On the allocation of blankets

Tony Ellis · 03 Jun 2010, 11:02 · from 2010-June.txt.gz

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From: tonyellis69 at btopenworld.com (Tony Ellis)
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 2010 12:02:09 +0100
Subject: (urth) On the allocation of blankets
Message-ID: <AANLkTimCXFWCzmVqnxv0pSh1LiHFYZxOZO2vNk0SLVgR at mail.gmail.com>

>Do we really have any
>indication she's -- not just that selfish, but that indifferent to
>what people think of her selfishness?

She's cynical, secretive... and a prostitute, with all the hardened
self-interest that implies. Works for me.

>If we're going with a "not convoluted" explanation, then I'd go with
>my #3, i.e. what she's about to say is "You can share MY blanket any
>time, big boy" or words to that effect.

Also a good explanation. But as I say, Thais doesn't start to speak
until *after* Severian has said he doesn't need his blanket ? whereas
if Wolfe only wanted to show that blanket-sharing was her agenda, he
could have had her speak up before. The implication is that whatever
she was about to say was prompted by the possibility of a spare
blanket.

There's also the matter of aesthetics. Pega has taken a fancy to
Odilo. Pega protecting Odilo, with a sharp elbow to the ribs of the
self-interested Thais, is a nice payoff to this little vignette. Pega
elbowing Thais simply for impropriety... is not.

>Are you sure old fashioned gallantry would have prevented Odilo from
>accepting the blanket after Thais asked for it?

That's how Odilo seems to me - but it's how Odilo seems to Pega that matters.

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