Sean agrees to ask Ilaloa to help the Peregrines to escape from Loaluani:
"'On your way, lad.'
"Sean stood up. He was shaking, ever so faintly. He turned and walked stiff-legged from the gathering. Nobody looked after him." (p. 167)
Soon, the gathering resumes its discussion but, before that happens, we read the following sentence:
"There was silence, wind and surf and the high crying of the birds." (ibid.)
Silence for the Nomads to reflect on the implications of Sean's new assignment while they continue to experience the peaceful but "'...dull!'" (p. 164) environment of an Alori planet. Silence from the Nomads themselves although wind, surf and birds continue to present the case for the Alori way of life.
References to the wind punctuate Anderson's texts like additional exclamation marks. Most readers are probably affected subliminally.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And that peaceful but boring life makes me think Anderson would agree with me that human beings NEED to contend with problems and difficulties to be truly alive. And even to be "aggressive."
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
A society that encourages drive and motivation, yes; hostility, no. If we keep using one word with different meanings, then we just get confusion.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I still disagree, while understanding your point. Many words do have legitimate and different meanings, "bear" being one of them.
Instead of "motivation," I would have said "drive and AMBITION."
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
It is because words have different meanings that I was clarifying which meaning I meant.
Paul.
We use combative metaphors for a lot of activities because they’re psychologically accurate.
My great-uncle Gordon the sailor often referred to either ‘fisting’ the canvas of sails or ‘fighting’ to get the sails reefed, and when you were on the manropes 100 feet up in the south Atlantic with the wind blowing straight off the Antarctic ice, it -was- like a battle, complete with the risk of injury and death and being part of a team who depended on each other for their very lives.
He used similar terms to describe brawls in the dockside bars.
Furthermore, it’s literally natural - instinctive - to treat any struggle as a fight against a hostile opponent, whether it’s a natural force, an animal or ano5her human being; hence the use of metaphors of intention (anger,rage, etc.) for weather and such. This reflects the environment in which we evolved, in which inanimate, animate and human threats and challenges melded seamlessly into each other.
Hence the equally natural animism which is the default state of humans, seeing spirits and minds in everything - kami, as the Japanese put it.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: I agree, context has to tell us, many times, which definition of a word you have in mind.
Mr. Stirling: Exactly! Many times, psychologically, aggressive and combative metaphors are simply the most satisfactory terms to use. And I like the analogy you used, of how the best ways of describing the hard and dangerous work of sailors a century ago used combative terms.
Ad astra! Sean
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