Content warning 27/
A good third of the humour in Witches Abroad (1991) is the use of eye dialect, false friends - or both at the same time:
> "'Der flabberghast,' muttered Nanny.
'What's that?' said Magrat.
'It's foreign for bat.'"
Content warning 28/
But Pratchett used it sparingly when writing in the voices of persons of colour. Two in particular - Erzulie Gogol, a black voodooist, and Mrs. Pleasant, a cook:
> “Ye see that bit of okra?” said Mrs. Gogol. “Ye see the way the crab legs keep coming up just there?”...
Content warning 29/
> ..."You never were one to stint the crab meat,” said Mrs. Pleasant.
“See the way the bubbles is so thick by the okuh leaves? See the way it all spirals around that purple onion?"
“I see it! I see it!” said Mrs. Pleasant...
Content warning 30/
> ...“And you know what that means?”
“Means it’s going to taste real fine!”
“Sure,” said Mrs. Gogol, kindly. “And it means some people’s coming.”
Content warning 31/
And about Mrs. Pleasant - "the first black person Nanny had ever spoken to." Right on the heels of that sentence is Pratchett's signature footnote (👇):
Content warning 32/
> "Racism was not a problem on the Discworld, because—what with trolls and dwarfs and so on—speciesism was more interesting. Black and white lived in perfect harmony and ganged up on green."
Content warning 33/
So, it's on 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 racism in Witches Abroad where Pratchett let his world-skewering satire curl up by the fire. Mrs. Pleasant, as an underdeveloped secondary character, fits uncomfortably within the Mammy stereotype:
Content warning 34/
> "She was a cook, so she bustled. And made sure she stayed fat and was, fortunately, naturally jolly. She made sure she had floury arms at all times. If she felt under suspicion, she’d say things like “Lawks!” She seemed to be getting away with it so far."
Content warning 35/
Witches Abroad intends to satirise what is essentially three British ladies on holiday, acting out their ignorance in a very, err, British way (Granny's shouting at an inn-keeper to be understood comes to mind).
Content warning 36/
It's also got two example of Pratchett's characterisation at its worst.
Sure, one might read Mrs. Pleasant differently - we learn from her that Genuans are being arrested for not meeting stereotypes (👇):
Content warning 37/
> “She’s shut up the toymaker,” said Mrs. Pleasant, to the air in general. “And yesterday it was old Devereaux the innkeeper for not being fat and not having a big red face. That’s four times this month.”
