This is a very rich chapter. For discussion of one short passage, see Ranks And Careers and its combox.
When Arinnian feels that taverns are wrong for Ythrians, Tabitha reminds him that he does not object when human beings imitate Ythrians and observes:
"'Can't have it on both wings, son...'" (p. 504)
She uses an Ythrian phrase but Arinnian is just not getting the message yet. Next he thinks that, although human beings cannot participate in Ythrian aerial dances, a human dance with a fellow "bird" might be "...nearly as fine, perhaps." (ibid.) Nearly! He thinks of bird girls as comrades and sisters but, since Tabitha emphasizes their humanness, he wonders if he might be able to farther with her. He will be able to when he gets the nonsensical double or triple standards out of his head! I say "triple" because Arinnian not only treats women in choths differently from women not in choths but also expects the former to be as "pure" as Ythrian females when they are not in heat, an absurd demand.
2 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Exactly! I've found Christopher Holm irritating and unlikable for most of THE PEOPLE OF THE WIND. And I think Anderson meant him to be like that. And that was meant as a compliment, not a criticism, showing his skill in developing different kinds of characters.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
I forgot to add that most humans off Avalon would probably have said "You can't have it both ways."
Sean
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