Tiger Stories versus Anansi Stories
Sep. 27th, 2006 10:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liralenI read Anansi Boys last night. I feel more myself, as I stayed up until nearly 2 am to do so. *grin* A bit of sleep dep mixed with caffeine and sugar and *wham* I'm back to really being Liralen again.
But the distinction between Tiger stories and Spider stories made me blink a bit and think a bit. Back when I was doing VLSI contracting, I created a business for myself called "The Curious Spider". Back in the days when I knew Dog and Gator, I tried, very hard, to be a Tiger, but it never quite felt right. They tried calling me Mouse, but I'd have to go back another step to my Chinese Astrology and think more about Rabbit. Brier Rabbit is very much related to Anansi. Sometimes too clever for his own good, but never mean or truly *bad*.
And I remember when Jet was born a Snake (or, in some versions, a Cat), thinking that, perhaps, a pair of old, experienced Rabbits (John is one, too) were going to be smart enough to just deal with a Snake. Not antagonize it, not be terrified of it, but teach and deal and not get hurt.
Anyway... I'd rather tell Anansi stories (where thought and imagination can end well for everyone) than Tiger (where it's just blood and ruin all around) stories, and, perhaps that was always why I loved Carl's and much of the Hordes' games so much. You had to really think and choose in his games, you couldn't just hack your way out, it wasn't about power or despair, it often was about cleverness and will and sometimes turning enemies into friends, or vice versa for a laugh. Turning Model 66 on its head was like that. And why I like being with John, as with John there's *always* a way. Something for me to ruminate on.
But the distinction between Tiger stories and Spider stories made me blink a bit and think a bit. Back when I was doing VLSI contracting, I created a business for myself called "The Curious Spider". Back in the days when I knew Dog and Gator, I tried, very hard, to be a Tiger, but it never quite felt right. They tried calling me Mouse, but I'd have to go back another step to my Chinese Astrology and think more about Rabbit. Brier Rabbit is very much related to Anansi. Sometimes too clever for his own good, but never mean or truly *bad*.
And I remember when Jet was born a Snake (or, in some versions, a Cat), thinking that, perhaps, a pair of old, experienced Rabbits (John is one, too) were going to be smart enough to just deal with a Snake. Not antagonize it, not be terrified of it, but teach and deal and not get hurt.
Anyway... I'd rather tell Anansi stories (where thought and imagination can end well for everyone) than Tiger (where it's just blood and ruin all around) stories, and, perhaps that was always why I loved Carl's and much of the Hordes' games so much. You had to really think and choose in his games, you couldn't just hack your way out, it wasn't about power or despair, it often was about cleverness and will and sometimes turning enemies into friends, or vice versa for a laugh. Turning Model 66 on its head was like that. And why I like being with John, as with John there's *always* a way. Something for me to ruminate on.
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