Six Degrees: From Orual to Mr. Vane

Good morning, dear Reader! I hope you are having a lovely week. I am spending my mornings this week helping out at my church's Super Summer Adventure (which is more commonly referred to as VBS everywhere else, but we like to rename things around these here parts). I'm a Storyteller this year for two groups of five year olds, and it's fantastic fun. I love five year olds, they're marvelous!Anyway, today's Six Degrees post will link two of my favorite books and authors. I actually may have jumped for joy when I saw DJ's post last week was taking us into the realm of C.S. Lewis' "Till We Have Faces" because that was one of the three literary works I used for my Senior Seminar paper in college. Which means that this week's post is super easy!In "Till We Have Faces" (which, I completely agree with DJ, is Lewis' best work of fiction... and, hey, Tolkien agreed with us on that, so it must be true!), there is a character named Orual. DJ described Orual as "a princess of Glome," "ugly," "courageous," and "intelligent." And she is all those things. But she is also something else. She is completely incapable of understanding the true nature of love. Her love is selfish and possessive, and not at all in the best interests of the person she loves (or believes she loves).Another character with a similar flaw is Mr. Vane from George MacDonald's "Lilith." When he encounters what appears to be a ghost in his library, Mr. Vane follows it into a sort of alternate universe called "The Region of the Seven Dimensions" and meets Mr. Raven, who invites him to sleep in his cottage. This sleep is a sleep of dying to one's self, and if Mr. Vane takes the offer, he will awake in a state of spiritual maturity. However, Mr. Vane is frightened of the thought of any kind of death and instead sets out on his own on a series of futile quests.In his wanderings, Mr. Vane meets a group of people who call themselves "The Little Ones." Their leader is named Lona, and she acts as the mother of the Little Ones. She is beautiful and childlike and completely innocent, just as all the Little Ones are. After he stays with them for a while, Mr. Vane learns that the Little Ones have a sort of Peter Pan complex. They refuse to grow up, and their fear of emotional and mental maturity has also stunted their physical growth. They have no concept of where they have come from, and they really have no true direction into the future: they are simply content to exist as they believe they have always existed. In the book, they are described as, "Full of wisdom and empty of knowledge.” He believes that it is his duty to help them grow up, but it is not really because he cares about them, it is because he selfishly wants to be of service. He wants to be needed.Mr. Raven (also known as Adam, as in, the first man created) continues to be a guide for Mr. Vane, despite his refusal to sleep, as he seeks to help the Little Ones find water and grow to maturity. Completely wise, Mr. Raven warns Mr. Vane that he will do the Little Ones "other than good" if he continues on his course. And eventually, his prophetic words come to pass.Of course, one of the most important characters of the novel is Lilith herself. She is described as very beautiful and has the ability to take on different forms and appearances. She was Mr. Raven's first wife, but she was not content to live with him in a loving relationship as husband and wife. She gave birth to one child, whom she both fears and hates, and then she left. She is wholly evil, a vampire of sorts. She believes that love is just a form of slavery and cannot see anything as it is. For example, she believes the Little Ones are short savages and hates them fiercely. Later the reader will discover that her beauty is not natural, but has been procured by preying on the innocents and children.Other characters we meet in this story are Eve, Adam's second wife and first created woman. (Yes, this is a weird story, but it's a good one). Her daughter, Mara, is the protector of the Little Ones. There are also giants called "Bags," who are graceless, shapeless beings. They are the opposite of the Little Ones - they have grown tall, but their minds have not matured and they are greedy, uncouth, and unkind. There really aren't very many characters in this story to choose from, but hopefully I've described the ones that do exist well enough to spark something.Also, an announcement! Six Degree is going to take a short break here for a couple of weeks as DJ and his family are going on vacation, and we wish them much rest and relaxation and fun!If you would like to participate in our game, please feel free! All you have to do is think of a character from a different book that one of these characters reminded you of, and then write a post about that book and its characters! More details and the list of previous posts can be found HERE. (You can always go back and springboard off one of those older posts, if you'd like! There's no time limit on this thing! The most important rule is to have fun!)