All but the last of this week’s Twitter quotes are from Anne McCaffrey, from the Dragonsong trilogy. The first five are from Dragonsinger, the sixth is from Dragondrums.
“There will always be fools in the world, fearful of anything new or strange.” Silvina, commenting on Dunca’s reaction to Menolly’s fire lizards.
“She wondered if envy was akin to fear?” Menolly, trying to understand why the girls who are supposedly her fellow students seem to hate her.
“Find you own limitations, but don’t limit yourself with false modesty.” Seball to Menolly after she has told him how she was treated for “tuning” at home.
“The young of every kind tend to be easily alarmed.” Robinton to Menolly when she refers to her concern for Piemur, who Robinton knows is quite capable to taking care of himself.
“You want things badly when you’re young.” Lord Groghe to Menolly, when she tells him that she thinks the key to her fire lizards fetching her pipes was that she wanted them so badly.
“I wish we hadn’t changed so.” Robinton, in a rare moment of feeling his age and being aware of how much Pern had changed in the 400 turns without Thread, and how much it has had to change since.
(If you’re wondering why the yellow sticker, this is one of the books I replaced after the fire.)
“I shouldn’t let you get away with just taking over like that.” Sue Ann Bowling, Tourist Trap. Penny to Roi after Roi has taken charge from Penny, the tour guide, when a wild stallion kidnaps one of their saddle horses.
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The one truly interesting character is Camo, the mentally disabled servant. Some may find the rather unsparing depiction of his mental inadequacy, and the off-hand use of terms like “dull-witted”, somewhat offensive. Others may simply find his antics painful. Personally, I found him a high-note: note because I didn’t find him annoying, since I did, but because I think the author manages to be very matter-of-fact about him. Central is the point that there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for there to be a man with learning disabilities in this book. None at all. It provides a minor plot point, but that could have been handled just as well without him. Camo is not there to advance the plot, and he’s not there to laugh at either (he’s more painful than amusing), and McCaffrey doesn’t try to make the character less painful to watch in any way, and nor does she try to make him more entertaining. The fact that he’s “dull-witted” (clinically so, his “brains are addled”) is simply a fact about the character that is never explained, and never really even commented on. The terms people use to describe him aren’t meant as insults or mockery, and in that way I think the author does very well in presenting mentally disabled people in a low-tech setting in a way that might reflect how (in a more intelligent and caring environment, which the Harper Hall is) such people might be seen and dealt with, without having the book actually be ABOUT their disability.
If you look at the later book (earlier on the Pern timeline) The Masterharper of Pern, Camo turns out to be Robinton’s and Silvina’s son.