Palaemon isn't Polonius; Memory; The Wall

David_Lebling · 06 May 1998, 09:27 · from urth-v0010.mbox · original

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From: David_Lebling at avid.com
Subject: (urth) Re: Palaemon isn't Polonius; Memory; The Wall
Date: Wed, 6 May 98 09:27:26
Message-ID: <urth-v0010-0096 at digest.urth.net>
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From: Dan Parmenter <dan at lec.com>
> Incidentally, Palaemon's behavior and words when he sends Severian on
> his way are very odd.  First he claims that Thrax is by the sea.  Then
> he tells Severian to pay attention to his good advice but remarks that
> Severian would probably forget it all.  Palaemon, who we are told
> elsewhere was fond of Severian for his perfect memory.

I don't have a good explanation for why he first thinks Thrax is by the
sea, but I think I can nail the other.  Palaemon probably knows Severian
as well as anyone, and has figured out (as we eventually do) that while
he has an exceptional memory, he doesn't have terribly awesome
analytical faculties.  Again and again we see him _missing the point_,
so Palaemon realizes that Severian won't get it, regardless of what he
says, but he won't insult Severian by saying so.

>> Severian's memory of Thecla:
> But Severian1 presumably had the total recall.  And besides, Severian
> does eventually get the picture that he doesn't need the claw to do
> what he does.

We've been around and around on this issue before; I'm in the camp that
believes there was something different about Severian's memories of
Thecla. Somewhere (where?) he states that the Claw brought her to life
in his mind, and somewhere else it is stated that the analeptic alzabo's
memory effects don't last (this may be when the Old Autarch is
explaining _his_ potion in Book IV). Severian's total recall isn't
enough.

> BTW, there's at least one passage that suggests that the first
> Severian may not have even been a torturer:
>=20
> Book IV, Ch. 36:
> "He too was reared by the torturers, I think."

This refers back to the scene where the masters ask Severian if he
wishes to become a journeyman. They want him to understand that if he
quits before becoming a journeyman, people who meet him will say "He was
reared by the torturers," but if he accepts elevation and then quits,
people will say "He was a torturer."  Perhaps Severian means that both
he and Sev1 left the guild?

FunkMonkey Theory Two (Hethor as Interstellar Most-Wanted):

> Dr. Talos on the creatures inside the wall:  "I do not doubt that
> there are among them many who search fo some particular miscreant,
> and that if they were to see the one they seek, they would sally out
> and lay hold of him."
> Hethor, as noted by Sev., is hanging his head.

I think this is half the explanation.  Hethor is worried that he will be
seen and captured, so he releases one of his little pets to create a
diversion. However, if a cacogen or two had come out after him, that
probably would have had an equivalent effect on the crowd, so you may be
right.

    --viz
    (david_lebling at avid.com)

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