Manderelee said, "Of course as readers we know why Gen is trying to save Teleus. It's for her sake. I'm not sure if she completely understands that yet."
You're right that she doesn't understand it yet.. I don't even think she understands it fully throughout CofK as her character development kind of tables or goes along evenly and uneventfully as the time required to heal passes and Sophos has his turn in the spotlight. I think she'll reach her full healing potential in the 5th or 6th books and we'll start to see Irene give Eugenides the world in the same way he has wanted to give her everything from the very beginning...
Watching the process of Irene learning to understand this is one of the most beautiful parts of the book. In QOA, she states her disbelief that anyone could love her like this to ("Who am I, that you should love me?")
*Why is Gen so generous with his kindness?
He knew from the very beginning that Irene needed to feel safe enough to be the person she really is behind the mask... He sees the bigger picture. He sees beyond the linear timeline. From the time he saw her dancing beneath the orange trees, he saw the person Irene REALLY IS, and that's what enables him to give to her as he does and have endless compassion for her even when she lashes out at him. When she strikes him, in KofA he "makes no attempt to duck or avoid her blow.." That he accepts her blow when he has the skill even when injured to avoid it says something huge about how he is choosing to share her pain for her.
. And also... Gen's divinity (that he is favored by the gods) is reflected in his unique ability to love unconditionally.. I'm not sure what came first, Gen's beyond-human capacity for unconditional love or how he runs with the gods and speaks with the gods as if he is in the image of God or a God (oh right, he IS, hence his namesake)... it's like question about the chicken or the egg...
In QofA he confides to Eddis: “She's like a prisoner inside stone walls, and every day the walls get a little thicker, the doorways a little narrower." "And?" Eddis prompted. "Well," said Eugenides, "it's a challenge.” “I can't leave her there all alone, surrounded by stone walls... She's too precious to give up.” ** The part about the "challenge." Eugenides, we know, loves challenges.
He's kind to Irene in such an infinite way because in experiencing her open to his love, however slowly gradually and painfully, it's simultaneously opening his heart. He wouldn't have recognized her loneliness and longing for love so many years ago sitting in those orange trees without it already being present within himself.
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How Gen can go as far as he goes for Irene
Date: 5/6/17 05:44 pm (UTC)Manderelee said, "Of course as readers we know why Gen is trying to save Teleus. It's for her sake. I'm not sure if she completely understands that yet."
You're right that she doesn't understand it yet.. I don't even think she understands it fully throughout CofK as her character development kind of tables or goes along evenly and uneventfully as the time required to heal passes and Sophos has his turn in the spotlight. I think she'll reach her full healing potential in the 5th or 6th books and we'll start to see Irene give Eugenides the world in the same way he has wanted to give her everything from the very beginning...
Watching the process of Irene learning to understand this is one of the most beautiful parts of the book. In QOA, she states her disbelief that anyone could love her like this to ("Who am I, that you should love me?")
*Why is Gen so generous with his kindness?
He knew from the very beginning that Irene needed to feel safe enough to be the person she really is behind the mask... He sees the bigger picture. He sees beyond the linear timeline. From the time he saw her dancing beneath the orange trees, he saw the person Irene REALLY IS, and that's what enables him to give to her as he does and have endless compassion for her even when she lashes out at him. When she strikes him, in KofA he "makes no attempt to duck or avoid her blow.." That he accepts her blow when he has the skill even when injured to avoid it says something huge about how he is choosing to share her pain for her.
. And also... Gen's divinity (that he is favored by the gods) is reflected in his unique ability to love unconditionally.. I'm not sure what came first, Gen's beyond-human capacity for unconditional love or how he runs with the gods and speaks with the gods as if he is in the image of God or a God (oh right, he IS, hence his namesake)... it's like question about the chicken or the egg...
In QofA he confides to Eddis:
“She's like a prisoner inside stone walls, and every day the walls get a little thicker, the doorways a little narrower."
"And?" Eddis prompted.
"Well," said Eugenides, "it's a challenge.”
“I can't leave her there all alone, surrounded by stone walls... She's too precious to give up.”
**
The part about the "challenge." Eugenides, we know, loves challenges.
He's kind to Irene in such an infinite way because in experiencing her open to his love, however slowly gradually and painfully, it's simultaneously opening his heart. He wouldn't have recognized her loneliness and longing for love so many years ago sitting in those orange trees without it already being present within himself.