From: CRCulver@aol.com
Subject: (urth) Symbolism of Dorcas
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 13:43:30 EST

I've long thought that the scene in the BotNS in which Dorcas is eating a
pomegranate (cannot remember the volume, but I believe it is the second), has
some interesting symbolism. Severian remarks that she looks like a vampire
because her lips are stained red, and as vampires are called the "undead,"
Dorcas herself has returned from death.
Also, I'm wondering if the pomegranate itself has any meaning in relation to
the myth of Persephone, who after eating a pomegranate was doomed to spend
half of the year in Hades before returning to the land of the living. Dorcas
herself has spent some time in the realm of the dead before her return to the
Earth.

- Christopher Culver <crculver@aol.com>

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