C. M. Dree
asked
Sally Green:
You said before that you wanted to show how "perspectives can be wrong" in the trilogy. Does this apply to Nathan's perceptions too? While reading I wondered how much of a reliable narrator he is. I'm thinking about how he imagines his father, how he obsesses about the similarities they "must" share. How is Nathan influenced by the White/Black categorization of reality?Will Nathan's personal perceptions be challanged?
Sally Green
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[I can't really answer your questions directly without writing a huge essay but they're all valid points and certainly the comment about perspectives can be applied to Nathan too. In HALF BAD he starts off wanting to be like his brother Arran, a White Witch, but knowing that really he is different. Then as he gets older and experiences numerous bad things at the hands of the White Witches he begins to wonder about the Blacks but at this point he's never met a Black Witch and he's only ever heard terrible stories. Once he meets some Black Witches he begins to make sense of things - people are people and some are good and some are bad. But what is he? Maybe he's ok with being a Half Code. I think Nathan, like many people, looks in the mirror and wonders about himself and having never met his father he can make up rather more than most of us.
But then we come to HALF WILD and things start to get messy again. Nathan even comments on other people's perceptions of himself in HALF WILD, also he notices how he is different with White and Black Witches (or is he just different with different people?) and most importantly how different he is when he is with his father.
Nathan doesn't know what he is and it only gets more difficult to work out once he finds his Gift.
But it's not just a question of perceptions, in HALF WILD Nathan can be kind, gentle and loving and he can also be violent and murderous.
I love the messiness of it all. And Nathan is a real mess! (hide spoiler)]
But then we come to HALF WILD and things start to get messy again. Nathan even comments on other people's perceptions of himself in HALF WILD, also he notices how he is different with White and Black Witches (or is he just different with different people?) and most importantly how different he is when he is with his father.
Nathan doesn't know what he is and it only gets more difficult to work out once he finds his Gift.
But it's not just a question of perceptions, in HALF WILD Nathan can be kind, gentle and loving and he can also be violent and murderous.
I love the messiness of it all. And Nathan is a real mess! (hide spoiler)]
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Sally Green
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Dec 28, 2014 03:15PM