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Ok so Menolly doesn't like plain cut and dried chapter recaps for dissections, that's really what a dissection is, but some of my better dissections of the Covenant books have been either train of thought or comparing the chapter to something else so here goes. Pavlov?
Old Ivan did conditioning experiments with dogs so he has, really, nothing to do with this. Still when many people think of Pavlov they, for some reason, envision rats running in a maze. So the secret's out: Ged is the rat in the maze, or labyrinth to be exact. We'll soon learn what, exactly, he plans to steal-but I have a feeling it has something to do with what's on his necklace. Arha's in the perfect position to mess with, and/or, yes condition the rat. She has a new toy to play with--but her problem is she still has a conscience. She has her spy holes all over the place (even by the river), and has the option of giving her rat water and food or letting him die. We'll come back to this.
I'm extremely claustrophobic (probably due to my sister locking me in closets when I was a toddler), maybe that's one of the reason Fist doesn't like this book. However, when I first read Tombs in the '80s it actually lessened my fears of dark enclosed spaces. The book was therapy for me, that's why I like it so much. But there's really only two things going on in the overall story arc: Ged's quest . I spoiled a little, but so what. I still get freaked in any story that takes place underground-at least 5 fantasy series come to mind and it's a very tricky plot device. At least we have a map here (and, if you flip it upside down you can see where you are in relation to "The Place") I can't think of another author who provides this...As much as I adore Lord Fouls Bane I got pretty darn lost in the catacombs of Mt. Thunder (and that goes for the tunnels in Williams' To Green Angel Tower as well) and I think the most crushing spaces I've ever been in were under the mountain's weight in McKillip's Heir of Sea and Fire and the warrens of Erikson's Gardens of the Moon.
It's still a pretty freaky dilemma Sparrowhawk finds himself in-and he and his magic become so weak that Manan has to carry him out of there. I'd much rather be cremated than put in a coffin...So the chapter's pretty simple-after the prisoners Arha's conscience has developed to the point wear she has to play it off Kossil. Ged is here to steal something, but we already knew that. Arha can play god with Ged and maybe the tiniest inkling of a romantic relationship is beginning. (OK, we sort of came back to it)
That last thing I wanted to talk about is the conversation they have when he recovers. Arha sees the four-talon scar on Ged's face which sets off a discourse on where he came from, his experiences with dragons and juxtaposes her "religion" with Innerland spirituality. The Place can be seen as a dumping ground for all of Kagard's fears and the Nameless Ones are those fears. It stuns Arha to learn that Ged's scar is from a nameless one of his own and that he knows it's name. I always go into a very dream-like state whenever LeGuin talks about the "old places of Earthsea", the Land of the Dead and the shadow that follows Ged in the first book had that effect on me too...but here (maybe this is another reason why Highdrake/Fist doesn't like the book) all the nameless crap is out in the open--it's just fear. Ged really isn't freaked about his circumstances and claustrophobia, he prepared himself for that, he's just trying to survive...
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Give me golf clubs, fresh air and a beautiful partner, and you can keep the clubs and the fresh air.-
Jack Benny
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FAQ
I don't think we've ever had a dissection by anybody who hadn't finished the chapter/book yet.
