silver glass

James Wynn · 11 Jan 2005, 06:59 · from 2005-January.txt.gz

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From: thewynns at earthlink.net (James Wynn)
Date: Tue Jan 11 06:59:21 2005
Subject: (urth) silver glass
References: <20050111024752.WBUI21886.fed1rmmtao07.cox.net at smtp.west.cox.net>
Message-ID: <008a01c4f7ee$1e2f4cf0$4c1e4b0a at vcorp.ad.vrsn.com>

>[The Narrator] said, 'I would give my life not to fail,' and meant it.
>'You already have.'"
>
>So here is my idea: Silver Silk in Pig, identified as Patera
>by Silk's Body, speaks to Horn in this passage and calls
>him Horn.  He then realizes that Horn has given up his
>corporeal body to salvage Silk, and that Horn wants to
>take the Silk in Pig back with him.  Would Silver Silk
>abandon the persona of Horn, or would he go back to
>Blue with him, after he realizes that "[Horn] would take
>[Silk] if he could."

Note: I will refer to the protagonist of the Short Sun as "the Narrator"
even though he is not the writer in this case.

This is textual support to be sure but I am still influenced by the "Psyche
vs Soul" discussion we had recently. However...

First of all, it seems that Silver Silk is saying he will not go. Secondly,
it seems that Silver Silk recognized -- even though the Narrator did not -- 
that Horn "already had"  on all counts: He *had died* and he *had not
failed*. It is already determined (whether Silver Silk possesses the
Narrator or not) that Horn will succeed in taking Silk to Blue. He will take
Silk's body and all his memories (the Narrator makes several errors in
memory while on the Whorl that prove he still retains Silk's memories as
well as Horn's). Since his special powers of leadership are genetic, that
part of Silk will be taken to Blue as well. Silver Silk is "merely" Silk's
psyche and is no obvious improvement over the "Silk psyche" already present
in the Narrator -- in fact, Silver Silk will lack the experience of running
Viron so he might not even be as good.

So Silk went to Blue as surely as Horn brought him back. Horn and Silk's
psyche's are present in the Narrator (of course, I believe there is a third
entity as well...a soul...and Silver Silk as a purely informational entity
cannot fill that role).

~ Crush

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