SEAWRACK'S MISSING ARM

Bill Carmichael · 15 Nov 1999, 22:41 · from whorl-v0010.mbox · original

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From: Bill Carmichael <bcarmichael1 at Home.com>
Subject: (whorl) SEAWRACK'S MISSING ARM
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 22:41:16
Message-ID: <whorl-v0010-0176 at digest.urth.net>
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In response to William Ansley's question about Seawrack's missing arm:  I c=
ame away from the book pretty sure that Babbie tore it off, sometime before=
 Horn became aware of Seawrack's existence.

I can't remember the exact passage, but at one point Horn recalls the blood=
 that he found on the deck, and connects it with Seawrack.  My interpretati=
on was that the Mother had sent Seawrack to the boat once already, and she =
arrived while Horn was asleep and Babbie was keeping watch.  A struggle ens=
ued, and Seawrack came away from it with an arm missing.  The next time she=
 comes to the boat, she comes with jewelry.

As far as being her able to swim well without the arm, well, she's got gill=
s.  And there seem to be hints throughout the book that she is a "creature =
of habit" in a radical sense...the Mother's mandate that she not be allowed=
 to eat raw fish, her own statements to the effect that she is engaged in a=
 deliberate process of "forgetting" her life prior to Horn, etc.  I think i=
t's pretty safe to assume that Seawrack's original form wasn't anything rem=
otely like human, and she's able in some way to compensate for the missing =
"arm".  If the arm was only a recent acquisition for her, she probably woul=
dn't miss it much after it was gone.

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