Jenny wrote: <Suppose he'd said, 'a trooper killed Bobby. She meant everything to me. We were to be married. When she died, a part of me died as well.'>
If he'd said that, I'd have checked the tape for what show I'd got on 'cause it sure wouldn't be Blake's 7 :-)
What Gan says - 'my woman' - is IMO perfectly in tune with the general tone of the language used in the series, especially by people within the federation itself (as apart from neutral worlds like Lindor). It *is* harsher than what we're used to a lot of the time, more reticent and much less effusive. This is very much in keeping with the coldly oppressive, sardine-tin society of the Federation. You don't spill your emotions to people when you've spent your life not knowing who you can trust.
Look at Blake in Hostage - "she meant a lot to me once" and that only in response to Jenna's direct question (oh, and BTW, he calls Inga 'the girl' in this scene rather than use her name. Twice.)
What the author is IMO trying to tell us is that Gan and the woman weren't married. That *is* the simple explanation, after all ...
(Not that I'm at all wedded to the concept *that* the simplest explanation is the best, you understand :-) IMO the best explanation is always the one that adds the most richness and enjoyment to the text while meeting canonical needs. Might be simple, might be wonderfully complicated. But if anyone prefers to always go for simplicity, there's nothing to stop them.)
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"Sally Manton" smanton@hotmail.com wrote: : Jenny wrote: : <Suppose he'd said, 'a trooper killed Bobby. She meant everything to me. We : were to be married. When she died, a part of me died as well.'>
: If he'd said that, I'd have checked the tape for what show I'd got on 'cause : it sure wouldn't be Blake's 7 :-)
: What Gan says - 'my woman' - is IMO perfectly in tune with the general tone : of the language used in the series, especially by people within the : federation itself (as apart from neutral worlds like Lindor). It *is* : harsher than what we're used to a lot of the time, more reticent and much : less effusive. This is very much in keeping with the coldly oppressive, : sardine-tin society of the Federation. You don't spill your emotions to : people when you've spent your life not knowing who you can trust.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. I've been following this thread, and not one suggested locution to replace Gan's "my woman" line has rung true to me, for exactly the reason Sally gives here. This ties in, for me, to the comment Helen just made in response to the idea that Gan's woman was the trooper's wife.
Helen Krummenacker avona@jps.net wrote:
I had never thought of that possibility, but it seems so very in keeping with human nature that I like it very much. It's very plausible and taints Gan with some of the responsibility for what happened to her-- yet another Balke's 7 situation where none of the heroes are squeaky-clean.
I think that one of the themes of the series is that nobody is squeaky- clean. I interpret this as being because the Federation, the world they're in, doesn't allow them to be so clean. Suppose (because I'm not willing to argue it right now!) Cally is the character with the strongest moral compass in the series. Even so, she had to break with the world that gave her that moral grounding in order to fight this Federation. The Federation does that to people, presses them to one breaking point or another if they resist, corrupting them if they do not.
Back to Gan... to me, the *least* morally dubious statement he can make is the one he does. Any elaboration would only give one reason to dissect the statement for emotional falsity or lack of moral soundness. What he says is straightforward and comprehensible, and not, to my ear, sexist.
Claudia
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Sally Manton