Artemis

The Jazz who reaches out to those she trusts for help is not the Jazz of the opening chapters; though she keeps most of her sarcasm and wit, she is less stubbornly (and at times self-destructively) self-reliant. Her interactions with various friends also reveal new dimensions of her character: She is respectful to her father, snide to Dale and Bob, kind to Lene, and comfortable with Svoboda. Weir particularly uses the scene at Billy’s to highlight these individual characters and their relationship to who Jazz is. Jazz’s attitude toward each of them is influenced by how she feels about what they represent, including aspects of herself or incidents from her past. As she accepts help and reintegrates people into her life, she allows those parts of herself to shine through and flourish.

Dale and Jazz’s relationship is complicated. In sleeping with her boyfriend, Dale represents all the mistakes that Jazz herself made while focused on immediate gratification over what was right; Jazz resents Dale’s actions partly because she could see herself doing the same thing. This shame encourages Jazz to wallow in her anger over the betrayal, although her willingness to work with Dale on this job signals that her attitude is softening.

Lene just lost her only parent partly because of Jazz’s failure. Jazz is deferential and kind to the young orphan, who represents the innocent in Jazz. Jazz desperately wants to save Lene from making the same mistakes she did in hiding and running away. Lene’s willingness to fight for what her father wanted means a great deal to Jazz and hints at Jazz’s own desire to make her father proud.

With Bob, Jazz is rude and aggressive. Bob initially represents the authoritarian and rule follower. She resents Bob’s power over what she can access; like her father, Jazz dislikes red tape and centralized administration, including the guilds. However, Jazz’s relationship with Bob, and Rudy by extension, evolves as she witnesses his impeccable code of ethics. Jazz admires Bob’s skill and honor, both of which she values greatly. For his part, Bob’s disappointment with Jazz stems from her insubordination and his perception of lost potential. He knows she could do well as an EVA master, but not without discipline.

Svoboda represents the nerdy side of Jazz: He is bumbling and socially inept but completely confident in his geekiness. Jazz is at least as intelligent as Svoboda. She can draw electrical engineering plans, understand complex smelting processes, and make connections between seemingly disparate facts. Yet Jazz hides and downplays her intelligence. Svoboda is what Jazz would be if she let intellect rather than ambition and desire govern her actions, and her growing fondness for Svoboda suggests her growing appreciation for her own mental prowess. Jazz begins to understand how much further she could go if she used her brain more than her instinct.

Jazz’s father, Ammar, demonstrates Jazz’s immaturity by contrast. Ammar is a severe man, the opposite of Jazz’s lighthearted embrace of danger. Even as Jazz matures, she cannot help but rebel against her father. He brings out her inner teenager, contradictory and sullen. However, even as Jazz fights her father, she is coming to understand how much he loves her. By inviting Ammar to join her plan, she shows faith that his love for her exceeds his desire for personal safety.

Weir also uses the scene at Billy’s to set up the book’s action-filled climax. Notably, the novel only depicts the broad contours of the plan as Jazz walks her team through it. Readers instead experience that plan unfolding in real time as Jazz and the others enact it. This technique creates suspense by keeping readers in the dark about what will happen next.