(urth) The Katharine maid
Jeff Wilson
jwilson at io.com
Thu Oct 26 20:36:23 PDT 2006
Roy C. Lackey wrote:
> Both quotes cannot be true. The sentence, "My mother certainly, for the
> children the torturers take know no breasts." is either a pointless lie or
> another example of Wolfe being forced to change his mind about some things
> when he came to write the sequel. I can't think of any way to reconcile the
> two passages.
I don't think it is necessarily a contradiction. Since we are reading a
translation, "take" may variously mean surgical removal as well as
induction into the guild, either both at once or separately on different
occasions. His mother may have been merely confined for a time, as
Thecla was, and so nursed him in her cell. Later, she was executed and
the apparent orphan kept as an apprentice-to-be. She may even have given
birth during the time of confinement, and the Brothers did not open her
to take the baby because there was the technical possibility she would
be reprieved. Likely the c-section only takes place proximal to death
while in custody.
--
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >
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