Symbolism of Dorcas

I've long thought that the scene in the BotNS in which Dorcas is eating a pomegranate (cannot remember the volume, but I believe it is the second), has some interesting symbolism. Severian remarks that she looks like a vampire because her lips are stained red, and as vampires are called the "undead," Dorcas herself has returned from death. Also, I'm wondering if the pomegranate itself has any meaning in relation to the myth of Persephone, who after eating a pomegranate was doomed to spend half of the year in Hades before returning to the land of the living. Dorcas herself has spent some time in the realm of the dead before her return to the Earth. - Christopher Culver <crculver at aol.com>

some interesting symbolism. Severian remarks that she looks like a vampire because her lips are stained red, and as vampires are called the "undead," Dorcas herself has returned from death.<< Actually, it was the other way around. Sev had the pomegranate, Dorcas an apple in Shadow, chapter XXXIV. Sev recalls the scene to her in Sword, chapter X, where she remarks: "It always seems, though, that when I wake up you're bending over me." Sev then says: "You said I reminded you of a vampire once, because I had been eating a pomegranate and my lips were stained with red." Interestingly, in the scene referred to she didn't actually say "vampire" but "like a black bat bending over me." Sev's perfect memory falters (again?) or his imagination is at work. Roy

Roy C. Lackey said: <<Actually, it was the other way around. Sev had the pomegranate, Dorcas an apple in Shadow, chapter XXXIV.>> Whoa, looks like I was way off. Anyway, if Dorcas had the apple, what can we work in concerning the Garden of Evil motif? After all, Dorcas was the First Woman in "Eschatology and Genesis." - Christopher R. Culver <crculver at aol.com>