As Captain Jonafer brings Moru, the Lokonese murderer, to be executed by Evalyth:
"The air was growing cold - the planet spinning toward an autumn - and a small wind had arisen to whimper behind the dust devils that stirred across the earth. Jonafer's footfalls rang loud." (p. 706)
Poul Anderson seems to find every possible word to suggest approaching death:
cold;
autumn;
whimper;
devils.
The wind comments, as ever in Anderson's works. (Is the wind his most pervasive character?) The loudness of the approaching footsteps emphasizes to Evalyth that she cannot evade her claim that a life must pay for a life.
In fact, the consequences of her husband's death give her the clue that enables her to save the Lokonese from their horrific condition - boys needing to eat human flesh in order to reach puberty. The story was written on the theme of "Redemption." Evalyth does not kill Moru.
Once, Asimov was asked to write a story for a magazine cover showing a space helmet on the cross above a grave. The gist of the story, as I remember it, was that men were trying to terraform a planet and that the turning-point input in the terraformation process was the burial of one of their number on the planet. Mors ianua vitae. Life from death.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, Evalyth was the one who realized WHY cannibalism was NECESSARY on Lokon for human survival, despite its many evils. I recall her saying that for half an hour she sat thinking of just saying nothing, the Allied Planets expedition would leave, and Lokon would be left in its cannibalism for centuries or forever. That would have truly been a terrible revenge! But, that half hour was enough, and then she chose justice and mercy instead. "The Sharing of Flesh" deserved the Hugo it got.
Ad astra! Sean
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