[UA] Gloat -->Godwalker question

[Tim Groth]

Spoilers?  You bet.  If you haven't read the book yet (and why haven't
you?) don't read more.


I think the issue is routes to an Archetype.  Leslie is taking a slow
route based on being a man but spending large periods being accepted
as a woman for superficial reasons.  He has built this up quite a bit
(at least 51% in the Avatar skill).  This method requires being a real
man.  At some point Leslie might have a way to become a woman, and
dress as a man.  The ultimate goal, I suspect, was for Leslie to
attain the final channel and always present society the opposite
gender of the biological sex.  By castrating Leslie the Freak has made
this mode of advancement impossible.  If Leslie wants to keep climbing
up he'll have to figure out a new shtick.  A different route could be
built around being castrated.  For instance a macho man who castrates
himself could perhaps press this single gender based dichotomy into a
solid Avatar score.  It would be a plateau of development, but it
would be a fast rise to that point.  Leslie is aiming for slow and
steady, with an eye on the ultimate prize.

I also have some nebulous notions of the Freak acting as an embodiment
of the Archetype itself to symbolically remove Leslie from the running
by castrating him.  Self-castration is a symbol of an attempt to
master the Archetype and be an Avatar.  Castration by the Archetype
itself represents being run over by the power of the Archetype and
thus not being able to actually challenge it as a usurper.


-- 
Read more about my boring life at http://www.livejournal.com/~tim_g