Defy the Night

Defy the Night’s use of two narrators provides the reader access to both Tessa and Corrick’s inner thoughts, emotions, and desires. Although Tessa and Corrick are close in age and have both lost their parents, they come from different social backgrounds, which significantly impacts the choices that are available to them. Tessa initially detests Prince Corrick and King Harristan because they appear to be violent, incompetent, and disinterested in the wellbeing of their subjects. Only with communication does she come to understand that both brothers have the same goal of peace as her; the brothers have their own limitations despite being royals. Ultimately, the three can only accomplish their shared goal of saving Kandala from the pandemic by combining their individual perspectives, positions, and skills. The consuls and elites follow the king, but the masses only trust Tessa, so the three have to work together to make progress.

Early in the novel, Tessa’s choices are limited because of her age, gender, and social position. She is, as Consul Allisander Sallister says, just “some girl.” Despite being just “some girl,” Tessa was trained as an apothecary by her father and has discovered medical knowledge that could save the kingdom: Firstly, she can save three times as many people with the palace-approved dosage of medicine, and secondly, she discovers that some of the medicine being sold to the palace and given to rebels is fake. Initially, she has no way to communicate her dosage theory to those in power. When she tries to do so, she encounters opposition. In the beginning of the novel, Tessa follows the route available to her and illegally distributes medicine to those who can’t afford it. From Harristan’s perspective, Tessa is committing treason. He thinks she is stealing from elites, but in reality, the rich don’t need as much medicine as they’re purchasing (due to her dosage theory). Before getting to know Harristan and Corrick, Tessa entertains the thought of bombing the palace, but concludes that violence often finds its way to innocents—and that there must be another path to peace.

Corrick has the same goal as Tessa, which is why he goes undercover as Wes to help distribute medicine to working-class people. As Wes, he seems opposed to Corrick and Harristan in the same way Tessa is, so when Tessa finds out Wes is Corrick, she’s furious. However, she slowly realizes that Corrick has his own limitations, always fearing for his life as a royal (who lost his parents to murder). Corrick also has to answer to Allisander, who has immense power as a supplier of Moonflowers, which is why he has to publicly punish smugglers. Tessa wonders how often Corrick has “had to choose the lesser of two evils, because the option was to execute a prisoner or to watch more people die for lack of medicine. It’s a terrible choice to have to make. A terrible position” (269). Corrick often chooses to kill a couple people so Allisander won’t stop providing medicine altogether; he sacrifices a few to hopefully save many. Even though Corrick knows Tessa’s dosage theory is correct, the truth would only anger the greedy Allisander. The same logic applies to Harristan, who has limited information to work with in making decisions and is even deceived by his own brother; Corrick hides his alter ego as Wes and Tessa’s theory from Harristan for Harristan’s “safety.”

At the beginning of the novel, neither Tessa nor the royals have ideal choices with which to work. However, when they work together, new choices become available. With Harristan backing Tessa’s medical theories, the theories actually get investigated and changes start to get implemented. Tessa is able to convince the rebels that Harristan and Corrick share their goal of peace, and that violent revolution will not prevent death, nor will it provide more medicine, because the Benefactors (Consuls Allisander and Lissa) have been providing fake medicine. Without Tessa, the rebels would have likely killed Harristan and Allisander would have come into power, making the pandemic worse. However, if Tessa hadn’t teamed up with the royals, she wouldn’t have been able to make her knowledge known and save the kingdom.