There are 2 messages totalling 44 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Human Factor Idea (2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:32:44 -0400 From: Portia <portia1@m.......> Subject: Human Factor Idea I was reading Roxana's Catch-22 (soooo behind in my inbox!) and an idea occurred to me; what if the cure Janette experienced was that in that one moment with Robert, she finally allowed herself that one moment of peace, the belief that she was worthy, perhaps through Robert's love, of happiness and that all that was behind her could truly be left *behind,* truly be let go. If this were the case, then Nicholas' salvation didn't necessarily require the same circumstances (the physical relationship with a beloved one, the taking of small sips, whatever), but the coming to an equal state of grace. For Nick, Natalie might not have ever been the cure, but possibly coming to a full trust, through his faith, in God's grace being sufficient without acts would have allowed him to find not only redemption but the cure to his vampirism. I'm not trying to argue a religious point here, but to suggest a profoundly changed state of mind or view of self could be the paramount element of the cure. If you think about it, Janette wasn't a very religious woman, but she was a woman who had lost faith in her own worth and her intrinsic value as a woman. Janette felt tainted, used and betrayed by men; a wholesome relationship with a man she respected and who was able to restore her faith in herself, not only as a woman worthy of love but as a woman who was able to unreservedly and unselfishly return love, would have a profound psychological impact which, as a vampire, could have resulted in a profound physical impact as well. In other words, her core psychological wound would be healed, the very thing that allowed her to abandon herself to vampirism in the first place, and so her vampirism could also be cured. Not a very scientific theory, but not completely implausible either, I think. The correlation is that Nick had lost faith in both the integrity of men (including himself) and the love of God, and only by restoring that faith could he be cured of his vampirism. I think such people as Natalie and Schanke were helping him with the first, but only a reliance on simple trust in God's love *outside of works* could have granted him the final component in his cure. Instead of Natalie's shakes, what Nick really needed, if this theory is correct, is a spiritual teacher to convince him of the tenets of Grace, forgiveness without stipulation or constraint. Having come to a point of completely believing that he was granted foregiveness, his core psychological (sprititual, whatever) wound would be healed and he would be free of vampirism. Now, to go back to the scientific...maybe the "cure" would be such that his vampiric traits would just become dormant and not completely removed, the virus or whatever would remain in his body to become active if he ever entered such a deeply negative state again. This correlates to other chronic virus based illnesses and auto-immune diseases; the system becomes weakened and the illness flares. (Or to the situation for the Mighty Hulk! LOL You wouldn't want to see him when he's angry...."g") The greater the provocation or the deeper the despondency, the stronger the symptoms; but once realized, the cure could never be completely lost. This gives hope that Janette may someday find such peace again; maybe with another man, or maybe finding such peace in other circumstances...maybe even in her love for Robert's son, his love for her, and her feelings of worthiness in being his mother. Or maybe in some completely different situation. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:17:38 -0700 From: "jerezfino@y......." <jerezfino@y.......> Subject: Re: Human Factor Idea Portia <portia1@m.......> wrote: Janette wasn't a very religious woman, but she was a woman who had lost faith in her own worth and her intrinsic value as a woman. Janette felt tainted, used and betrayed by men; I never saw Janette as a woman who had no faith in her own value. As a mortal prostitute, yes, but as a vampire ... just the opposite. My point of reference for that view is A Fate Worse Than Death. We saw a defiant Janette who provided shelter for prostitutes and decried the men who thought they owned them. When LaCroix brought her across, he told her that no man would ever again touch her without her consent, something that she seemed to have taken to heart. I've always viewed Janette as a confident woman who had reconciled her past and was comfortable with who and what she was. As a result, I have to believe that there was more at work in the "cure" than just simple belief. Whatever the reasons behind Janette's transformation from vampire back to human, and given the variables that likely had to be in place for that transformation to take place, it's entirely possible that it wouldn't have worked for Nick (and since he greedily took too much from Natalie in Last Knight, we'll never know the answer to that one). Boomer ------------------------------ End of FORKNI-L Digest - 18 Apr 2008 to 21 Apr 2008 (#2008-98) **************************************************************
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