History Literature / Nation

*** Or either Tasmania or New Zealand was given a different English name in this Verse.

** Of course, there is still a god of death, and there are ghosts, so it could be debated.
*** Since these are treated as subjective experiences by traumatized characters, and don't seem to possess any ability to influence the physical world, the leaning is still towards science.
*** The way the whole story plays out, it seems to say this: There is nothing wrong with faith and worship, but it's much better to put time and effort into tangible good (Science in this case, but it also uses food and hard work as examples). The priest who gets on Mau all the time isn't shown as a bad guy, just annoying and counterproductive at times, and in the end Mau, who got the brunt of the priest's lectures and negative faith, still forgave him in the end, knowing the priest only did what he thought was best.

-->"There was something in the brain that said: Sinister-looking valley + half dead trees + ominous doorway = skulls in a bowl, or possible on a stick. But even by listening to it, she felt she was being unfair to Mau and Cahle and the rest of them."

** He acts cruelly uncaring, though some or even all of this might be [[StealthMentor a ploy to make Mau figure things out himself]]. He's also more eager to claim lives than the Literature/{{Discworld}} Grim Reaper. However, the JustSoStory that opens the book depicts his creation as a necessity to avoid overpopulation and shows him taking a stand against Imo when Imo wants to wipe out the already-populated world and start over.

*** Since these are treated as subjective experiences by traumatized characters, and don't seem to possess any ability to influence the physical world, the leaning is still towards science.

* WarsOfTheRoses: One of Daphne's ancestors fought in them -- wearing a ''pink'' rose, and lived because everyone thought it was bad luck to kill a madman. With the exception of [[OnlySaneMan Daphne and her father Henry]] the Fanshaws are... ''[[ItRunsInTheFamily interesting]]''.

''When much is taken, something is returned.''

* HeroicBSOD: Mau goes through a pretty extreme version of this when he's sinking the bodies of his tribe in the ocean. Basically, his body's moving, but his mind isn't there any more. He doesn't even notice Daphne standing directly in front of him. He only wakes up just before drowning himself.

A non-''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' book by TerryPratchett, ''Nation'' is about survival, the power of truth, lies, science, and faith.

** Less on the Grandmothers, more on the Grandfathers; the grumpy old men can't even hear someone respond, while the grannies are more sanity and helpfulness.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Subverted: Locaha offers to take Mau to Imo's "Perfect World." Mau refuses, wanting to stay and making ''this'' world perfect. Locaha says [[spoiler:everyone refuses]].

* {{Atlantis}}: One possible interpretation.

* EarnYourHappyEnding:

* FootnoteFever: Relatively restrained for a TerryPratchett novel, but there are a few footnotes about (entirely fictitious) wildlife like the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest_tree_octopus tree climbing octopus]].

* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: Daphne has a hard time explaining Cox's behavior to the islanders. They can cope with cannibals, but not someone who shoots people because they're there.
* TheGrimReaper: Locaha. And he's not as nice as Pratchett's other [[{{Discworld}} Grim Reaper]].
** He acts cruelly uncaring, though some or even all of this might be [[StealthMentor a ploy to make Mau figure things out himself]]. He's also more eager to claim lives than the {{Discworld}} Grim Reaper. However, the JustSoStory that opens the book depicts his creation as a necessity to avoid overpopulation and shows him taking a stand against Imo when Imo wants to wipe out the already-populated world and start over.

* IstanbulNotConstantinople: The Great Southern Pelagic Ocean is the Pacific under an assumed name.

* NarrativeProfanityFilter: The parrot says a lot of words that girls Daphne's age shouldn't know, although the words she ''really'' doesn't know concern her even more.

* SmallSecludedWorld: the main character's world only includes a few islands since no one in his tribe ever sailed far enough to see the continent.

** Her father was 139th in line for the throne. The improbability is [[{{Lampshaded}} lampshaded]] when her father gets the news. We only hear his side of the conversation, but...

* [=~Chekhov's Gun~=]: The axe (A DoubleSubversion)
** [[spoiler:The recipe for making beer]] is a [=~Chekhov's Skill~=].

* [=~Don't Explain The Joke~=]: Daphne's father makes the critical mistake of trying explain an IncrediblyLamePun, only to have the Gentlemen of the Last Resort tell him it wasn't funny. Of course, he's [[spoiler:king now]], so they tell it to him in a more polite manner.
* [=~Don't Try This At Home~=]: There's an afterword discussing the truth behind some implausible-sounding things that happen in the story; most of them are accompanied with warnings that you should not try this at home. The last one ends, instead, with "Whether you try it at home is up to you."

* [=~Everybody's Dead Dave~=]: Not only with Mau being the last survivor of the Nation, but with Daphne, too. And Europe (and America, it is hinted at) is being ravaged by the "Russian influenza."

* [=~I'm A Humanitarian~=]: The cannibal Raiders. Cox joins forces with them, but claims not to have adopted the diet.

** Or Tasmania was given a different English name in this Verse.

* {{MIB}}: The Gentlemen of Last Resort wear black suits and are named after colours.

---> Henry: "Me? ... What, all of them? ... What about Uncle Bernie? I know for a fact that he is in America! ... [[BeyondTheImpossible They have lions there?]]"

A new non-''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' book by TerryPratchett, ''Nation'' is about survival, the power of truth, lies, science, and faith.

* NarrativeProfanityFilter: The parrot says a lot of words that girls Daphne's age shouldn't know, although the words she *really* doesn't know concern her even more.
** The last few chapters also contain a lot of "Cox swore"--but then he ''is'' the one who taught the parrot.

* RefusingParadise - [[spoiler: Locaha, the god of death, offers Mau the chance to ascend to the "Perfect World". Mau refuses, preferring to make his own world a little more perfect. Locaha notes with pride that everyone he's chosen has made the same choice.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Duh, it's ''Pratchett!''

* WomensMysteries: which include the secret of beer, which is for when a woman has had "too much husband" (needs to get him out of her hair for a while). This causes problems for Mau when the Grandfathers demand their beer.
* WriterOnBoard: A little bit of this towards the end, when the whole "Science vs. Religion" debate that's been going on in the background of the story is subtly but definitely tipped towards "science"

*** Since these are treated as subjective experiences by traumatized characters, and don't seem to possess any ability to influence the physical world, the leaning is still towards science.
----

* ComingOfAgeStory: Quite literally for Mau, as he was in-between being a child and man. In fact, he thought he lost his "child soul" and would gain a "man soul" when he got back to the Nation...but when he did, everyone was dead. So afterwards, the other survivors call him the Boy Without a Soul.

* BittersweetEnding: The Nation survives and flourishes. Daphne's father is crowned king. However, Daphne [[spoiler:leaves the island and only sees Mau one more time]].
** Although [[spoiler: the girl who's being told the story]] insists that [[spoiler: two dolphins were seen swimming together immediately after both Mau and Daphne died]]
*** This troper thought it was more like a bitter lampshading about how this story doesn't have a romantic ending, even though most of such stories does. [[spoiler:Her grandfather]] told her that nobody has seen any dolphins.

* DolphinsDolphinsEverywhere: The Nation's religion believes that once we die and are sent into the "dark water," we become dolphins. Cox is particularly reviled because he would shoot at dolphins.

* ShoutOut: To ''{{Moby-Dick}}''. The DistantFinale also mentions various modern scientists visiting the island and doing pretty much what they've done in our world; Richard Feynman playing drums, Dawkins being harassed by an intelligent tool-using animal, Carl Sagan filming for {{Cosmos}}...