Silk as toy of mother

maa32 · 30 Dec 2001, 02:03 · from whorl-v0013.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: Silk as toy of mother
Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2001 19:03:50 -0700
Message-ID: <whorl-v0013-whorl.v012.n177.1 at digest.urth.net>
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Thanks for the kind words about my idea of female spys in the Book of the=20
Short Sun, Alice.  I myself am fascinated by the appearance of Dr. Crane's=20
ghost near the end of Return to the Whorl.  Ok, here are some of the import=
ant=20
associations with Seawrack that I think indicate she has more power over th=
e=20
narrator than is at first apparent:=20
In On Blue's Waters, the narrator considers the song of the Mother and thin=
ks=20
of it as a song of time, while specifically stating that Seawrack's song se=
ems=20
a song more like "wind".  With all of the foul wind blowing from the sea=20
throughout the book, it seems that the wind goes against his boat at very=20
interesting times: while he and Seawrack while away the hours before reachi=
ng=20
the island, the wind stops to prolong the time they spend together.  Horn=20
believes the song of the mother was employed to improve his reception of=20
Seawrack. =20
Right before the narrator is going to return home to see Nettle at the end =
of=20
Return to the whorl, all the wind beats fiercely against him, delaying him =
and=20
causing him to stay in the town of New Viron until he can get a boat.  Ofte=
n,=20
mention of Seawrack's song involves mention of the wind and the weather. =20
While not significant by itself, the wind becomes important in the augury t=
hat=20
"silk" performs with Olivine.  His prophecy there involves clouds, whirlwin=
ds,=20
and darkness twice over.  All right, none of that means too much by itself.=
 =20
Then, we have the strange thoughts of Horn right before he is freed from th=
e=20
pit in On Blue's Waters, before Krait reveals that paradoxes resolve=20
everything (he who tries to save his life will lose it, he who casts it awa=
y=20
will save it).  Horn thinks of his blue painted string man, who he thought =
he=20
was so skillful at controlling.  Then he says how jealous he was that his=20
Mother could control that blue painted string man much more effectively=20
without even trying.  In Return to the Whorl, in Chapter 8, Sad Experience=20
Teaches Me, "Silk" thinks of his famous song "fair young girls live to dece=
ive=20
you" and thinks of himself as a blue coated puppet.  The blue painted puppe=
t=20
spies a tempting woman in the garden as he steals an apple.  If Horn regret=
s=20
that he cannot control the blue painted puppet and admits that the Mother=20
controls him more effectively, then perhaps Silk (or whoever the narrator=20
is)has been a puppet all along for the Mother, who Horn can no longer contr=
ol.
=20
The passage from the Chrasmologic writings that the narrator reads from in=20
Chapter 12 of Return to the Whorl during Olivine's sacrifice is interpreted=
 by=20
Silk (with those weird finger motions on the cheek that he does) as "Wild=20
whirlwinds are to rise. ... if he didn't believe we needed a warning, I dou=
bt=20
that he would have provided it. ... Clouds?  I can't make much of that.  It=20
may mean perfectly ordinary clouds, such as we see every day.  It may also=20
refer to the god's veiling the minds of those he intends to destroy. ... Th=
e=20
whirlwinds, clouds, and double darkness therefore refer not merely to this=20
whorl, the Long Sun Whorl, but to Blue as well"  While Seawrack has been=20
associated with winds before, clouds have not really been mentioned except =
in=20
the storms that the wind instigates.  Interestingly enough, in the previous=20
chapter, Windcloud the Neighbor testifies for "Silk", admitting that "Silk"=20
works for the Neighbors, and "Humourously" declaring that the narrator has =
not=20
been working against his own kind.  We learn that the Neighbors infected=20
humanity with inhumi, in order to judge the character of the visitors in th=
eir=20
system. =20
Perhaps Windcloud, whose vanished people used to worship the mother, knows=20
that Silk could be a tool of the Mother, played by a fair young girl as=20
effectively as if he were a marionette in the hands of the mother.  Windclo=
ud=20
gives a fairly unflattering analogy for humanity when he compares them to=20
fishcatcher birds who infest a chimney without permission (and from Inclito=
's=20
mothers story about people getting stuffed in chimney's, there is nothing t=
oo=20
positive associated with them).  Perhaps Windcloud's people and the Mother =
are=20
still interested in controlling humanity through Silk/Horn.  In the neighbo=
r=20
Windcloud's name, the symbolism of the wind and clouds from the augury are=20
joined (and "silk" observes that he cannot see the eyes of the neighbor=20
Windcloud, and has never been able to see their eyes - whereas Babbie talks=20
with his eyes when he returns in Return to the Whorl, and it is Babbie who=20
attacked Seawrack before the Song of the Mother placated both Horn and Babb=
ie=20
into accepting her.) =20
Also, while I cannot locate the exact place where it occurs in the text but=
 I=20
have it written in a note, the narrator comments at one point that some=20
character's mother attempted to guide his decisions and actions, and "my ow=
n=20
Mother had done the same, and I am not sure it was always for the best". =20
(that is probably a paraphrase from my notes: I will look for the precise=20
quote).

Is all that nasty wind blowing enough to indict Seawrack?  What about all=20
those corpses she feasted on before, and Krait's claim that "she lies all t=
he=20
time"?  Seawrack's ring might invoke the neighbors.  Are they all working=20
against humanity, or for it?  Tough to say.  Hopefully these word associati=
ons=20
are intelligible to most people ...

(Interestingly enough, the dictionary definition of Silk includes something=20
about blooming corn - I didn't think of the Silk on corn until I happened t=
o=20
look at it.  Pretty cool, considering that whole corn aspect of salvation i=
n=20
the text, huh?)

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