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From Pawn to Player: Rethinking Sansa XI


brashcandy

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For some odd reason I snicker whenever sansa does give in to a vengeful thought. My favorite moment is when Sansa hopes at the purple wedding that Joffrey falls and breaks his neck.

Or when she's watching him, reflecting that he is too dumb to actually read: "Did those little worm lips move as he read the words? She wondered."

The best part of this is that I suspect it's completely true. I can honestly see poor Joffrey trying to sound out his words aloud as he reads, a furrow slowly forming on his brow, and an ache in his heart as he realizes he can't decipher 9/10ths of whats been written there. (I imagine his fake father often struggled with the same problem the 2-3 times he picked up a book in his life.)

When those cruel Tyrells gave the unfortunate crowned prince that cruel, mocking gift of a book-- and not just any book, mind you, but a non picture book-- there was only one way for Joffrey to deal with such a brash, heartless, and cruel gift.

Joffrey: A book!

Joffrey looks menacingly at the book. The book looks menacingly back at him. Joffrey looks menacingly at the book. The book looks back at him some more. (Insert about 20 minutes.) ……

….and then suddenly, the Lion Prince knew what he must do.

Joffrey whips out sword and with one mighty thrust, slices the hateful enemy in two.

Joffrey: Oh yes. Victory is sweet.

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And in case anyone's interested, here's a piece from the Huffingtonpost.com, where the writer talks about female archetypes in ASOIAF. Of course, they fail to mention that Martin deconstructs these archetypes from the very beginning, but anyways, I found the description of Sansa to pretty ridiculous:

Well she is a professor of Germanic languages and literature. Maybe Snow Winterfell just doesn't translate well into German. It isn't like ASOIAF has any real references or parallels to German literature like the Brothers Grimm or Sansa has any specific reference or allusion to an originally German story like Snow White. Or... oh wait. I truly pity the literature students in her class.

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Well she is a professor of Germanic languages and literature. Maybe Snow Winterfell just doesn't translate well into German. It isn't like ASOIAF has any real references or parallels to German literature like the Brothers Grimm or Sansa has any specific reference or allusion to an originally German story like Snow White. Or... oh wait. I truly pity the literature students in her class.

As someone who is also very much into Germanic literature and language, I am shocked that this person cannot see the snow-covered forest for the trees, so to speak. It is so true that an understanding of Germanic language, literature, and folklore does not inhibit one's appreciation of and for the female characters in ASoIaF. If anything, it should increase it!

Just look at the parallel Lykos was able to draw between Sansa and Gudrun (Kriemhild), for instance. And, as mentioned above, that is only one of many possible examples. :)

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