From: "Chris" 
Subject: Re: (urth) New Poster: Nettle theory
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 16:30:07 +0000

Dan'l wrote:
>Absolutely correct.
>
>However, this chapter (like all the "interstitial" chapters in WHORL, and
>certain inserted remarks in the earlier volumes - which in turn should lead
>us to question how heavily the Narrator's own words have been edited!),
>is NOT the Narrator writing; it is Daisy.

I have to say that I was perplexed by the ending myself, but this is exactly 
the point I was going to make. This chapter, aside from the narrator 
claiming to be Daisy from the beginning, is also written in a distinctly 
different style - as is the wedding chapter. I'd also like to throw in that 
even Silkhorn during the course of the chapters he wrote varies a bit 
depending on his emotional state. Sometimes he addresses Nettle specifically 
and passionately; others she fades from his mind. Horn is, perhaps, not the 
most devoted husband but I like to think these are just times when Silk is 
coming to the fore.

>As you semi-note in a bit I deleted, there is NO sense in any of the 
>previous
>"by the kids" material that they are addressing Nettle; in fact, in one of 
>the
>inserted remarks, in (I believe) OBW, responding to the Narrator's 
>wondering
>whether or not "you" will ever read the ms., the kids say that *she* has.

Hmm now this is a place where the theory, even if incorrect, brings up more 
questions. This passage implied to me that Nettle is with them at the time 
they are adding their editorial notes - it's not explicit, but it seems 
clear enough to me. And if she did go, did she have time to read OBW and 
comment on it to Hoof and Hide? If she did, then Silkhorn was certainly 
there to see that for himself. Nonetheless (again, not explicitly) the 
editorial note seems to be directed to Horn, not to us.

>>"We will sail tonight," he told me.  "Would you be willing to make my
>>farewells to Hoof and Hide?  Nettle is making her own, and cannot be
>>bothered with mine."

I thought, initially, that she might be making farewells because Hoof and 
Hide were moving from their home - after the wedding, this would be somewhat 
natural. But that's a weak explanation.

If she did go back to the Whorl, the rationalization that sits best with me 
is that perhaps she simply doesn't trust Silkhorn's account or necessarily 
believe her husband is dead. She knows that Horn somehow reached Silk to 
send him back, and thus presumes that Horn made it to the Whorl somehow and 
may still be alive there.

There's also the possibility that for some complex political reason the 
ending has been deliberately obscured. I don't have a likely reason for 
that. But it certainly strikes me as muddled.

Chris

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