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Flux And Trust.; A recurring theme
Topic Started: Dec 9 2007, 06:19 AM (757 Views)
El Ronin
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I've been doing some thinking.

Many of the main characters in CJC's Alliance-Union Universe are rather messed up in the head and have severe trust issues and are borderline crazy.

A lot of their issues are not their own fault either. They've just been ground through "The Machine" so many times and have had broken promises dangled in front of them that they don't trust human motivation or understand it.

And then I wonder why it is a recurring theme. I started to say it was a recurring theme in most of her books, but that isn't the case in the Foreigner universe. It's similar at times, but different and centered on only one character trying to catch his bearings in a fluid situation.
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starexplorer
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Your observation stands out in bold relief to me too, El Ronin-ji. I have posted on the subject, though I don't know that I can locate the discussion now.

It interests me to wonder why this recurring theme: characters are always at their wit's end, facing total mental breakdown, struggling to maintain their sanity, let alone their composure. On the one hand I wonder if it says anything, and if so what, about the author. On the other hand, I am suspicious of interpreting to much about an author from her works or her characters.
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El Ronin
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The main human protaganist in the Faded Sun had that problem.
So did ....can't remember his name, but he was the main character in Hunter of Worlds.

But in both of the above cases, the main character was dealing with an race that he had no previous dealings with.
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Busifer

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I have been thinking along those same lines. My reading of Cherryh's works started with the Foreigner books so it wasn't that evident to me but when I in a rather fast sequence read Cyteen, Downbelow station, Merchanter's Luck, Finity's End and Tripoint it became obvious.
It somehow bothered me that there is an underlying 'fate' theme; that you can't deny the what you were meant for.

I would like to elaborate but I have to come back later for that - my 4 yo son really is persistent in begging for attention ;-)
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Kokipy

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If nothing else it has proved to be a consistently reliable plot device. In addition to which, it is often the female character who is strong and collected and powerful, with the male character in flux.
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starexplorer
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But can not too much repetition of a consistently reliable plot device render it less reliable? The idea can get a bit hackneyed.
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Kokipy

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Yes indeed. Except that I do keep getting drawn into the stories.
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Busifer

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Well, one guesses this is where one references the 'there's only N stories out there, retold again and again'-paradigm ;-)

I think authors, like artists in general, has certain motives or ideas they like to investigate from different perspectives... A main message seems to be that even when in a state of total chaos trust and stability can be found IF one dare leave ones ingrained preconceptions (about oneself) behind. And, in some cases, that chaos is necessary if change and evolution is to be had.
Thinking Cyteen here, as while Justin's angst is very troubling for the reader it is also a (main?) facilitator behind the differences between Ari I and Ari II?

(and this is where I apologise for my language - english is NOT my mother tongue...)
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Resa
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Actually, it was this theme that drew me to the Foreigner books. You might say I have my own trust issues, and watching poor Bren try to figure out how to live with the Atevi is quite enlightening. And even helpful in my own life, if you can imagine that.

So I'm always rooting for Bren to feel secure and happy. And so happy when he finds those little islands of security in the chaos of his life.
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BeulahBelle
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Trust, self-confidence, morality, staying true to ideals, the effect of circumstances and environment on a fragile mind - I think these are just a few of the issues :cherryh: explores.

Certainly there are recurring themes in :cherryh: 's work, but I think these sorts of issues are quite timeless; they are the kinds of issues that human beings have pondered and theorized about since the beginning of time. And as Kokipy says, still I am totally drawn into the stories every time, even on re-reads!
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Kokipy

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and re-re-reads, or, in the case of some, re-re-re-re-reads.
all of Her work is very character driven, and there are scenes in all of the books that I revel in every time I re-read them.
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Surtac
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Quote:
 
there are scenes in all of the books that I revel in every time I re-read them.

Exactly so - and there are such scenes in every book, aren't there? This is part of the hold that the Goddess has over me - She Works her readers amazingly well. I think it's an indicator of exactly how good a writer She is over all.

She does indeed 'wield' the English language rather than use it!

:invert

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Resa
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I can't agree enough. I've re-read the Foreigner series twice through and several books three times now. And I know I'll read them again. So I plan to have all of them in hard back form some time in the future. I intend the same for the Chanur series too. And my cousin already has the hard backs of the Faded Sun series.

I just can't get enough. Heck, I click that Foreigner Bibliomacy page several times a week just to get a quick dose of :cherryh: 's work. I am quite addicted. It's almost embarrassing.

Thank goodness I can yak about my Bren & Company obsession here and not feel quite so fan-girlishly foolish.

By the way, El Ronin -- love your avatar!
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suzdal
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Well, a life of well-balanced peace and joy is wonderful to live but dead-boring to read about. I remember reading a book on plotting years ago that said the way to plot is start with the character doing something simple and everyday. Then figure out how it could go terribly wrong. See what the character could do to get out of it and then make that go horribly wrong. Repeat until you decide the protagonist and the readers have had all they can stand and then let the character attain resolution and victory.

All of us are engaged in struggles. We're trying to figure things out and live our lives the best we can. One of the things I like about fiction is the window into life and myself it provides. :cherryh: (as I've mentioned before) does a great job of exploring the concepts of identity and what it means to be human. In fact, she often takes us right up to the edge of it and steps back and forth over the line until I'm not even sure if my own definitions are correct. I love it.

It reminds me of that Houseman poem (forgive me if I'm off, I'm going from memory): "'Tis true the stuff I bring for sale is not so brisk a brew as ale, from a stem that scored the hand I wrung it in a weary land. But take it, if the smack is sour 'tis better for the embittered hour. It should do good for heart and head when your soul is in my soul's stead and I will friend you if I may in the dark and cloudy day."

I think the real question is not why Our Beloved Author keeps writing such themes as much as why we keep reading them. I know I dance and sing every time there's a new book!

I enjoy her better adjusted characters as well. Marak in "Hammerfall" and "Forge of God" for example. He has great inner strength and integrity - most of his problems are completely external.

Peace,
Suzdal
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Busifer

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Well, a life of well-balanced peace and joy is wonderful to live but dead-boring to read about.


Agreed (and sometimes it is boring IRL as well).
Another common problem vs believability is that for most people things don't have a START and an ENDING; at least not definite ones (not beyond being born and dying, anyway).

Now, in my mind the themes of trust and identity is very visible in say Finity's End and Tripoint and not all that overt in the Foreigner books; Foreigner, to me, is much more about culture and assimilation, and about socialisation. The trust and identity stuff is much more a result of these major themes; when does Bren lose himself as a being, does he lose himself while being assimilated into atevi culture, or does he add new layers to the existing personality?
Etc.

Not the kind of crisis Sandor (in Merchanter's Luck), or Fletcher (in Finity's End), or Tom (in Tripoint) has; those are more personal, more a matter of previous injustices.
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