Ballantine, 2007. Print.
Seldes, George. The Great Quotations, with an Introduction by J. Donald Adams. New York: Pocket, 1968. Print.
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