Tuesday, March 25, 2014

The Circle

On pages 76-77: "Bard spent a good part of his afternoon inspecting the Circle.  He saw it was obviously a place of meeting and gathering," much like the early Appalachian settlers had gathered for preaching and revivals.  

Someone is generally in charge at these meetings; Calley conducted this one. It's actually more like a Quaker gathering than a preaching service, moderated by a clerk with others playing an active part. Who are these others?

Raven is the first beside Bard/Drum to appear at the Circle.
Hawk (remember that Bard had saved Hawk's life).
Bear
The three-headed Dog all face outward (to protect against intruders?)
At that point Calley emurged from the tree, and brought Bard to a place near one of the Dogs. Then she called on Hawk to fill in Bard on conditions at Laurel.

Pages 84-85  begin what was in effect an enactment of the story of Genesis: "In the Beforetime" there was a common language of "One Speech" used not only by humans but by all creatures.

Then Bear took up the narrative: "Two-legged came late and last",
(in strick conformity to Genesis). They forgot God and soon became warriors against one another.

Raven: they were set apart into 'Shadow' until the 'Mending', separated from the Laurel.  (To relate this to the Bible story one might best call it The Chosen People, although not as messed up as the Chosen People have proven to be. (The 'Laurel' deserves a post of it own.)

Raven goes on to explain the porous nature of the boundary between the Shadow and Laurel.  Some of the Shadowfolk get into Laurel and start doing better, and residents of Laurel may begin to 'turn gray'.

Callie (Mother) tells Bard that the Council was called to find out whether he should be expelled or accepted; they were especially intersted  in knowing how he got across the 'Great Divide'

The 'dogs' called themselves Warders to protect the boundary.

Bear, who proves to be also Owl told them where Bard came from
and agreed to "guard the passage".

The Circle unanimously agreed to let things stand, and Bard awoke from his Dream. (The reader perceives the boundary between fantasy and materiality, often celebrated in the Bible and in Blake.)

I would hope for some critical judgment on this post.

2 comments:

  1. Actually, the events at Circle were inspired by Haida councils, sans talking stick. It might be more productive to view the Laurel inhabitants as post-apocalyptic refugees rather than a "chosen" people.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry, Henry; I'm not familiar with 'Haida councils'.

    ReplyDelete