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Re: Who comes out looking worst in the Egwene-Suana encounter? Egwene, Suana or B-Sand? rAndy aL Send a noteboard - 28/11/2009 01:32:57 AM
Now when Egwene shows up in Suana's rooms, she is stunned by all the plants, and the smell of life. Later Suana tries to recruit Egwene into the Yellow Ajah claiming it has nothing to do with Healing and everything to do with healing. Now there are several ways to interpret this scene.


Maybe Suana isn't a Healing snob. More likely, she noticed that Egwene was going to end up in a major political position and wanted to boost her own Ajah's power.

The first, independent of the other choices, is that Suana is a retard and the worst pick to head the Yellow. "We are channelers who love to fix stuff. Even if you are no good at using the Power to fix people, if you only even wish you could, you should join us." Seriously? What next? Illiterates, who nonetheless, REALLY like knowing stuff, joining the Brown Ajah? Women joining the logic Ajah...oh, wait. Bad example. In any event, this sentiment is completely at odds with the other Yellows' indicated mindset. If Suana is right, any ends whatsoever should be acceptable and justified, when in fact we see that the Yellows are Healing snobs. Variations on Healing, until deomnstrably proven superior in front of a crowd too big to make the controversy go away, are scorned. Herbs are scorned. The Yellows would not have been complaining about being dragooned into the cuendillar project if they like fixing things in general.


How did the cuendillar project have anything to do with healing? I'm sure the Yellows didn't see it. Yes, most of them are Healing snobs, but that doesn't make it the entire point of the Ajah. It also doesn't mean that every Yellow among the rebels is one, they just keep their heads down against popular opinion.

I'm sure there would be things for an illeterate Brown to do, like studying ter'angreal, oral histories...

Related is the issue of Suana's plants. Egwene phrases her reaction to the room full of plants oddly. “And Nynaeve complained that the sisters in the White Tower ignored the use of herbs! If only she could spend some time with plump, round-faced Suana.” There are two ways to interpret this passage, in addition to noting the oddity of Suana's attitude, completely at odds with EVERY Yellow among the rebels. The first is that Egwene is immediately falling into her old habits of scoffing at Nynaeve. Something on the order of "What IS that crazy bitch going on about? Yellows do too love plants. Just look at this place! A second issue with Egwene's perception is that she equates Suana's vegetables with Nynaeve's medicinal herbs. The only types specifically mentioned are vegetables and spices. There is nothing aside from their common floral nature to tie what Suana does to refute Nynaeve's complaint. In fact, it reinforces Nynaeve's complaint!


Maybe Egwene doesn't know what herbs look like when they're growing? Maybe she's just being silly and those plants had nothing to do with medicine. Who knows.

Nynaeve: Even if they are not as useful as Healing, herbs are a part of the healing arts and understanding them cannot hurt a sister's comprehension & use of her Talent. All the sisters I know are very resistant to this concept, and even belittle me for making use of herbal medicines.

Egwene: Hah! That's where you're wrong Nynaeve! In her rooms in the Tower, Suana has a garden set up where she grows carrots and radishes.

Nynaeve: :banghead: ...Wow. Nothing like finding out you have just wasted all those years I spent teaching you about medicine.

Of course there is a worse option: SUANA could think they're medicinal. I shudder to contemplate what she prescribes carrots to cure.


Eyesight, possibly...

Suana: Lonlieness.

Nynaeve: Nice try, but for that, I prefer to give cucumbers...


Is it just me, or was that a very bad joke?

Anyway, as I was saying, you can interpret that quote as Egwene snarking off against Nynaeve, simply because she has a positive reaction to Suana, or else she is on Nynaeve's side and saying it's too bad Nynaeve could not meet Suana because they have so much in common. However, that quote is just about the worst way to express the latter sentiment and carries a very strong connotation of the former interpretation. Additionally, the oddly place description of Suana in that quote, where it is not at all relevant to the idea of the sentence highlights the awkwardness, IMO.

So what is it? Is Suana a nincompoop? And if she is not, and her positions assserted and implied in this chapter more accurately reflect the Yellow ethos, in complete contradistinction to all of Nynaeve's experiences in Salidar, what does that say about the sort of Yellows who joined the rebellion, and incidentally, chose Egwene as their leader? Is Egwene, once again, bitchily scoffing at or slighting an old Two Rivers friend because she likes a shiny new acquaintance? Or do both or either issues reflect the inability of Sanderson to properly articulate characterizations?


