![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Thoughts on story and theology
Apr. 10th, 2011 01:45 pmThings I have some problems with re the theology in TotT, and things I do not have problems with:
- The focus on capital-D Destiny. Granted that this may be more of a story-building device than an essential element of the system. And granted that the characters in the books always have a choice, technically--but there's also a clear message that there are right and wrong choices (in other words, people are free to make the wrong choice or to follow the will of the Twelve. This is something that seems to be becoming more developed as the series progresses; the first book is from Caroline's point of view, the second begins to explore the rest of the story's world. Most of the time our choices are less clear-cut, luckily for us.
- The idea that an individual can make a significant difference is something I strongly agree with. The idea that only one particular individual can make that difference? Or that only one individual can take a particular role? As a story-building device this works, as a real-world concept it doesn't. Again, luckily for us.
- The Twelve are "organized" into male-female pairings, each is "mated" to another. I'm a straight woman and I'm not comfortable with this, I can only imagine how someone with a different orientation would feel about it. At the same time I don't think the pairings are random, I think they have to do with the way the color qualities relate to each other.
- And by the way, can one perceive, say, Purple as a female entity, or Black as a male? Could White and Silver be a male-male couple? The Twelve change, why couldn't they change in this way as well? (In the first book this is explained to Caroline as "six women in love with six men" but this could certainly be a statement explaining in a way Caroline could understand rather than a requirement of opposite-gendered pairings.) As a non-Wiccan pagan to whom gender polarity is not an essential part of my world view, this is something that occurs to me.
- Something that does appeal about this system is that the Twelve are personally invested in the lives of their adherents (to a degree that, to me, seems more reflective of beings such as ancestral or land spirits than of deities, that's my own experience speaking of course).
I guess this is inevitable when you've got stories illustrating theological concepts, as you do here. The fact that there will eventually be a number of books means that the common theological points may eventually be easier to separate from the storytelling elements. I tend to read the books twice so far, once for the story and once to analyze it for theological elements. :)
And no, I don't think I need to follow the system to the letter in order to derive benefit from it, but I think I do need to understand it better than I do. Particularly with the system still unfolding as it seems to be, it could happen that an element (the gendered pairings, for example) that seems optional at this point in time turns out to be essential or at least significant.
- The focus on capital-D Destiny. Granted that this may be more of a story-building device than an essential element of the system. And granted that the characters in the books always have a choice, technically--but there's also a clear message that there are right and wrong choices (in other words, people are free to make the wrong choice or to follow the will of the Twelve. This is something that seems to be becoming more developed as the series progresses; the first book is from Caroline's point of view, the second begins to explore the rest of the story's world. Most of the time our choices are less clear-cut, luckily for us.
- The idea that an individual can make a significant difference is something I strongly agree with. The idea that only one particular individual can make that difference? Or that only one individual can take a particular role? As a story-building device this works, as a real-world concept it doesn't. Again, luckily for us.
- The Twelve are "organized" into male-female pairings, each is "mated" to another. I'm a straight woman and I'm not comfortable with this, I can only imagine how someone with a different orientation would feel about it. At the same time I don't think the pairings are random, I think they have to do with the way the color qualities relate to each other.
- And by the way, can one perceive, say, Purple as a female entity, or Black as a male? Could White and Silver be a male-male couple? The Twelve change, why couldn't they change in this way as well? (In the first book this is explained to Caroline as "six women in love with six men" but this could certainly be a statement explaining in a way Caroline could understand rather than a requirement of opposite-gendered pairings.) As a non-Wiccan pagan to whom gender polarity is not an essential part of my world view, this is something that occurs to me.
- Something that does appeal about this system is that the Twelve are personally invested in the lives of their adherents (to a degree that, to me, seems more reflective of beings such as ancestral or land spirits than of deities, that's my own experience speaking of course).
I guess this is inevitable when you've got stories illustrating theological concepts, as you do here. The fact that there will eventually be a number of books means that the common theological points may eventually be easier to separate from the storytelling elements. I tend to read the books twice so far, once for the story and once to analyze it for theological elements. :)
And no, I don't think I need to follow the system to the letter in order to derive benefit from it, but I think I do need to understand it better than I do. Particularly with the system still unfolding as it seems to be, it could happen that an element (the gendered pairings, for example) that seems optional at this point in time turns out to be essential or at least significant.
