[kelber at mindspring.com]

It's hard to imagine TRP griping, "those annoying women, always blabbing ..."  Speaking as a human, it's hard to see why talking is considered a negative quality (though it clearly is -- in the US, anyway).  It's one of the essential qualities separating humans from animals.  Is it a particularly American idea, by way of the Puritans, that Silence is Golden? In the convent, giving up talking is the greatest sacrifice a woman can make. Father Ponko (?) is comparing it to the sacrifice of hair (mere vanity).  Talking, by comparison, "is a form of breathing," presumably a sacrifice of a woman's essential being, rather than her outward femininity.  Cyprian's aspirations to be a woman are meant to be a step up the spiritual ladder, an embrace of the female principles of rebirth and regeneration.  Still, I agree that TRP edges a little close to the negative stereotype of women as talkers.  Forgivable, because TRP sees talking as positive.  Most of his characters are talkers, with Cyprian being arguably more talkative than Yashmeen or Reef.  Compare him to Deuce Kindred, who's inarticulate.

Laura

-----Original Message-----
>From: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
 

> 
>Dave M. quoted:
>
>"'Talking, for women, is a form of breathing'"
>
>Compare p. 501: "a hundred women ... all silent." Tying
>Noellyn/Yashmeen to Cyprian?
>
>Hey, anyone want to comment on TRP risking/enacting a major, largely negative, [?] stereeotype about women?......Especially our female p-listers?................
> 
>However, isn't the concept of talking for women, via the metaphor, a positive quality here? 
>
>