Teamplay: Scavage
Professor Stephen M. Richardson Secondary School
University of Delgado
In which Roni likes to score.
There are a bunch of things in this chapter it’s difficult to talk about because I’m not sure how much of what I want to say is an honest response to what’s actually come up already in this re-read and how much is influenced by remembering from the first time I read the book things that haven’t happened yet. The description of Theo’s clumsiness seems like it would be suggestive to a reader familiar with the wider Liaden universe, but do I only think that because I already know what it’s suggesting? And I’m fairly confident I figured out what was up with the mysterious research project pretty much straight away, but I’m not sure.
Another interesting aspect of the book is seeing Delgado society produce mirror images of familiar bits of male entitlement, like Ella’s eye for a pretty face a few chapters ago, or Roni’s implication here that males aren’t any good at sports. (It may well be that, as Theo suspects, Roni’s complaint is less sincere than a cover for her real source of annoyance, but if so the fact that she chose that particular complaint as a cover suggests that it’s a relatively acceptable thing to complain about.)
Where else in this series has the implication of adolescent clumsiness been discussed? I don’t offhand recall any other instances.
Not adolescent clumsiness as such, but the specific description in this chapter of how Theo’s state seems from the inside —
— that has echoes in other stories (including the novella, “Changeling”, which we did just before starting this novel) which suggest that there’s something else going on here than plain and simple clumsiness.
I know perfectly well what sort of clumsiness you were referring to. I was trying to be spoiler free 🙂 Though I believe most adolescent clumsiness is exactly what Theo describes: seeing how things ought to be but not being able to command the body to obey that sight, considering that the body is changing rather rapidly from a child’s to an adult’s. And that’s regardless of whether there’s that other thing at play.
Your original post made this point: “The description of Theo’s clumsiness seems like it would be suggestive to a reader familiar with the wider Liaden universe” (emphasis added). I assumed you were obliquely referring to some prominent example I had missed. I don’t see the parallel to Changeling myself.
I would like to be more specific, but I also am trying to avoid spoilers. And if I get specific now, what will I have left to talk about when the novel gets specfic later? 🙂
I don’t yet recall any other reference to clumsiness in relation to an embryonic pilot, so I will be very interested to see the post / comments when we get to wherever it is.
I vaguely remember that there was another reference to clumsiness, but this was definitely the first one I read, and I had no clue what was going on. All I knew was that the descriptions of what had actually happened did not align with what I would identify as clumsiness, so I thought she was being treated very unfairly (teachers, etc., taking “sides”). In fact at this point in the story, I assumed she was being deliberately persecuted as as to get at Kamele!
But please, I *wish* that adolescent clumsiness were always for that reason! Here I am several decades along from adolescence, and I still cannot coordinate by body to a rhythm, whether to dance, or even to clap along with a song. It’s quite frustrating.
On my second read, I am *just as* confused as I was before about what the game of scavage would actually look like. I just don’t follow all the rules OR the court description…I’m lost.
@clumsiness – Does Val Con having a torn pant leg from falling on the day he and his mother saw Clonak count? Daav things Again but is careful not to say so. We do know precisely how old Val Con is at the end of Mouse and Dragon, but Daav still thinks of him as a small boy, and he as well as Shan still sleep in the nursery. Timeline put this at 1365 – so Val Con being three – which makes this more a childish clumsiness and no pilot indication.
But the Neogenesis comment about how many years Daav and Aelliana had together would make Val Con to be a bit older at that time. Also Shan then either stayed far to long in the nursery (being 5 years older than Val Con and – if I got it right a child would move out of the nursery to his/her own rooms at about 8 or 9) or the Neogenesis comment is inconsistent with the previous books.
@ scavage
Me to, it seems to be more complicated than basketball or any other game I ever saw. From the description I still would be lost if I had the opportunity to watch it.