The concept of "Starkness"

[Jon Mark Selmy]

Don't start shit on this these forums unless you have a vested interest in ending said shit.

That's why I write a paragraph max as a reply. Curbs the bullshit.

A wise action my prolixity prevents me from emulating.

Fucking Christ do you people have to split up every fucking sentence into a separate quote.

Hhaheheaa... I find it easier than to preface each sentence with "on the subject of X..."

[Summer is Ending]

Don't start shit on this these forums unless you have a vested interest in ending said shit.

That's why I write a paragraph max as a reply. Curbs the bullshit.

I don't care if people can't let shit go. Argue all day but these pages are getting streched long past the point of absurdity because these idiots have to break down every single little fucking sentence no matter how pointless into a different quote box.

It

is

fuck

ing

ridiculous

[Sand Snake No. 9]

@ Summer is Ending -- I feel your pain.

I do listen to words. Arya's thoughts on why certain things happen don't match reality, that's why it's unreliable narrator. Arya's thoughts on her placement at the feast is a example.

w. . .

So it's an injustice if little girls are courteous to be people now?

That was the most diplomatic way forward at the time. Tell Joffrey's story and Arya hates her and tell Arya's story and Joffrey hates her.. She went for what looked like the best option to her. Also, she told Ned the truth, which she wouldn't have if she were really lenient.

Maybe today, it's useless but at that time period and in Arya's social class, it's necessary

Again, go re read the book. She is clearly jealous of Sansa being good at that stuff. since she mentions that Sansa was born with everything, so there wasn't anything left for her.

I'll admit Ned might have asked her to go a little easier on Arya, but that's a very modern viewpoint that doesn't match with the time period. In any case, it's not worth firing somebody over.

. . .

Arya was the one who drew negative and positive connotations on people based on appearance, so yes, she's a little shallow

Ahem.

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” – Albert Einstein

“Everything you see or hear or experience in any way at all is specific to you. You create a universe by perceiving it, so everything in the universe you perceive is specific to you.” – Douglas Adams

Okay. With the benefit of hindsight and without reference to Arya and Sansa at all, I think it is indisputably correct to say:

1) It's better to avoid Cersei than to deal with her, on any level. Pax vobiscum, Ned, Ned's entire retinue, Falyse, the maid, Barra, Robert's unnamed bastards and all the others she's left dead or injured in her wake.

2) It's better to hate and distrust Joffrey than to love him and expect him to do the right thing.

So Arya may get an F in deportment but she gets an A in animal instinct; she can detect the truth about people, regardless of how pretty they look or how nicely they act, rather like the dire wolf that serves as her house sigil. Think of her reaction to the Lannisters as her Starkness speaking. Arya's feelings about the Lannisters should also be a signal to the reader that these pretty people are not trustworthy, and their later actions prove that is absolutely true. I'd say that Arya's perceptions often match the facts, or the meaning behind the facts.

Among other things, the conflict between Arya and Sansa is meant illustrate the clash of cultures, values and behavior between the North and South. The reader is free to choose between value systems, but I think it's obvious which one GRRM prefers. I also think that in the matter of Mycah and the dire wolves GRRM all but tells us that Arya did right and Sansa did wrong because he kills Sansa's dire wolf, not Arya's.* Sansa thus lost not only her pet but her emblem and reminder of Stark unity and honor. Talk about being slapped in the face symbolism.

We really don't know whether Arya is good at needlework or not because it is stated in the text that the virtuous and competent Septa Mordane is making the left-handed Arya use her right hand to do it. So her teacher, with the approval of society and her parents, is not only forcing Arya into an unwanted gender role, she's trying to rewire Arya's brain, a re-wiring that actually makes it harder for Arya to use tools like scissors, or so this article says. Under those circumstances using a needle must have been agony. Needlework symbolizes the crippling loss of self Arya would experience if she tried to conform to social norms (fitting nicely into to my theory that Westeros and her family were trying to turn Arya into No One, and she's finding her real self among the FM). IMO she's perfectly justified in hating needlework and avoiding it.

*Yes, I know Arya's separated from Nymeria but she saves the wolf's life (by doing something distinctly unladylike) and where there's life, there's hope.

[Lion of Judah]

I don't care if people can't let shit go. Argue all day but these pages are getting streched long past the point of absurdity because these idiots have to break down every single little fucking sentence no matter how pointless into a different quote box.

LOL you got me cracking up right now.

[Florina Laufeyson]

Goddammit, Sand Snake, im out of likes. But i just want to applaud the above post.

Also haha quote wars are something i detest. So Summer Is Ending, yes i know your grief.

[Lion of Judah]

@ Summer is Ending -- I feel your pain.

Ahem.

Okay. With the benefit of hindsight and without reference to Arya and Sansa at all, I think it is indisputably correct to say:

1) It's better to avoid Cersei than to deal with her, on any level. Pax vobiscum, Ned, Ned's entire retinue, Falyse, the maid, Barra, Robert's unnamed bastards and all the others she's left dead or injured in her wake.

2) It's better to hate and distrust Joffrey than to love him and expect him to do the right thing.

So Arya may get an F in deportment but she gets an A in animal instinct; she can detect the truth about people, regardless of how pretty they look or how nicely they act, rather like the dire wolf that serves as her house sigil. Think of her reaction to the Lannisters as her Starkness speaking. Arya's feelings about the Lannisters should also be a signal to the reader that these pretty people are not trustworthy, and their later actions prove that is absolutely true. I'd say that Arya's perceptions often match the facts, or the meaning behind the facts.

Among other things, the conflict between Arya and Sansa is meant illustrate the clash of cultures, values and behavior between the North and South. The reader is free to choose between value systems, but I think it's obvious which one GRRM prefers. I also think that in the matter of Mycah and the dire wolves GRRM all but tells us that Arya did right and Sansa did wrong because he kills Sansa's dire wolf, not Arya's.* Sansa thus lost not only her pet but her emblem and reminder of Stark unity and honor. Talk about being slapped in the face symbolism.

We really don't know whether Arya is good at needlework or not because it is stated in the text that the virtuous and competent Septa Mordane is making the left-handed Arya use her right hand to do it. So her teacher, with the approval of society and her parents, is not only forcing Arya into an unwanted gender role, she's trying to rewire Arya's brain, a re-wiring that actually makes it harder for Arya to use tools like scissors, or so this article says. Under those circumstances using a needle must have been agony. Needlework symbolizes the crippling loss of self Arya would experience if she tried to conform to social norms (fitting nicely into to my theory that Westeros and her family were trying to Arya into No One, and she's finding her real self among the FM). IMO she's perfectly justified in hating needlework and avoiding it.

*Yes, I know Arya's separated from Nymeria but she saves the wolf's life (by doing something distinctly unladylike) and where there's life, there's hope.

:agree: