Status Updates From A Reading Companion: Till W...

“We should not turn to ourselves and our strengths to live life as humanism espouses, and neither should we blame fate, as if we have no choice. Orual cannot see that she has always had choice.”

“Not only does Orual immediately acknowledge he is who he is by calling him “Lord”, but she also knows she has changed within. “No rebel” is left. Manganiello maintains that “Orual’s receptiveness to the speech of the god allows him to correct her defective vision” as the story unfolds.”

“Part of true philia is the openness, the lack of demands put upon friends”

“Because she knows so little of love, Orual thinks it can be used.”

“Glover suggests that Orual is “fighting the demons of self-love, self righteousness, and self-importance…they carry in them the seeds of hatred. If Affection is made the absolute sovereign of a human life the seeds will germinate. Love, having become a god, becomes a demon.”

“…from a place beyond the senses and kindles a hope that there is heaven, that heaven is our home, and that we will return there. It is painful because nothing in this world can satisfy it, no matter how hard we may try to do so; it is sweetly painful because we can intuit its origin and our destiny.”

“…sweat as the kindest creature…far better than philosophy, as a cure for ill thoughts.”