Nearly weekend!

[nishatalitha]

My parents sent me a CD of the photos they took while at Brass Monkey. I've gone through them and noted about 20 or so of the 200 plus that are neat for one reason or another. Frequently they're neat because people are so blurry they're invisible! I'll post those ones when I have time. However, if people want to look through all of them or get a copy made of the CD, let me know. I need a frisbee icon.

I thought today was Friday for some of the day. I thought yesterday was Friday for some of the day. Both days I've been disappointed. Tomorrow, however, I won't be. There's just stuff on this weekend and I want it to be weekend now!

Saturday we plan to go out to the church to see bl9_knt and purplesparkler blessed and on Sunday Alessan is coming around to do computer things.

I've been reading David Eddings recently - Belgarath the Sorcerer and now Polgara the Sorceress. Belgarath is probably my favourite Eddings book. But I had an interesting discussion with tamarillow about Polgara the other day, which has changed how I look at the character somewhat.

See, I don't like Polgara very much. I don't get why all the characters think she's so wonderful. To me she's always seemed cold, controlling and condescending. Oh, she's exceedingly competent, for sure, and if I was travelling with her, that would make up for a lot. But after the battle is done and the travelling is over, I wouldn't want to hang out with her. I don't like how she treats her father - despite all the character's protestations that its a form of affection, there's an edge to it on her part, which isn't. I also don't like how she treats her successions of nephews. I don't get why one of the boys didn't want to run away from her control and have a life and get married to someone who is not foreordained for him!

Tamarillow said something that made me stop and reassess all this. It went something like this: "If we look at her from a feminist perspective, we can see that the author is essentially rewarding her for being chaste and obedient. No female in Eddings' books gets to have sex before marriage and live happily ever after." - correct me if I got that wrong, will you?

I'm still reassessing how I feel about Polgara. I still don't like her very much, but I think I'm starting to feel sorry for her now.

...I have this urge to reread the entire series - Belgarath, Polgara, The Belgariad, The Mallorean and all.

Comments

[repton-infinity.livejournal.com]

I don't get why one of the boys didn't want to run away from her control and have a life and get married to someone who is not foreordained for him!

Because it's foreordained, of course! I seem to remember it being pretty explicit in Belgariad/Mallorean: "If you do what you're supposed to do, you get to be happy".

[stephanie-pegg.livejournal.com]

Didn't Silk and Velvet get it on in the Mallorean? They were certainly flirting like crazy with each other. (Can't remember the details, been a very long time since I've read it.)

[repton-infinity.livejournal.com]

Hmm, yeah they do. Although it's pretty clear that Velvet marrying Silk was just a matter of time.

What about that prostitute Sparhawk hangs out with? She's presented in a positive light. Does she get any further character development?

[nishatalitha.livejournal.com]

None of them ever say - okay, foreordained plan for my life means I'll live happily ever after; that's nice, I'd like to make my own mistakes first.

But for all that, Eddings isn't a bad storyteller. The books just annoy me more now that I think about them occasionally.

Silk and Velvet were bloody obvious. Even Beldin and Vella were obvious - the only question was how it would be organised.

I can't remember the prostitute very well, but she probably has a heart of gold, makes snarky comments and ends up either marrying well (be that for love or financial gain), dying or being in a position of some political importance. Have I missed anything?

[repton-infinity.livejournal.com]

Sparhswk hires her near the start; he just wants access to her room for spying on someone across the road. She is disappointed because he doesn't actually want to have sex and she enjoys her work. I don't remember if she gets any plot time after that.

[nishatalitha.livejournal.com]

I glanced in the book after you mentioned her. Her name is Narween. She doesn't really ring any bells for me, but I rather doubt she gets much screen time, just because of that sheer unfamiliarity. On the other hand, if she does get screen time, my above comments apply. :D