Or does Cannoli just get his panties in a twist whenever a character isn't completely flat?
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Who comes out looking worst in the Egwene-Suana encounter? Egwene, Suana or B-Sand? - 27/11/2009 04:16:18 PM 1675 Views
I interpreted it as Branderson trying to make the Yellow more believable. - 27/11/2009 07:09:43 PM 842 Views
Re: I interpreted it as Branderson trying to make the Yellow more believable. - 27/11/2009 08:16:48 PM 764 Views
anti-Nynaeve? - 27/11/2009 08:26:54 PM 746 Views
But that is not the connotation of Egwene's comment. - 27/11/2009 08:45:40 PM 822 Views
I disagree - 27/11/2009 09:01:04 PM 702 Views
Cannoli comes out looking like crap. RtDB! - 27/11/2009 07:51:53 PM 760 Views
Re: Cannoli comes out looking like crap. RtDB! - 27/11/2009 08:19:46 PM 666 Views
He's doing a crappy job of that, too. - 27/11/2009 08:37:06 PM 725 Views
Re: Cannoli comes out looking like crap. RtDB! - 27/11/2009 11:06:06 PM 726 Views
Please recall that you have admitted an inferior understanding of American English connotations. - 27/11/2009 08:23:41 PM 731 Views
Yes. I admit to not being fully familiar with a third rate rip off of a language I speak. So? - 27/11/2009 11:18:39 PM 667 Views
How can Egwene know she's unskilled if she's never Healed? - 28/11/2009 12:19:58 AM 667 Views
Simple... - 28/11/2009 01:16:44 AM 669 Views
I can see that for weaves they aren't stong enough - 28/11/2009 01:35:43 AM 631 Views
Nitpicking. - 27/11/2009 08:18:02 PM 760 Views
Actually it's trying to sort who is to blame for various idiocies. - 27/11/2009 08:25:28 PM 707 Views
hrmm - 27/11/2009 11:12:04 PM 605 Views
Re: Who comes out looking worst in the Egwene-Suana encounter? Egwene, Suana or B-Sand? - 27/11/2009 08:27:29 PM 786 Views
Re: Who comes out looking worst in the Egwene-Suana encounter? Egwene, Suana or B-Sand? - 27/11/2009 08:43:42 PM 755 Views
I agree that B-Sand did an excellent job overall - 27/11/2009 08:51:41 PM 721 Views
Re: I agree that B-Sand did an excellent job overall - 27/11/2009 09:12:14 PM 627 Views
Re: I agree that B-Sand did an excellent job overall - 27/11/2009 09:15:01 PM 647 Views
Re: I agree that B-Sand did an excellent job overall - 27/11/2009 09:20:17 PM 606 Views
You are correct! - 27/11/2009 09:21:08 PM 585 Views
Why would I justify obviously right actions? - 27/11/2009 09:25:45 PM 690 Views
This sounds like the descriptions I've heard of The Sword of Truth. - 27/11/2009 10:01:33 PM 617 Views
Have you actually read that? It's so booooooring. - 27/11/2009 09:23:27 PM 630 Views
Well it's the raving of a lunatic - 27/11/2009 09:26:27 PM 619 Views
like the scene at natrin's barrows? - 28/11/2009 05:56:21 PM 678 Views
This line gave me a laugh... - 28/11/2009 12:44:14 AM 659 Views
Nice one, Mr. Chauvinist, but you do make a point, too - 27/11/2009 09:19:33 PM 662 Views
Re: Who comes out looking worst in the Egwene-Suana encounter? Egwene, Suana or B-Sand? - 28/11/2009 01:32:57 AM 693 Views
Yes. A VERY lame joke. - 28/11/2009 11:20:34 AM 834 Views
Lets look at it in perspective - 28/11/2009 02:23:37 AM 710 Views
Deconstruction of failed comprehension - 30/11/2009 10:04:24 PM 614 Views
I was reminded of Elaida's liking for plants - 01/12/2009 07:51:31 AM 605 Views
Silly Cannoli - 01/12/2009 11:41:21 PM 913 Views
You got to admit, reading Cannoli is fun! *NM* - 10/12/2009 02:46:01 AM 273 Views

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