Cross-Cultures

pinterest board: wordcrafter

This year I started reading some of The Doorway Papers, works by Christian anthropologist Arthur C. Custance.  I finished the first book, Noah's Three Sons, in January; most of you probably remember that I did a follow-up post called Image Dei, inspired by some of the things Custance wrote.  Apparently his writing tends to be inspiring, because this post flows from the second book, Genesis and Early Man. 

Most of the essays in Early Man deal with the paleontological record and are more technical than the those in Noah's Three Sons, which made it slower going for me.  (Bones get boring after a while.  So do peccary teeth.)  His last section, however, is titled "Light from Other Forms of Cultural Behavior on Some Incidents in Scripture," and this was the one I found to be of particular interest.  He takes some of the more puzzling narratives and instructions in Genesis and expands upon them, showing how they are linked with cultural patterns the world over.  For instance, he starts with the statement in Genesis 2 that "for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife," and goes on to show not only the prevalence of having the man go to his wife's family, but also the practical merit of doing it in this manner and not the other way around. 

I confess, some of the points he addresses were not ones I had ever thought very hard about; but they provided food for thought all the same.  Custance addresses most of the cultural details, including polygamy, without passing overt judgment, just as the Scripture tends to mention them in passing and without critique.  Rather, he delves into the why's and the wherefore's of these cultural norms, presenting them in a clearer light to the befuddled Western mind.

Naturally, this is interesting for its bearing on Genesis.  That was, after all, Custance's intent.  However, being a writer, I tend to look at everything from a writer's point of view.  In this case, the problem of cultures started me thinking about world-building - the crafting of peoples in fantasy worlds that are somehow different from cultures past and present.  We want ours to be unique, and though we may be inspired by ancient Egypt or Norse mythology, we prefer that the inspiration be subtle rather than obvious.  No one wants their story to be the one where the reader can go two pages and say, "Oh, I know where THAT'S from."

All that is perfectly reasonable, and provides incentive for branching out and exercising creativity.  But in reading Genesis and Early Man, it occurred to me that there is as much - or more - to be learned from the similarities between cultures as from the differences.  We tend to assume that the culture of the Eskimos will be vastly removed from that of the Australian aborigines, and to some extent, due to the demands of environment, it is; and yet at the same time, there are some amazing parallels to be noted between them.  Recall the Mankind has a "common ancestor," Noah, and a common starting place, Mesopotamia.  Cultural arteries all flow from that heartland; links between traditions stretch from one end of the earth to the other.

This is a fact worth considering, especially as we build our fantasies and populate them with people out of our imaginations.  Of course we want each culture we create to be different, but what elements do they have in common?  In marriage and in family, in religion and in government, are there threads that unite them?  If the world is tied to Earth, and perhaps even populated by humans, what links still exist between our world and theirs?  I have always thought it a good idea to come up with a history for the peoples; so much of what makes up a culture and its foreign policy depends on its history, so it seems impossible to create a believable world without one.  And now, added to that, I am of the opinion that anthropology - the study of Man - is just as pertinent a study for any writer.

In fact, I'm having a hard time thinking of fields of knowledge that aren't pertinent to a writer.

Beautiful People - Christopher

pinterest board: the soldier's cross

The title of this blog post is rather absurd, as readers of The Soldier's Cross will have noticed.  However, this round of Georgie and Sky's "Beautiful People" meme is focused on villains and, since characters from TSC show up around here but rarely, I decided to introduce Christopher.  For those of you who are not aware of what Beautiful People is or how it works, here's a summary for you:

...What is Beautiful People? Beautiful People is a monthly blog event created by Georgie Penn and Sky. It's designed to help you get to know more about your character by asking questions about them. It's simple: every month Sky and Georgie post 10 questions, and you answer them on your blog with your character of choice. To learn more, check out their blogs!

And with that squared away, I introduce you to the villain of The Soldier's Cross:

christopher

1. What is his motive?

Ambition, to some extent, but primarily straight-up greed.  The son of a merchant, landless, and with much too little money, he seeks a higher position and the increased funds that would come with it.  He does not passionately hate his vagrant lifestyle - indeed, he is rather fond of it - but it certainly doesn't provide him with much money to spend.

2. What is he prepared to do to get what he wants?

Christopher prefers manipulation to a trial of brute strength.  Up against Fiona, he will go that route; but against anyone who has the ability to stand and face him, he takes a roundabout path to his own ends.

3. Is he evil to the core, or simply misunderstood?

I don't go in for "misunderstood"; it smacks of that Deist saying that every man has a "spark of the Divine" in him and is "basically good."  Christopher is basically bad.  He is perhaps not so evil as he could be, but given an opportunity I'm sure he would fulfill all expectations in that respect.

4. What was his past like? What about his childhood? Was there one defining moment that made him embrace his evil ways? 

Christopher and his sister Leah grew up in comfort, though not in luxury.  As the only son, a great deal of pressure was put on Christopher by his father to succeed him in trade; Christopher, however, wanted the life of the nobility's sons, who had even more comfort with less work.   There was no single moment in which his heart was blackened, etc., but with his father's death he found it expedient to drop the charade of being a respectful son and get to work making his fortune.

5. Now that he is evil, has he turned his back on everyone, or is there still someone in his life that he cares for?

He had a passing affection for his mother and would sometimes correct his behavior for a few days in a row after she rebuked him, but her early death only served to convince him that the good die young, so why be good?  His father he cordially hated; his sister he regards as his queen - not in the affectionate sense, however; merely in the chessboard analogy.  She is his best means of bringing about a checkmate, and for that reason, and that reason only, he keeps her safe. 

6. Does he like hugs? 

I really couldn't hazard an answer to this question.  

7. Is he plagued by something?

Not that he ever told me; but then, he would be unlikely to do so.  

8. Who are they more similar to: Gollum or Maleficent? 

A slinking beast or a woman...  That's a difficult choice.  Gollum is more cowardly, so I tend toward him; but Maleficent is more impressively evil, so that tilts me back in her direction.  I'll say Maleficent.  

9. If your villain could have his choice of transportation what would it be? 

His own coach, highly gilded and lined on the inside with scarlet; his choice of horse would be three bays and a black, just for the element of surprise.  The difficult part would be whether to drive himself or to have a servant do it.

10. If you met your villain in the street, how afraid would you be? Is he evil enough to kill his creator?

 If I met him on the street, I would pepper-spray him.  And then run.