{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/6758",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "urth",
  "thread": {
    "id": 6758,
    "subject": "Sinew",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "2015-04-30T22:34:40+00:00",
    "last": "2015-04-30T22:34:40+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<CAMoqiH52kp6+J3=PL_k70CrhFGoqDm7CfvmPFBP6w4XYHDPv9g@mail.gmail.com>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Charles Gillingham",
        "address": "charlesgillingham at gmail.com"
      },
      "date": "2015-04-30T22:34:40+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Sinew",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "To me, Sinew is one of the most interesting characters in Short Sun. How\nhis character is perceived in the narrative vs what's he's actually like.\nAnd how Wolfe likes to play around show vs tell.\n\nHorn has a low opinion of Sinew, saying how he's always been afraid Sinew\nwould kill him or the other members of the family. But really, what\nevidence in the text leads us to believe that Sinew is a bad dude? Other\nthan Horn's opinion? Sinew is always out getting food for his family. He\ntalks about defending them from the Inhumi. He gives his most prized\npossession to the father that hates him. Then he builds a boat that's\nbasically a box, risks his life to cross the ocean to join up and help his\ndad. The only thing he does that might be deemed wrong is abandoning Horn\nafter he's wounded, but that's only logical in their situation. After that\nhe goes on to become the leader of a village and a probable loving father.\n\n(We all knew this of course just wanted to write it out to prove my point.)\n\nWhat in the actual story of Short Sun, does Sinew do, that would show us\nhe's a bad person? Nothing! He's a hero! He's always risking his life to\nhelp others. Even Krait isn't that bad, he saves Horn after all, never\nattacks humans, and even betrays his own kind to try and save the people on\nthe lander. I guess, maybe, Horn's opinion of his son changes over the\nnovel, maybe influenced by the fact that's he becomes Silk. Silk will\nforgive people where Horn wouldn't. Or maybe Horns white washing Sinew's\nactions in the storyline just like he did with Auk.\n\nOn a personal note, I feel a little bit like Sinew. I'm the oldest son, and\nmy idiot father (along with idiot teachers) always assumed I was a violent\nperson, that I was a threat to him or my siblings, when I'm really not.\n?People don't want other people to be people. Its easier to assign a\nsimple value to people, put them in little boxes, for no reason other than\nbrevity, laziness, of thought. Perhaps Sinew made some little mistake when\nhe was a child and had no real conscience control over his actions. To\nparaphrase \"before he stole Nettle from me\". Maybe Horn is just jealous of\na mother's love for her son, so would always jump to the worse conclusion\nabout Sinew. If the Horn family (lets name them the Scratchy family lol) is\nsemi biographical of the Wolfe family, maybe the real story is Wolfe\nsubtlety admitting he wasn't the best father, as all good fathers will do\nat some point.\n\nMaybe I'm reading to much into this. Maybe Sinew is just a cruel, one\ndimensional bastard who only likes pain and violence. He's the torturer\njust like all men. Maybe the best ending to his story is a death where an\nInhumi won't drink his blood and make another Krait."
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}