On the allocation of blankets.

Scott Cooper · 02 Jun 2010, 01:18 · from 2010-June.txt.gz

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From: sec6 at adelphia.net (Scott Cooper)
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2010 21:18:14 -0400
Subject: (urth) On the allocation of blankets.
Message-ID: <F86D1952-6F72-4D75-9D7D-01DB2587A75A at adelphia.net>

I've just reread _The Urth of the New Sun_ and wondered:

What is Thais about to say, when Pega elbows her to shut her up?

Clearly there's some mystery about Thais, possibly concerning her  
identity.

Recall:  Severian's rejoined Odilo, Pega, and Thais abord Eata's  
boat.  Odilo's just told the story of his lost love, and Pega's  
talking to him, in a low voice.  For the first time, it seems she's  
not a total airhead.  Severian offers Odilo his blanket, and Thais  
starts off "I..." before Pega "elbow[s] her so sharply she had to  
catch her breath."

The blanket thing is clearly a literary contrivance of some sort.  Why  
does the boat carry exactly N-1 blankets, where N is the number of  
people aboard?

Here are some hypotheses, because it seems rude to pose a question  
here without attempting to answer it.

1) Thais is about to offer Severian her blanket because she knows his  
status is far higher than the mere hipparch he pretends to be.  Pega  
tactfully preserves the fiction of Severian's assumed identity.   
(Unlikely, I think, because Thais shows Severian no deference.)

2) She's about to offer Severian her blanket because of a romantic  
connection -- perhaps because she's the khaibit of Thea (as proposed  
elsewhere), Thecla, or Valeria.  Pega knows she's a khaibit,  
masquerading as an exultant and does her a favor by preventing her  
carelessly revealing the secret.

3) She's about to offer to *share* a blanket with Severian, either for  
a reason similar to #2, or because she's a loose woman.
	In the latter case, Pega elbows her either a. because she disapproves  
of her promiscuity, or b. because she's competing with her for  
Severian's attention.)

4) She's about to offer *Odilo* her blanket because he's her father,  
or she's his former girlfriend's daughter, or somesuch.  (This is too  
much out-of-the-blue to be plausible, unless I've overlooked  
additional evidence.  And why would Pega stop her from doing it?)

5) She's about to give up her blanket because she doesn't need it, not  
being human.  The obvious alternative to "human" would be undine.   
(Unlikely, because it would make one of the four sleeping gods an  
undine;  if so, why would Severian later suggest to his priest adding  
Juturna to the pantheon?)

6) She's about to point out that *Severian* doesn't need it because  
*he* isn't human (i.e. like Eata, she considers him an eidolon).   
(Doubtful, for two reasons:  First, we've no clue whether she believes  
eidolons feel the cold.  Second, the first word out of her mouth is  
"I."  Of course she could have been about to say "I think that ..."  
but, since Wolfe chooses to give us only the one word, it seems more  
likely that the word is significant.)

7) She's about to criticise the "Old Sailor" for keeping the fourth  
blanket for himself;  Pega thinks this would be unjust, or unwise.  
(The sailor saved their lives, and he's the only one who knows how to  
handle the boat.)  The argument against this is that her first word is  
"I" (see #6, above).

8) She's about to criticise the sailor for showing favoritism towards  
an old friend, by giving Severian, rather than Odilo, the last  
blanket.  Eata, at that point in the narrative, clearly doesn't want  
Severian to know his identity (or, possibly, doesn't want the others  
to know that Severian knows his).  In this case, she must have a  
personal connection with either Severian or Eata.  (Unlikely:  The  
clue to the connection would have to lie elsewhere;  moreover how  
would *Pega* know about this, and why would she wish to conceal it?   
In short, this interpretation leads to a proliferation of speculative  
scenarios weakly, if at all supported by the text.)

These are not all mutually exclusive.  For example, a khaibit might  
also be promiscuous (some were prostitutes), and, recognizing a  
powerful man incognito, might wish to seduce him.

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