From: "Terence Nickolette" <terrynick@centuryinter.net>
Subject: (urth) Severian's Humanity
Date: Tue, 07 Apr 1998 18:31:10 


[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works]

Sorry for the error in my last post.  Let me complete my thought:

From a practical, perhaps male, point of view, Severian didn't need to
return to the whorehouse.  He had his trysts with Thecla in her cell.  It
was painful because he didn't like the idea of Thecla as a object.  The
memory was painful because he had come to know her person in her cell.

Severian is shockingly matter of fact about the pain he inflicts. Which
leads me to ask if there has been any discussion of the emotional, inner
journey that Severian travels in the BOTNS.  When does he find his humanity?
I would say it starts to develop when he finds and cares for Triskele.  But
then we see him strutting for the crowd when he severs heads in Saltus.  He
seems cruel and unfeeling towards Dorcus when he beds Jolenta and later
Cyriaca.

Wandering in the mountain wilderness after Typhon kills little Severian
seems to me to be a turning point for Severian.  


Terry Nickolette



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