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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 01/09/2014 15:25, Richard Simon
wrote:<br>
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<div> Victor is described as human, albeit with
unusual green eyes. The idea that he is his own
mother seems simply absurd, unless, again, both he
and everyone else are completely delusional. She
only left after he reached puberty.</div>
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<div> 1. Nobody has to be delusional, except Victor,
in Shadow-Child fashion. Who else has seen his
mother? Old Trenchard? How reliable is his
testimony? Could he not have reasons for lying about
her? Does Victor, in fact, have a mother at all?</div>
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So you are saying Victor AND all the Shadow Children are
delusional? Why? Their story makes sense as told. Nobody needs to
be delusional at all. M. d'F notes that she is "a poor wretched
woman one hardly ever sees" but presumably se is seen sometimes, or
was before she left. And Old Trenchard claims he and she were
married by the priest.<br>
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<div>2. Everyone on Ste. Anne <span
style="font-style: italic;">is</span> slightly
delusional; the real Marsch notes the hallucinatory
quality of the light and atmosphere there in his
journal, and we know from his Shadow-Child testimony
('A Story') that the Children can alter the
appearance of reality, even to the extent of hiding
two planets and their parent star from human
observation.</div>
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<div>However, I am <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> arguing
that everyone on Ste. Anne, far less Ste. Croix, is
a shapeshifted aboriginal. Most people on both
planets are indubitably human, even though one
population, the people known as 'abos', has
forgotten its ancient roots. The Shadow Children,
who are in no way human, preserved some knowledge of
those roots and of human culture, but it was lost to
the original settlers from Earth. In case you missed
it earlier, I am proposing that the Annese (the
'abos') <span style="font-style: italic;">cannot</span> shapeshift.</div>
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Victor's mother could shapeshift too, this is indicated when Old
Trenchard notes: "She could talk to a man and he would believe her a
girl, a virgin, hardly out of school. But then if she did not like
him she would become an old woman - a matter of the voice, the
muscles of her face, the way she moved..." Of course he thinks sge
is just a good actress.<br>
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Of course, if Victor and his mother were Shadow Children this would
contradict your theory. But what of thhe green eyes? In 'A Story'
these are clearly associated with the human-looking abos.<br>
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<div> If you want to deduce likely possibilities
from odd sentences, consider that Victor notes
that on Sainte Anne he got some information
suggesting that his mother had gone to Sainte
Croix, and consider the illiterate woman in the
cell beside him. *That* is plausibly Victor's
mother; it is deduced from subtle clues, but
unlike the global hypotheses that turn everything
upside down, it does not destroy everything else
in the story whichever version you choose to
believe and therefore it is a thing that actually
*can* be left ambiguous.</div>
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<div> What are the subtle clues that suggest this
woman is Victor's mother? Pardon me if this has been
discussed before. And if she <span
style="font-style: italic;">is</span> his mother,
how does that help us understand anything, or move
the story along?</div>
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Those are the clues. And it's NOT essential to the story, which is
why Wolfe doesn't bother rubbing it in with lots of clues. It
simple adds a bit of colour and pathos. <br>
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<div> The legs could point to Maitre, or they could
just be an example of female artifice. It doesn't
matter which, so it can be left ambiguous. If it
mattered, like in your theory, Wolfe would not
have just left it there. (Look how he hammers in
the bit about abos having green eyes.)</div>
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<div>I dealt with this in my earlier reply. You're an
experienced Wolfe reader, aren't you? You should
know your man better. <span style="font-style:
italic;">Everything</span> in a Gene Wolfe story
is relevant, and the more incidental it appears at
first sight, the more critical it is likely to be to
a full understanding of the story and Wolfe's
intent.</div>
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I disagree. To make everything crucial to an understanding of the
story would result in books that are abstract puzzle pieces, not
novels.<br>
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<div>Marsch hangs his coat on the hooks on the
bedroom door, AS HE USUALLY DOES. Presumably this
is of some cosmic significance too. And what of
the ankle straps of the man in the green uniform -
clearly the idea that he rides a bicycle is sheer
misdirection. There must be at least one new
alien species to be identified here - but of
course - it's the bicycles, like in The Third
Policeman! One of the other men is a horse-cab
driver. People's cells mingle with vehicles -
Aunt Jeannine is the most advanced example. This
explains the symbolism about identity and the
Abos' fear of technology; THEY are the true
humans, unwilling to merge with the metallic
overlords. The robots in the prison camps - fully
converted people? You get the point. I could add
elements purportedly supporting this hypothesis
all day, or a hundred others like it. How fast I
can add them depends on how much I allow myself to
ignore contradictions in the text, or assume
characters to be preternaturally delusional. But
I would be going nowhere.</div>
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<div> Very impressive, but I doubt that you can point
me to one 'contradiction in the text' that negates
my reading of it. Especially since it is hardly mine
alone, and the author endorses elements of it, if
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According to your theory the hooks and ankle straps should be
especially relevant, as they are so inconsequential? So what do
they mean? Or can things be irrelevant after all?<br>
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The contradiction is that Victor and the Shadow Children must be
completely and utterly insane. And the 'abos' too, if they have
completely forgotten they were human. Also, humans did not in fact
develop space flight in prehistory.<br>
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<div><span style="font-size: 12pt;">If everything
exists to serve the author's purpose, then what
of everything that you are throwing away? What
of Victor's relationship with his mother? All
just a load of delusional nonsense, because
everything is actually supposed to be deduced
from one sentence mentioning that a guy has a
scarred head?</span><br>
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<div> What have I thrown away? Are you certain that
you have understood me correctly?</div>
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Your theory throws away everything we are told of the origin of
Shadow Children and abos in 'A Story'.<br>
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- Gerry Quinn<br>
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