The hands were trained to give her what she wanted.
wow ruki, i'm really impressed. good memory!
The hands were trained to give her what she wanted.
wow ruki, i'm really impressed. good memory!
Lalalalaaaa, lalalalaaa
Lalalalaaaa, lalalalaaa
sugarpop <3
To be honest, I never really liked the interlude with Brown. Even in the first reading it seemed forced and unnatural to me and it became even more so with every subsequent reading.
And I really didn't like the changes made to Allie's death. The original one was clean and simple.
People love frozen yogurt. I don't know what to tell you.
I haven't read the original ... how does she die in that one?
They have her hostage and he just shoots her without her asking him to. I think she actually says "Don't shoot me!" or somehting of that nature.
There's one hole in every revolution, large or small. And it's one word long.. people. No matter how big the idea they all stand under, people are small and weak and cheap and frightened. It's people that kill every revolution.
Allie's death, original version:
There was a shrill, harried scream from behind him, and doors suddenly threw themselves open. Forms lunged. The trap was sprung, then. Men in longhandles and men in dirty dungarees. Women in slacks and in faded dresses. Even children, tagging after their parents. And in every hand there was a chunk of wood or a knife.
His reaction was automatic, instantaneous, inbred. He whirled on his heels while his hands pulled the guns from their holsters, the hafts heavy and sure in his hands. It was Allie, and of course it had to be Allie, coming at him with her face distorted, the scar a hellish purple in the lowering light.
He saw that she was held hostage; the distorted, grimacing face of Sheb peered over her shoulder like a witch's familiar. She was his shield and his sacrifice. He saw it all, clear and shadowless in the frozen deathless light of the sterile calm, and heard her:
"He's got me O Jesus don't shoot don't don't don't - "
But the hands were trained. He was the last of his breed and it was not only his mouth that knew the High Speech. The guns beat their heavy, atonal music into the air. Her mouth flapped and she sagged and the guns fired again. Sheb's head snapped back. They both fell into the dust.
I would tend to agree with this...one thing I really liked about the evolution of this story was the evolution of Roland as a character. In the original he blows her away without a second thought...this is a hardened Roland who will stop at nothing to get to the Tower. This is also the Roland that would let a little boy fall to his death...for the Tower. Re-writing this with the 19 angle and her asking for death seems to take away a little from the description above...not much (as he still destroys her and the whole town) but a little. To me Roland's initial characterization this way is very important.Originally Posted by bethany
As the story progresses Roland's nature seems to change...while at first he would use anyone in anyway to achieve his goal...this seems to change as the story progresses...especially after Blaine and the layover in Emerald Palace. We see Roland change...and perhaps without this change his is unable to reach the Tower...or without this change the next loop after reaching the Tower will not be significantly different...as we can see it is (the horn) at the end of the series. Speculation of course but I think that as Roland loops the hardened nature we see at the onset of The Gunslinger will lessen, eventually perhaps to the point where Roland doesn't let Jake fall...
Sorry I'm a bit behind here guys, I've been out of town and then having some massive car troubles. But I started reading today and I'll hopefully be able to add to the conversation tonight. I've read some great stuff in here so far!
I am Daenerys Stormborn and I will take what is mine. With fire and blood.
Alright. After being obsessed with Harry Potter for the past 2 months, I've finally finished first section of the Gunslinger re-read. Wow. I too, like DarkThoughs, purposefully made myself read slower than I usually do to really grasp the meaning of what was going on.
It has been a long time since I last read the Gunslinger and I think it is a much better read after having read the whole series. I just couldn't get over how ominous everything seemed. It just felt like a thick cloud was hanging over everything in anticipation for Roland killing the citizens of Tull.
Pol - I had totally forgotten the part about the red-haired man stepping forward to burn Susan. I now completely feel this was Brown. Thanks for pointing that out!
Sarajean - GREAT summary! I was laughing outloud during parts. Keep up the great work!
I am Daenerys Stormborn and I will take what is mine. With fire and blood.
I realise you've moved on to chapter two, but I have just started my own reread! Anyway, whats got me here to make a post can be found on page 39 of the original Gunslinger. Roland is in the church and this has just leapt out of the page at me:
"My dear little brothers and sisters in Christ."
It was a haunting line. For a moment the gunslinger felt mixed feelings of nostalgia and fear, stitched in with an eerie feeling of deja vu - he thought: I dreamed this. When? He shook it off.
Firstly, sorry if this has been highlighted a ton of times in the past, and I genuinely apologise if you discussed it already in this thread- because I've already had a skim down the thread.
Anyway, its the first time I've noticed this. And with the speculation about could SK have somehow planned the end to the series... well, could he? I guess this is another little hint at it. Unless of course someone knows where Roland did hear these words before? ...somewhere in Mejis?
(Gah, and I know Tull came before the start of the loop so he would only have lived this section once presumably. But he would atleast dream it everytime, right?)
Feel free to rubbish the whole idea and/ or feel equally free to show me where the gunslinger had heard this before, and put me out of my misery.
Posting Permissions
