Subject: (whorl) RTTW spoilers, Delusional and/or Quixotic

From: Michael Andre-Driussi <mantis at sirius.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 15:54:11 +0000

Just talking to myself here, explaining two angles of the narrator, as I
seem them.

"Delusional" is the angle where 100% Silk is present in the narrator from
the transfer moment from Green to Whorl.  The Horn content of the narrator
can be set at 0, at which point "100% Delusional": The "mad man" theory, if
you will--total validation of what Calde Mint sees, with no further
complications.  The narrator is Silk/is not Horn, and just needs time to
adjust to this state. (* more on this, see below)

"Quixotic" is the term I use for the angle that appears to be a quest to
find or become a person who only exists in a book. Don Quixote himself (50%
Delusional? <g>) lives in a world created by a library of heroic romances;
his self-created persona and subsequent life and death is an approximation
of the fictional made real (or made real again).  Horn's initial situation
is more analogous to this: imagine Spain is in deep trouble, and Cervantes
is charged with bringing Don Quixote to rule Madrid, since everybody loves
and respects Don Quixote and would happily submit to his rule (however much
it might resemble the reign of "Emperor Norton").

The way I see it, these two angles can be exclusive (for example, 100%
Delusional can have little use for Quixotic), and they can work together in
some combinations, but there are some combinations where they do not work
so well.  And unfortunately, all the other characters would likely see
"Quixotic" as "Delusional" (as in the case of Don Quixote).

Personally, I can accept the reading that there was not spirit exchange
between Pig and N, that it was just a friendly meeting to forstall the
inevitable, but the build-up and the event itself seemed like something
else to me.

The appearance of Doctor Crane's ghost does not "solve" anything for me,
since I see Crane as being one of the primary authors of Calde Silk in
TBOTLS, at least according to Horn (who has any idea what Crane means to
Silk?), and since I tend to think that Horn is seeing this ghost (rather
than Silk alone), well then--it is another log for the Quixotic stack.

* further refinement/muddling of "Delusional"--well obviously there are at
least two main flavors of Delusional here: Silk-Delusional (a Silk spirit
who says "I'm not Silk," etc., the Lear-sized loonie seen by Calde Mint)
and Horn-Delusional (a Horn spirit who says "I'm not Silk," if and only if
there really =is= some Silk spirit in there; otherwise he is not
delusional!).

=mantis=

Sirius Fiction
Catalog and errata sheet at http://www.sirius.com/~mantis/

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---

From: Alex David Groce <alex_groce at gs246.sp.cs.cmu.edu>
Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 21:17:43 +0000

<snipped>

Nice post, mantis.

Note that there is also Nutria's reading: Horn isn't delusional, but
his family & Remora (our editors) are.

I find the most convincing reading to be a mixture of the Quixotic and
the delusional: Horn and Silk are both present in the body from the
moment of the transfer from Green.  Silk, however, is in a funk--while
he contributes to the actions of Silkhorn, at first he does not wish
to acknowledge himself as still alive.  Equally, Horn doesn't want to
admit to himself that he's "dead," but certainly can't say "I'm Silk
now"--both because he's sane enough to know that he isn't the Silk
that New Viron needs, even if he is the real Silk in some sense.  He's
also having a hard time admitting that Silk is in him wishing he were
dead.  The Long Sun narration makes it clear that the little suicide
scene on top of the airship was traumatic for Horn.  This is much
worse.

The behavior ends up being very Silkish because both Horn (& the
slowly emerging real Silk) view "book Silk" as a very good man.  After
all, thouhg Horn invented, to some extent, "book Silk," where do we
think he got his idea of what a good man is?

Remora doesn't drive Horn out as in an excorcism so much as force
Silkhorn to acknowledge that by this point Horn has faded away--he can
die now, because he hasn't failed, really.  Silk has become willing to
live by this point, but isn't willing to admit he's alive.  Horn has
become less and less essential, but cannot admit to himself that he is
dead until Silk no longer needs him.

So, why, having become himself again, does Silk take off to return to
the whorl?

As I see it, Silk sees that the two problems facing the colonists are
not ones he can solve.  p. 314 is the crucial point.  First, Silk
considers the government of New Viron.  The _real Silk_, we know, gave
up rulership in Viron once it became clear that he could not rule
without forcing his will upon an unwiling populace.  New Viron is in
much worse state.  "Silk would pray, of course."  If prayer and the
influence of "book Silk" are all (hardly nothing, I would say) he can
do, he can do that as well from the Whorl, where he may really be
needed.  Also, remember that at this point it is mostly Silk running
the show.  Silk's home is the Whorl.  He was willing to leave when it
was the order of Pas and the Outsider, but even then he turned back
for Hyacinth, and never left, though surely he had opportunities over
the years.  He is a stranger on Blue.

The second problem is that of the inhumi, and again, it is the problem
of evil.  Indeed, despite his having discovered the humanity of the
inhumi, Silkhorn is still himself capable of murdering his daughter
when she attacks Nettle.  He knows enough to doubt that there is a
"solution" to this problem other than the one above--for men to be
better than they are.

--
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32
--
Alex David Groce (agroce+ at cs.cmu.edu)
Ph.D. Student, Carnegie Mellon University - Computer Science Department
8112 Wean Hall (412)-268-3066
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~agroce