madaboutasoiaf:

Class privilege is definitely a theme in Arya’s arc. She did start off very sheltered, and yes a bit naive, hence why the incident on the Trident hit her so hard. I’m not referring to her grief for Mycah when I say that. That grief for her friend is very human and relatable even to an adult. I’m referring more to her shock and anger that nobody did anything when Mycah was killed.

This was the
first time they had supped with the men since arriving in King’s Landing. Arya
hated it. She hated the sounds of their voices now, the way they laughed, the
stories they told. They’d been her friends, she’d felt safe around them, but
now she knew that was a lie. They’d let the queen kill Lady, that was horrible
enough, but then the Hound found Mycah. Jeyne Poole had told Arya that he’d cut
him up in so many pieces that they’d given him back to the butcher in a bag,
and at first the poor man had thought it was a pig they’d slaughtered. And no
one had raised a voice or drawn a blade or anything, not Harwin who always
talked so bold, or Alyn who was going to be a knight, or Jory who was captain
of the guard. Not even her father.

Arya is the only person who defended Mycah and tried to keep him from harm. Everybody else knew he was one of the smallfolk, and people in Westeros just don’t cross a king (or a prince) to defend one of the smallfolk unless they are Dunk and we saw how that turned out. I say class privilege is a theme in Arya’s arc, and it is. Arya didn’t want to be a highborn lady, and after she has to flee the Red Keep to escape capture she finds out exactly what it’s like to not have that class privilege. GRRM is pretty brutal in showing her how sheltered she was in Winterfell, and she doesn’t stay naive for long at all.

I’d actually argue that abuse of class privilege is the stronger theme in Arya’s arc. We see that from that moment on the Trident, with Joffrey, and then Cersei’s and Robert’s actions too, but more so once Arya leaves King’s Landing. The confrontation with Ser Amory Lorch and the death of Yoren, the actions of Ser Gregor and the people Arya meets on the way to Harrenhal and in Harrenhal itself are gruesome illustrations of abuse of power.

Arya witnesses one injustice after another, from knights and the highborn, from people who have sworn vows and these people are acting completely contrary to these vows, and they just don’t care because they’ll face no punishment, if anything their behaviour is condoned because of their class and it’s all so wrong.

Hot Pie was being silly; it wouldn’t be ghosts at Harrenhal, it would be knights. Arya could reveal herself to Lady Whent, and the knights would escort her home and keep her safe. That was what knights did; they kept you safe, especially women.

This is how it’s meant to be. That quote is how a true knight should behave but there are very few true knights out there. Dunk is one (please read Dunk and Egg if you haven’t), and Brienne, and they’re not even really knights! Arya is taught a cruel lesson on the way to Harrenhal, and the injustices are the beginning of her list, a list that began from feeling powerless, but not only that. Every person on that list has committed crimes, and for most of them it has been an abuse of power that has gone unpunished because it has been committed by somebody with privilege, or in service to somebody who is privileged.

And it’s wrong.

Arya’s there to show us all this, to feel her powerlessness and her outrage and we should feel it. She might be highborn but that didn’t help her, not when she’s on the run and her identity must be kept secret to keep her safe and it’s a poor sort of safety when she goes from one place where she is abused onto another, on an entirely different continent, where safety means repressing your identity and thanking your hosts for slapping you.