What symbols mean for Wolfe

Lee Berman · 26 Nov 2012, 14:05 · from 2012-November.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2012 09:05:43 -0500
Subject: (urth) What symbols mean for Wolfe
Message-ID: <SNT123-W432779EC09A10BBD568433CF5F0 at phx.gbl>

>Bill Burgess: I'd find it a little surprising that anyone would think Severian was not
>freely making the decisions which lead him on his path.

I'm thinking Daniel Petersen's comment may have been inspired by Severian's/Wolfe's own 
line that "We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their 
creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges.".

This would appear to fly in the face of "free will". How can we fully have it if "symbols"
can control and define our choices? 

I think this adds religious philosophical depth to BotNS. We need the illusion(?) of free
will to function as a human being on a day by day basis. But the devoutly religious must 
somehow reconcile this with the irrational awareness that we are the creation of an 
omniscient and omnipotent God who created the universe knowing it would irrevocably lead 
to every single micro-choice we end up making in life.

The quote above is related to Severian's treasuring of the (false) coin he received from 
Vodalus and his lack of awareness that accepting the coin led to an attachment to Vodalus
and the values he fought for, which affected his choice to disobey his guild in regard to
Vodalus' follower, Thecla and many other choices after that.

(it does make me wonder what new values Gene Wolfe found himself adopting and what choices
he ended up making based on his acceptance of symbols such as a US military uniform and gun)

I wonder if this all relates in some way to the ring Horn chooses to wear in Short Sun. I think 
we readers are meant to understand it provides a portal for god-like beings to possess him or
influence his choices. But for Horn, the ring might seem only to have symbolic meaning. Perhaps
a practical example of how symbols might shape us when they represent powerful forces beyond our
understanding.

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