title, theme, motif

Project: Sinistral
Page: no change

AKA, the things I hated most in high school lit! Somehow, it's more fun when I'm the boss.


title: Sinistral
Sinistral means left-handed. It comes from the Latin sinistre and that has a lot of less than complimentary meanings, ranging from 'unlucky' to 'evil.' It's generally frowned upon, etymologically. Realistically it's... not really a bad thing. In fact, some people even find it cool.

Left is also considered, connotatively, to be an inferior direction to right. Turning left could be considered to be going against the grain, so to speak--and that is what Analinn does, consistently. When the road she's on only has a right turn, she makes her own road, even if it's hard and it sucks and has big consequences for other people. She doesn't do it out of spite (all the time). Sometimes it's just her natural inclination, as natural as breathing, and she doesn't see why she should change who she fundamentally is to make life more convenient for others.

She is, canonically, also left-handed.

LOL I SEE WHUT U DID THAR


theme: Don't be afraid of being contrary.
Or, in the words of:
Bon Jovi: don't bend don't break and don't back down
A Softer World: Ghandi said to be the change you want to see in the world. Fuck that. Be the trouble you want to see in the world.
Theory of a Deadman: Tell us to slow down starts a car chase.

Yay, music. In any event, it's related to the title. It also has a lot to do with having the balls to follow through with your little rebellion anyway--it only takes Analinn 79 pages to stand up and tell her mother no.

It's not just Analinn's life, either: throughout the story the little provinces are constantly starting shit and they don't back down, either, until their leaders get assassinated. Oops. There's even a character introduced like, once, who has also run away. This theme reappears everywhere in different ways. I can't even list them. Jesra, Linnana, Yanna, Analinn, Tanel, Emera, the entire Lower Realm, Jassy... A-yup.


motifs: family, conflicting loyalties, love v. duty
family: Analinn never stops fighting with her family. She's either going against her parent(s) or her sister(s) or both, and when she's not fighting with her biological family, she's dealing with her in-laws (oftentimes, those encounters go better). But no matter what, they're always her family, and that means they're critically important to her, even if there's always been friction and they're breaking her heart.

conflicting loyalties: Most often exemplified in Analinn's switching home realms, but it's also seen in Jarik's willingness to completely disown his aunt, Tanel breaking away from his family, and then all of the politics. You can also watch it happen when Analinn slowly changes her familial allegiances and priorities.

love v. duty: Analinn, Tanel, and Emera lucked out. Carlo, Linnae, and Dasin didn't. Linnana may not; that's still up in the air. But it's always something they're struggling with, and some do better than others.


Most of all... I love how most of this just wrote itself. Like, I didn't consciously incorporate ANY of this. I just noticed it when it became startlingly obvious. Considering what PAGE I'm on, if I HADN'T noticed by now I'd just suck at reading.