Jay wrote:Great for shaving the stubble off of your face or for creating abstract bargains that no one understands.
Ok, so not really all that connected to his bargain, but could the leading impulse be the same? Regardless, shaving is a distinct part of his ritual. I think he shaves about seven times total in Lord Foul's Bane alone.For the same reason, he began carrying around a sharp penknife. Whenever he felt his discipline faltering, felt threatened by memories or hopes or love, he took out the knife and tested its edge on his wrist.
Ok, so then there's his decision to give up shaving.Without water or a mirror, he was perilously close to slitting his throat, and the dryness of his beard caused him pain as if he were using the knife to dredge his face into a new shape. But this risk, this pain, was part of him; there was nothing impossible about, it. If he cut himself, the dirt on his skin would make infection almost instantaneous. It calmed him like a demonstration of his identity.
It would have been so much simpler if digital watches were around in '77. I wonder if there's enough EM interference in being summoned/returned to blank it out. Would a digital watch even work in The Land?If he wanted proof of delusion, he would have to make it for himself.
He faced the prospect with trepidation. Anything he might do would take a long time to bear fruit. It would not become proof, brookless and unblinkable, until his delusion ended-until he had returned to his real life. In the meantime, it would do little to sustain him. But he had no choice; his need was urgent.
He had available three easy ways to create a definitive discontinuity: he could destroy his clothes, throw away his penknife-the only thing he had in his pockets-or grow a beard. Then, when he awakened, and found himself clothed, or still possessed of his penknife, or clean-shaven, he would have his proof. The obvious discrepancy of his healed forehead he did not trust. Past experience made him fear that he would be reinjured shortly before this delusion ended. But he could not bring himself to act on his first two alternatives. The thought of destroying his tough, familiar apparel made him feel too vulnerable, and the expedient of discarding his penknife was too uncertain. Cursing at the way his plight forced him to abandon all the
strict habits upon which his survival depended, he decided to give up shaving.
When at last he summoned the courage to leave his rooms and go into the Keep in search of breakfast, he brandished the stubble on his cheeks as if it were a declaration of defiance.
But his decision to measure himself by himself is an interesting one. It's a bargain of an entirely different sort. He gives up an important ritual in order to judge the passage of time as it effects him physically.
Oddball question: If Linden gave up shaving her pits (let's assume she does... and leave out other grooming habits), would that mean she stays until she finds Loric's Venus (though if anything can dull the Krill when it's active, it'd be a woman shaving with it) and spends a few minutes to put things in order?
Anyway... So Covenant later gives up his test, showing acceptance if not faith.
(He's always so worried about cutting his throat. Maybe I would be too if I used a straight razor.)Covenant tugged at his beard, and watched hopelessly as Elena and Morin
followed Amok.
Then, as abruptly as gasping, he exclaimed, "Wait!" The fingers of his right hand tingled in his beard. "Hang on." The High Lord looked questioningly at him. He said, "I need a knife. And some water. And a mirror, if you've got one -- I don't want to cut my throat."
What he doesn't want to lie about is that he's bargaining, like an alcoholic bargaining to God. 'I'll shave the beard; you solve this problem without making me feel like even more of an asshole.'"I've made another deal-like the one I made with the Ranyhyn. I'm not trying to prove that the' Land isn't real anymore." In the back of his mind, he pleaded, Please don't ask me anything else. I don't want to lie to you.
She probed him with her eyes. "Do you believe, then -do you accept the Land?" In his relief, he almost sighed aloud. He could look at her squarely to answer this.
"No. But I'm willing to stop fighting about it. You've done so much for me."
One problem of this, I'd guess, is that he's bargaining getting what he wants for something else that he wants (a return to the way he is). He's not really sacrificing. Just saying, 'Ok, I'll stop pushing if you just fix this.'
Of course, he just makes things worse for himself as well as making the whole beard thing useless.
Anyway, just my thoughts on it.
