Re: McKinley: Choices (Spoilers: All?)

On Wed, 11 Feb 1998, NAME "Chavela Que" wrote:
> This raises another interesting question about Robin's works -- how little her
> heroines value themselves. Lissar is pushed away in a corner; Aerin lets
> herself be patronized by Perlith; Beauty is awkward and shy. The conventionally
> beautiful people (Galanna, Trivelda & Lissar's parents) are not to be trusted,
> while the less lovely (Aerin, Beauty, Tor, Ossin) become the heroes.
>
> Cheryl K

  How about this one: Magic is almost never "good" in any of the stories.
It pretty much makes everyone who comes in contact with it miserable, or
at least all the self-aware people are miserable... i.e. Many of the
people in "Deerskin" were in awe of Lissar and wanted her to use her
"magic" to help them, but Lissar herself disliked it and Ossin didn't
care. Or in the "Knot in the Grain" the main character used magic only so
much as was needed to save her town, and then got rid of it as fast as she
could. Aerin and Harry are the same way.
  Is magic always bad? And why does Robin write of it in this manner?
Certainly I realize that having access to magic would be a pretty big
responsibility, but it could be fun *sometimes*!
 Shannon

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Received on Fri Feb 13 16:24:53 1998