Subject: Re: The Ring & The Claw

From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <ddanehy at siebel.com>
Date: Mon, 07 Jan 2002 19:59:07 +0000

Dan Rabin wrote:

> With respect to the recent discussion on Tolkien's influence on 
> Wolfe, I'd like to propose that the Claw of the Conciliator is, in 
> some respects, a Wolfean reversal of the One Ring:

Well, while I don't think I would go so far as this (in the sense of
Wolfe deliberately doing so), I think you make (the beginnings of) an
interesting case for a comparative discussion of the books, especially
wrt a structuralist/poststructuralist discussion of the similar & 
different ways the two objects fill the paradigm of "ancient, 
powerful talisman."

Let's add to your list of similarities:
Both objects come into the protagonist's hands by seeming chance.
Both objects give the possessor power "according to his stature."
Both objects are ultimately destroyed during a battle with an enemy 
    who seeks to take it from the protagonist. 
Neither object looks extraordinary to a casual viewer.

And to the reversal list: 
The Ring is destroyed by seeming chance; the Claw is destroyed by 
    petty malice.
Frodo finds himself unable to give up the Ring; Severian finds
    that the "owners" will not accept (the remains of) the Claw.

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From: matthew.malthouse <matthew.malthouse at guardian.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2002 12:11:16 +0000

>The Ring is destroyed by seeming chance; the Claw is destroyed by

You might say that the ring is destroyed by the malice as well as the greed of
Gollum.

Baldanders is greedy for many things (technology, sensation, etc) but actually
disdains the claw, another reversal.

Matthew

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From: Michael Straight <straight at email.unc.edu>
Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2002 15:30:49 +0000

> Both objects give the possessor power "according to his stature."

Does the claw give power to anyone but Severian?

(I guess you can still make the comparison if you say only Severian has
the stature to use the claw's power, but it doesn't fit quite as well.)

-Rostrum