(urth) Claw = Fang?

[Lee Berman]

The animal vs. plant orgin of the Claw is left open for most of the story. In the end (of Citadel)
Severian could have found a claw from an animal carcass on the beach but instead, Wolfe comes out in 
favor of a plant origin. (perhaps Marc Aramini will appreciate this?)

Ignoring anthropology, an early dichotomy of plant products vs. animal products is found in the story of 
Cain and Abel, with (the paternal) jewish God favoring Abel's animal sacrifice over Cain's grain. An apt 
parable for ancient shepherdic Hebrews, being mindful that the ancient enemies of the Hebrews were more 
agricultural.

Getting back to anthropology, we can understand the historic association of males and male gods with 
meat while women and female gods are more associated with plant products. The Viron naming convention is 
based on this, of course.

There is a nod or two toward vegetarianism in BotNS. Though Severian is not a vegetarian, he seems to 
think becoming one would be a noble goal. (I suspect this is how Gene Wolfe feels also, though I may be
projecting since that is how I feel about vegetarianism; I admire it but haven't achieved it.)

Vegetarianism is associated with various pagan religious beliefs, like Wicca. It is an association with
the female-centric tendencies of these pagan religions. Not that these religions exclude males but they
tend to be biased toward the female as a balance against the highly patrifocal Judeo-Christian-Muslim
shepherdic-based religions and their global dominance.

I disagree that the message in Wolfe's books is to dismiss paganism as false religion in favor of more 
Christian forms of belief. As Wolfe says in the James Jordan interview, he, himself, feels that gods
of paganism were real. (when I say "pagan" I am excluding satanic beliefs which Wolfe does recognize
as evil; moreover satanic pagan religions are usually male-centered and more likely to invoke blood
and death, rather than sex and fertility).

I think Wolfe sees the relationship of pagan gods to the Judeo-Christian beliefs as similar to what 
we see in the transition from Long Sun to Short Sun. If the gods can be envisioned as cards then a
changing world will necessitate a shuffling and redealing of the cards in new combinations. Thus blind 
Tartaros and piggish Phaea become combined in the godling named Pig. Pas and Scylla etc. are similiarly 
shuffled and recombined.

I think Wolfe sees something similar in the progression of gods (on Urth and Earth). As we have 
discussed previously on this board, there are pagan trinities which pre-sage the Christian Trinity.
The confused father-son relationship in the Dionysus-> Zeus/Jove->Dionysus->Jehovah progression is 
to me similar to the Typhon/Pas->Silk->Horn->Outsider progression.

With regard to an alien origin of the Claw, I actually lean in favor of it, in a certain sense. The Claw 
was created by the thorn being drenched in Severian's blood. And I find many hints that Severian and his
powers and special (god-like) qualities derive from a partial-alien (demi-god) ancestry. This in parallel
to the Greek heroes like Heracles and Oedipus, whose stories Severian's tends to mimic.

How that blood-drenched thorn becomes encased in sapphire is not revealed but I think we can safely 
attribute that to the Pelerines. As the witches represent the wild, Wiccan pagan side of things, the
Pelerines are pretty Christian and nun-like. And the ancient Christians were quite into making preserved
relics from the remnants of holy guys.