Now here is a riddle to guess if you can sing the bells of Notre Dam. Who is the monster and who is the maaaan...
Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, beeells of Notre Dam.
Okay, I'm done, but the comparison wasn't made idly. Elva is, in a sense, deformed thanks to circumstances beyond her control, like Quasimodo. Nasuada is a self-righteous individual who regards her as nothing more than a tool and has no sympathy for her, like Frollo.
On that note, this chapter is legitimately sickening.
Up until now, they've been boring, badly paced, and low quality. But this chapter makes me legitimately angry. Nasuada is treating a tortured infant as though she is nothing more than a tool to be used and disposed of. Paolini should have used Elva's curse to create a sense of tragedy. But instead, he uses it to dehumanize her.
What's worse is that this storyline never has any weight. So much so that I honestly forgot it happened in my rewrite. Just like I forgot about Roran and Nasuada's subplots. Not that this storyline couldn't have worked. It could have been used to force Eragon to mature and confront the fact that he is not a god. It would bring a harsh end to the ego trip he's been on ever since Ellemsera.
But that's really the critical thing, isn't it? Elva represents Eragon making a mistake. A massive mistake created by his arrogance and conceited nature. She is absolute proof that he is not a messiah, not perfect. Since Eragon has to be perfect, Paolini does everything he can to make Elva into the other.
Elva is dehumanized because by turning her into the other she makes Eragon not guilty of doing anything bad.
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Date: 2019-06-16 11:25 am (UTC)Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, beeells of Notre Dam.
Okay, I'm done, but the comparison wasn't made idly. Elva is, in a sense, deformed thanks to circumstances beyond her control, like Quasimodo. Nasuada is a self-righteous individual who regards her as nothing more than a tool and has no sympathy for her, like Frollo.
On that note, this chapter is legitimately sickening.
Up until now, they've been boring, badly paced, and low quality. But this chapter makes me legitimately angry. Nasuada is treating a tortured infant as though she is nothing more than a tool to be used and disposed of. Paolini should have used Elva's curse to create a sense of tragedy. But instead, he uses it to dehumanize her.
What's worse is that this storyline never has any weight. So much so that I honestly forgot it happened in my rewrite. Just like I forgot about Roran and Nasuada's subplots. Not that this storyline couldn't have worked. It could have been used to force Eragon to mature and confront the fact that he is not a god. It would bring a harsh end to the ego trip he's been on ever since Ellemsera.
But that's really the critical thing, isn't it? Elva represents Eragon making a mistake. A massive mistake created by his arrogance and conceited nature. She is absolute proof that he is not a messiah, not perfect. Since Eragon has to be perfect, Paolini does everything he can to make Elva into the other.
Elva is dehumanized because by turning her into the other she makes Eragon not guilty of doing anything bad.