A Thousand Steps into Night

Traci Chee

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2022

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-15

Part 1, Chapters 16-33

Part 2, Chapters 1-15

Part 2, Chapters 16-31

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Indigo

The color indigo is a persistent motif used throughout the narrative to support both the themes of Unconventional Acceptance in Liminality and The Makings of a Monster. Indigo has a double meaning within the world of Awara, as the narrative explains it is “the color of Amyunasa, the December God and first of the Lunar Gods to arise from the primordial waters, from which all things were created and to which all things ultimately returned. It was a color of both life and death, a color of divinity and mystery” (33). On inanimate objects, indigo is often used to bespell banners, homes, gates, and the like for protection against malevolent spirits—which is why Miuko can be warded against by her father and the priests.

On individuals, the meaning shifts and comes to represent the spirit world, as both Miuko and Afaina, the God of Stars, sport the color. But while Afaina’s indigo eye still retains the notion of divinity, Miuko’s indigo skin is deemed the opposite. For Miuko, the creeping indigo on her skin tracks the progression of her curse and is a visual marker of otherness. The indigo comes to be synonymous with demonhood and when it consumes her entire body, only Miuko’s retained humanity keeps her from destroying everything in her path—and enjoying it, too.

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Indigo comes to represent a tentative balance between the spirit and mortal world, as both something to be used for one’s benefit and to be feared. When Miuko comes to accept herself as neither human nor demon, the indigo color of her hand marks her as an individual who lives a liminal life between the mortal and spirit worlds.

Tea Ware

Tea ware, specifically teacups and teapots, is a symbol that is used to signify Miuko’s relationship with herself throughout the narrative and gestures toward the overarching theme of The Pitfalls of Internalizing Patriarchal Values. Teacups are used within the narrative to indicate Miuko’s fraught situation as a girl of the serving class. Such is Miuko’s incompatibility with her station that Traci Chee personifies the teacups, and they know to fear her and her touch: “Being ceramic, the teacups were nervous by nature, but Miuko’s clumsiness had so increased their anxiety that it seemed all she had to do was look at them, and they’d shatter” (9). Miuko’s history of breaking the cups and lacking the finesse and wherewithal to handle them with care marks her as antithetical to a girl whose livelihood would have depended on her ability to serve guests had it not been for her shaoha curse.

When Miuko returns to Nihaoi as neither a human nor a demon, her relationship with teacups—and with her station—changes to reflect the comfort and acceptance she has: “‘What?’ Miuko asked, setting down her teacup, miraculously unchipped” (386). Chee also includes a comparison between Miuko and a lidless teapot when she becomes a demon in body only. A complete teapot comes to signify a full demon, one without a shred of humanity left and whose malevolence can brew to its full potential. Without the lid, Miuko keeps the malevolence under control and retains her sense of self.

Favors and Debts

Favors and debts are an underlying motif within the spirit world that often adopts the meaning of currency among nasu. The more powerful the spirit, the more valuable the favor, and the steeper the debt for those who ask for it. The system of debts and favors is initially explained as one of measurable compensation directly linked to the nasu’s hierarchical society. Geiki explains to Miuko: “I’d have to put in a dozen favors for just one from Sidrisine[.] […] She’d have to put in a dozen to equal just one from an even more powerful spirit” (74).

Bargaining favors in the spirit world is a form of trade, which allows Miuko to engage with the nasu to varying degrees of success. Most of her interactions are based on this system: She meets Sidrisine to use her boat; she goes to see Beikai to have him send the sashes to the December priests; she engages with the gods to be returned to the present; and so on. While the system correlates to currency, favors and debts are also social transactions. Using such a system troubles the legitimacy of one’s relationship with a member of the nasu. When the doro yagra tells Miuko that Geiki only follows her to repay his life debt to her, Miuko doubts the sincerity of their friendship and believes the doro yagra over Geiki. Favors and debts reveal the mechanics of the spirit world Miuko learns to navigate.